The BBC, facing a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit threat from Donald Trump, has decided to tackle a really big issue, of accidentally referring to the woman known by millions of people around the world as Kate Middleton as Kate Middleton.
The national, state-funded broadcaster, which retains a royal liaison officer responsible for coordinating royal coverage with the palace, issued the simpering apology to Catherine, Princess of Wales.
A representative for Catherine told The Royalist on Monday that they had not complained about the usage, after a beady-eyed editor at the Daily Beast spotted it.
The apology was made as Trump threatens to sue the BBC for $1 billion over how it edited a tiny segment of a documentary it aired about his political comeback in October 2024.
The Kate apology suggested complaints had come from members of the public, who were finely attuned to the intricacies of royal nomenclature conventions.
The apology read, “We received complaints from people unhappy that we didn’t use the Princess of Wales’s correct title during our coverage of Armistice Day.”
The BBC went on, “During our coverage of memorials to commemorate Armistice Day, we mistakenly referred to Catherine, Princess of Wales, as Kate Middleton. These were errors during hours of live broadcasting for which we apologize. Throughout our Armistice Day coverage more broadly, we referred to Catherine by her correct title.”
News organizations, which increasingly rely on internet search for articles to be surfaced, have been challenged by the royal family’s anachronistic adherence to the British aristocracy’s habit of changing names with the passing of time and the deaths of elders, which can deliver ever-grander official titles.
Kate, for example, began her media existence as Kate Middleton. However, in 2008, she was reported to have emailed friends asking them to call her Catherine, her given name, which was widely seen as part of her preparation for her formal public role.
The request was ignored by the media, which had already expended considerable ink in making Kate Middleton famous.
When she married, she became the Duchess of Cambridge. Adding another layer of confusion, her first name, “Catherine,” should not really have been used in conjunction with that title—unless she had gotten divorced like Sarah Ferguson. She was the Duchess of York. After she got divorced, she became Sarah, the Duchess of York.
The same rule means that the usage of Catherine, Princess of Wales, is actually technically incorrect.
The formulation was correct for Diana, Princess of Wales. Katherine should just be referred to as The Princess of Wales, the same as William is The Prince of Wales.
For those at the back having trouble keeping up, don’t worry, the Daily Beast, unintimidated by the demands of palace handlers, will be sticking with Kate Middleton.
Maybe.
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