Celebrities Who Aren't Fans Of Kate Middleton

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Catherine, Princess of Wales has gone from being the second-most popular royal (after Queen Elizabeth II) to really outshining every other royal in popularity ratings in recent years. She is “The Children’s Princess,” a nod to her dedication to championing children’s causes, with a gorgeous head of hair and a great sense of style, to boot. What’s not to love? Even celebrities are charmed by her, including Hollywood’s own queen, Reese Witherspoon, who says she didn’t care much for the royals until she met Kate Middleton in 2011. “She did not disappoint! … I immediately fell under her spell,” the Oscar winner wrote in her book “Whiskey in a Teacup.”  “She’s just as magnificent as she seems to be.”

That said, not everyone shares Witherspoon’s admiration. In 2011, Kelly Osbourne took a jab at Kate for simply re-wearing her outfits, saying she expected more from the future queen of England. The writer and literary celebrity Hilary Mantel also delivered a biting critique during a lecture at the British Museum in 2013: “Kate seems to have been selected for her role of princess because she was irreproachable: as painfully thin as anyone could wish, without quirks, without oddities, without the risk of the emergence of character,” Mantel quipped (via The Guardian). In short, boring.

But she didn’t stop there. “She appears precision-made, machine-made,” said the author, noting that Kate couldn’t be more different from Princess Diana, who wore her heart on her sleeve and was never afraid to be herself. Harsh, but she’s not the only one who disliked the Princess of Wales. 

The relationship between Kate Middleton and her sister-in-law, Meghan Markle, was already fraught with tension even before rumors of their feud surfaced. This stemmed in part from a pseudo-rivalry fueled by the British tabloids and Kate’s reported reluctance to have a close relationship with Meghan. In “Endgame: Inside The Royal Family and The Monarchy’s Fight For Survival,” author Omid Scobie writes, “For Meghan, who found much of her time as a working royal a lonely and isolated experience, there was a hope that Kate would be someone she could at least turn to for an encouraging word during her lowest points … Kate, however, was uninterested in forming this kind of bond with Meghan.”

According to Scobie, sources described the Princess of Wales as someone who can be cold around people she isn’t fond of, including, as one suggested, Meghan. Rather than engaging with her directly, Kate was known to speak about her estranged sister-in-law behind her back to others instead. The feud between the royals reportedly began in the months leading up to Meghan and Harry’s wedding in 2018. Insiders claim that Kate became emotional following a disagreement with Meghan over the tailoring of Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid outfit.

In a bombshell interview with Oprah years later, Meghan denied the reports, saying it was actually she who was brought to tears during the row. “What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do, but that happened to me,” says the Duchess of Sussex (via Elle). She also admitted that she was deeply hurt by Kate’s behavior during that time, especially knowing she was already under a lot of stress due to the media circus involving her father. So yeah, not exactly her biggest fan.

Singer and songwriter Morrissey of the famous English band The Smiths has been one of the royal family’s biggest critics for decades. He’s never held back from trolling the institution, once calling them “benefit scroungers” whose only real purpose is to leech off British taxpayers, as BBC reported. “I think they’re very silly, and I think they’re very pointless,” Morrissey stressed in a no-holds-barred interview. “And nobody can really explain to me, clearly and fully, any useful function that they serve.”

In 2012, the outspoken musician publicly slammed Kate for not taking responsibility over the death of a hospital nurse who committed suicide after falling victim to a prank call. Jacintha Saldanha, an overnight nurse at King Edward VII hospital, was tricked by two radio DJs posing as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, and unknowingly disclosed private medical information about Kate, who was being treated there for severe morning sickness. Appearing on “Nightline” in 2012, Morrissey said (via The Hollywood Reporter): “She feels no shame about the death of this woman; she’s saying nothing about the death of this poor woman. The arrogance of the British royals is staggering… And why it’s allowed to be, I really don’t know.”

When the show’s hosts brought up Kate’s hospitalization, Morrissey questioned whether it was really pregnancy-related or something else the royal family were trying to hide from the public. He also blamed the palace for allegedly exerting pressure on Saldanha, implying they contributed to the emotional distress that led to her death. “I’m sure the British press hounded this poor woman to her death, and that’s kept away. And by this time next week, she’ll be forgotten. And that’s how the British royals work,” Morrissey added.

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Kate Middleton has long been admired by fashion critics for her sophisticated and elegant fashion sense. There was one time she blew fans away with her glamorous pink look and another when she absolutely stunned in a royal blue ensemble during a U.N. conference in 2021. But in the eyes of the iconic Vivienne Westwood, her style lacked a certain edge. “Let me put it this way. It seems to me that her image is ‘ordinary woman,'” the fashion designer, who was known for pushing the envelope by mixing punk with high fashion, told The Sunday Times in 2011 (via E! News). “Therefore, high street shopper… I just think she should be an extraordinary woman, wherever she gets her clothes from.”

Whereas Kelly Osbourne didn’t like that the royal repeated her clothes, Westwood was the opposite and criticized Kate for not recycling her outfits more often. (A point some might contest, as Kate has a well-documented habit of re-wearing her outfits on royal engagements.) “If you’re going to all that trouble to get an outfit that suits you, then you should keep on wearing it,” Westwood told reporters during London Fashion Week in 2013, per USA Today. “I mean, you don’t have to have a red outfit one day and then something almost the same in blue the next.”

Beyond her clothes, the outspoken designer also shared some strong opinions about Kate’s beauty choices, suggesting her makeup could use a little fine-tuning. “I think she’s got a problem with eye makeup!” Westwood exclaimed. “The sharp line around her eyes makes her look hard,” noting that Kate should either go for the smudged look or just ditch the eye pencil altogether.

Wendy Williams is never one to bite her tongue when it comes to members of the royal family, once referring to Kate Middleton as “the boring one” during a lively discussion on the so-called “Fab Four.” In an episode of her talk show, Williams drew a comparison between the royal couples — Kate and Prince William versus Meghan Markle and Prince Harry — after a viral clip from the BBC’s “A Berry Royal Christmas” showed Kate seemingly brushing off William’s touch while they spoke to TV personality Mary Berry.

Williams didn’t mince her words, likening the frosty exchange to Melania Trump shrugging off Donald Trump amid divorce rumors. “Kate shrugged William like Melania [shrugs] President Trump,” said the outspoken host, reminding the royals they’re allowed to act like normal couples in public (via The Mirror). She then turned to Meghan and Harry, describing them as clearly the more authentic and loving pair. “To me, it’s the only genuine royal couple [to] fall in love like the rest of us,” Williams said of the Sussexes.

Later in the segment, Williams had producers replay the moment Kate visibly pulled away from William, urging the audience to decide for themselves whether that was a “shrug-off” and ultimately labelling them as the “boring” couple. “So apparently they’re doing some sort of press.” (The clip came around the same time rumors of William cheating on Kate with Rose Hanbury surfaced.) “Kate, no Meghan, no Kate rather, the boring one, appeared to shrug him off… Normally when someone touches you, you lean into them or touch them back,” Williams said. “Clap if you think that was a shrug off. OK. They are boring to me,” she added.