5 Times Princess Kate Made it Clear She Wouldn't Be Pushed Around

Princess Kate rarely makes a scene, but that does not mean she is always willing to play by everyone's rules. Whether it's a decision about her children or a royal tradition she was not keen on following, the Princess of Wales has had moments when she chose to do things her way. And some of those decisions say quite a bit about the woman behind the carefully managed image.

When Kate married Prince William in April 2011, according to Marie Claire, she broke a 350-year-old royal wedding tradition by choosing to wear her hair down in loose curls instead of the updo traditionally preferred for royal brides. Royal officials reportedly wanted her to wear her hair up, but Kate stuck to her preferred style, eventually settling on a half-up, half-down look for the ceremony.

The same was the case when the royal family asked her to change her name. In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry revealed that Charles and Camilla wanted Kate to spell her name “Katherine” with a K because their royal cyphers already featured the letter C beneath a crown. As per Fox News, author Christopher Andersen revisited the claim in his book Kate! The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen, writing that Charles and Camilla “expected her to go along because she has always been a nice, cooperative team player … but didn't take into account the fact that she personally prefers to be known as Catherine and feels very strongly about the name her parents gave her.” The suggestion was ultimately dropped, and Kate continued to use her given name, Catherine.

Kate made it clear that being part of the royal family didn't mean she had to accept every invasion of her privacy. In September 2012, while holidaying with Prince William at a private chateau in Provence, France, she was photographed sunbathing topless by paparazzi. A French magazine published the pictures, prompting the couple to take legal action against the publication. A French court ordered the magazine to stop distributing the images, but the couple didn't stop there. The case continued for years, with the court later awarding them $112,000 in damages in 2017.

More than a decade later, Kate and William were still prepared to stand their ground over their family's privacy. In 2025, they pursued legal action against Paris Match after the magazine published paparazzi photographs and an article about their private skiing holiday with George, Charlotte and Louis in the French Alps. The case ended with a ruling in their favor, and the magazine was required to publish a judicial notice acknowledging the privacy violation. As reported by Sky News, a Palace spokesperson said, "They will not hesitate to take such action as is necessary to enforce those boundaries."

When Kate underwent abdominal surgery in January 2024, she made it clear that being a public figure didn't mean everyone was entitled to know the details of her health. Kensington Palace confirmed that she had been admitted to hospital but kept her medical information private, saying she hoped the public would understand her wish to maintain normality for her children. As speculation about her absence grew, Kate still didn't rush to explain what was happening. Instead, she chose to address the public herself on March 22, revealing in a personal video message that tests after her surgery had discovered cancer. By deciding when and how to speak about her diagnosis, Kate showed that she wasn't going to let public curiosity dictate the terms of such a personal announcement.

Kate was also not going to let speculation about her appearance go unchallenged either. In July 2019, Dr. Munir Somji, a plastic surgeon at a London clinic, shared photographs of the Princess of Wales on Instagram and suggested she had undergone “baby Botox,” a treatment that uses smaller doses of the wrinkle-smoothing injection. The claim quickly attracted attention, but Kensington Palace issued a rare, firm denial, telling The New York Post (via PageSix) that it was “categorically not true.” The palace also stressed that the royal family never endorses "commercial activity."

Kate made it clear that completing chemotherapy did not mean she was ready to jump straight back into a full schedule of royal duties. In a video message released on September 9, 2024, she shared that her treatment had ended but stressed that recovery would take time. “Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long, and I must continue to take each day as it comes,” she said. The Princess of Wales began easing back into work on September 17, when she held a private meeting at Windsor Castle focused on her early childhood initiative.