Royal fans are convinced that Kate Middleton gets a special shout-out in The Little Mermaid, but not in a positive way

The Princess of Wales may have just gotten the most bizarre shout-out and some are convinced that it's not the nicest reference to Catherine...

• A new live action version of The Little Mermaid (2023) is set to be released later this month.
• Early reviewers of the film have claimed there is an unusual reference to the Princess of Wales in the new film, which isn't entirely flattering.
• In other royal news, Queen Camilla snubbed by 'angry' Kate and Will after Middletons denied plus-ones at coronation.

It has been suggested that the new version of The Little Mermaid features a bizarre shout-out to the Princess of Wales. 

A reviewer told Page Six "Ariel has sacrificed her voice in order to get to the surface and [meet] Prince Eric. She can’t speak so he tries to guess her name," they said. "His first guess is Diana. His second guess is Catherine, but after [Ariel gives a disgusted] reaction, he [concludes] 'OK, definitely not Catherine.'" 

Page Six then suggested this was a 'dig' at Princess Catherine. The outlet stated that the film, "seems to dip a toe (or a fin?) into the Megxit debacle — and even contains what appears to be a dig at Kate Middleton."

The choices of the name Diana and Catherine seem to reference the late Princess Diana and Kate Middleton, and the mermaid's reaction to the name Catherine seems to be a snub directed at the Princess. Although Disney has not responded to these rumors, and the names used in the film could in fact just be a coincidence, these were not the names used in the cartoon version - which seems to be why some are convinced this is a reference to members of the Royal Family.

In the cartoon version of The Little Mermaid (1989), Prince Eric guessed the name Diana along with Mildred and Rachel - he did not guess Catherine.

In another odd coincidence, this isn't the first time the Royal Family has been linked to The Little Mermaid, as Meghan Markle said she felt silenced like this Disney princess in her Oprah interview. The Duchess of Sussex, compared herself to Ariel from The Little Mermaid in an interview with Oprah in 2021.

"I was sitting in Nottingham Cottage, and The Little Mermaid came on," said Meghan in the interview. "And who as an adult really watches The Little Mermaid? But it came on, and I was like, 'Well I'm here all the time I might as well watch this,' and I went, 'Oh my God, she falls in love with the prince, and because of that, she loses her voice,' " said Meghan. 

In the 1989 Disney movie The Little Mermaid, Ariel falls in love with a prince and makes a deal with the sea witch, Ursula, that she will lose her voice but can walk on land and be with the prince. Meghan then added in the interview, “But in the end, she gets her voice back." Oprah replied, “'And this is what happened here. You feel like you got your voice back?” “Yeah,” said Meghan as she smiled and nodded.