A future queen and her daughter walk into a bar. No, it’s not the start of a joke but rather what happened when Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte were once out and about in London, England. The Princess of Wales, 43, reportedly made a surprise visit to a pub with Charlotte in tow, shocking those inside with just how normal they were.
Kate took Charlotte to a London pub to use the restroom in 2018
According to Express, Kate and Charlotte “stunned” pub-goers when their black Range Rover pulled up outside The Phoenix, a pub in London’s Stockwell neighborhood, in 2018. Charlotte, who turns 10 on May 2, 2025, would’ve been about three or four at the time. So why were they there? Charlotte had to use the bathroom.
“I was sitting in my usual chair, and when I looked up I saw Kate Middleton—I mean the Duchess of Cambridge [her then royal title]—and her daughter, Princess Charlotte,” Maggie McKinney, a pub regular, said.
“The little kiddie just trotted in with her mum [sic], went to the toilet, and then trotted out,” she continued. “They could not have been in the pub for more than 10 minutes.”
“They seem very nice, totally normal,” McKinney added, noting Kate had been “holding her daughter’s hand.” As for Charlotte, she “was just any other little girl.”
Security hinted at Kate and Charlotte’s royal status
Kate and Charlotte didn’t go inside the pub alone. Also with them was security. “A plain-clothed woman police officer came in first and checked the toilets,” another pub regular recalled of the royals’ visit.
“Then the Duchess of Cambridge walked in holding Princess Charlotte’s hand,” they continued. “The little girl went to the loo [bathroom] and then they left. The policewoman sat by the bar while Princess Charlotte and Princess Kate were in the toilet.”
“It just goes to show that the royals are like any other family,” another person from the pub said. “When your kid needs to go to the loo [bathroom], they got to go!”
Kate and Charlotte are ‘normal’ on vacation too
The royals’ “just like us” vibe doesn’t stop at pubs. Kate and Charlotte, along with Prince William, Prince George, and Prince Louis were also described as looking “like a normal English family” during a January 2025 ski vacation. So much, in fact, that “a lot” of other guests at a restaurant on the slopes “didn’t recognize” the Wales family when they came in for a bite to eat.
“There were no airs and graces and actually they seemed like any normal family enjoying a ski break,” an insider said at the time. “There were lots of laughs and the children were very polite.”
The only hint of their royal status was, once again, the presence of security guards. “The only reason you would have known that they were people of importance was because when Kate arrived so did a group of security guards,” a second source said.
