Kate Middleton has an iconic title you might not even know about - and it came from Queen Camilla

There's an iconic royal title the Princess of Wales took over from Queen Camilla that you might not even know she holds - because she doesn't use it very often. 

Prince William and Kate became Prince and Princess of Wales in 2022 but these weren't the first titles they received when King Charles ascended the throne. The Prince of Wales title has to be bestowed by the monarch and Prince William and Kate were announced as Prince and Princess of Wales on 9th September. Ahead of this they received additional titles and like so many of Kate's, hers passed from Queen Camilla to her. However, there’s one royal title Kate took over from Queen Camilla that is particularly iconic and fans might not know about it as she’s rarely uses it.

When His Majesty became King, Prince William became Duke of Cornwall as he is first in the royal line of succession, making Kate also Duchess of Cornwall. This was Queen Camilla's principle title after marrying King Charles in 2005.

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As the wife of the then-Prince of Wales, Her Majesty was entitled to be referred to as Princess of Wales. Instead she was known as Duchess of Cornwall in a move that is believed to have been a mark of respect to the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Queen Camilla spent 17 years as Duchess of Cornwall and is the royal still most strongly associated with this title today. Kate might have taken it over from her in September 2022, but since then it seems like she’s only been referred to by this title once, in part because she does actively use her Princess of Wales title.

The Prince and Princess of Wales made their first joint official visit to Cornwall as Duke and Duchess of Cornwall in February 2023. In a post about the significant visit on the Royal Family website, the couple are referred to as the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and this was also the case in a lot of the media coverage of the engagements.

Later on in the year Prince William returned to Cornwall when he opened The Orangery restaurant at The Duchy of Cornwall Nursery, though this was a solo engagement. The Princess of Wales hasn’t returned to the county for public duties since 2023 and so possibly hasn’t been called - or used - her Duchess of Cornwall title since then either. 

Despite it being one of the most iconic royal titles that Kate has taken over from Queen Camilla, it looks to be one she’s destined to rarely use. At the same time as she became Duchess of Cornwall, Kate also succeeded Queen Camilla as Duchess of Rothesay which is a title she’ll use a lot more often. This is the Princess of Wales’s Scottish title and it’s used whenever she is in Scotland, where Prince William is known as the Duke of Rothesay.

All three titles - Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay are traditionally held by the heir apparent to the throne. Kate is also still Duchess of Cambridge, though reports have suggested that Duchess Sophie nearly took Kate’s title before Prince Edward made a big decision. Speaking to The Telegraph in 2010 an unnamed royal courtier claimed that Prince Edward was apparently going to be made Duke of Cambridge but loved the title held by a fictional character.

"Prince Edward was going to be the Duke of Cambridge, but he watched the film Shakespeare in Love, which had a character called the Earl of Wessex. He liked the sound of it and asked the Queen if he could have that instead," they alleged.