Various outlets keep publishing stories with quotes from Prince William’s radio interview last Friday, and that’s fine with me. I’ve yet to listen to the damn thing, but it seems like every day since the interview aired, there’s a new story about some piece of interesting or sketchy gossip. Like, it was news to everybody that Prince George sometimes (or often?) boards at Lambrook, which William boneheadedly revealed after spending years yammering about the fakakta school run. Well, speaking of boneheaded reveals, William confessed something hilarious: he had no idea that his wife of 15 years, the woman he’s been with on-and-off for about 24 years, speaks some conversational Italian. The “William couldn’t care less about his wife” brand is strong.
Kate Middleton’s foreign language skills even caught Prince William off guard. The Prince of Wales, 43, made the revelation during a rare, live media appearance on the British radio show Heart Breakfast on May 22, filmed during his two-day trip to the Duchy of Cornwall land holdings.
Prince William shared there that his wife “came back buzzing” from her trip to Italy the previous week for her early childhood work, a visit significant as her first overseas work trip since her cancer diagnosis in 2024.
“I had no idea she spoke Italian, either,” said show cohost Amanda Holden, commenting on how the Princess of Wales spoke some Italian in Reggio Emilia.
“I didn’t actually,” Prince William replied, which made Holden and cohost Jamie Theakston laugh. “She must have dusted that off from a while ago.”
The Princess of Wales, 44, flexed her language skills and introduced herself to children as Catarina, the Italian form of her first name, Catherine, during her two-day stay in Reggio Emilia this month.
“I speak a bit of Italian. What is your name? I am Catarina,” she told the youngsters who came out to see her at the city’s town hall, chatting with them in Italian and learning new vocabulary.
To be fair, her brief time in Italy came during her gap year, when she was trying in vain to follow William around before they both entered St. Andrews. We’ve heard that William and Kate already knew each other – or had already met somewhere – before St. Andrews, but they didn’t spend any time together during their gap year. Still, you would think that Kate would have mentioned that she picked up some Italian? Especially since neither of them are fully conversant in a second language? William even struggles to speak Welsh, and he’s known his entire life that he would be the Prince of Wales.
Incidentally, we should talk about the Bob the Builder thing, since we’re back to talking about Kate’s Italian trip. I haven’t written about it before now, although I’ve seen that it’s all over social media. While she was in Italy, Kate was being shown some environmental project in Reggio Emilia, and she said: “There’s a popular character called Bob the Builder and he has a philosophy of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and you embrace that here. It’s something as a mother, and I feel as a family we do a lot, is try to have at the back of our minds.” Surely Caterina was not referencing Roberto Il Costruttore??? Mamma mia. Honestly though, she sounds like a simpleton, but at least she’s trying to give the correct credit! She didn’t claim that “reduce, reuse, recycle” was an old Middleton saying.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
-
- 13/05/2026. Reggio Emilia, Italy. The Princess of Wales was welcomed to the city at Reggio Emilia’s Town Hall. The Princess was formally met by Mayor Marco Massari before proceeding inside to his office for an official meeting with the city’s civic leaders. Her Royal Highness then moved into the Piazza Camillo Prampolini, where she greeted members of the local community.,Image: 1098589868, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: © Kensington Palace. This image is free for use but may only be used for news or editorial reporting purposes. This image must NOT be used for any commercial or other use, save for news or editorial reporting and cannot be altered or amended in any manner or form whatsoever. All rights reserved., Model Release: no , Credit line: Pete Maclaine/Avalon
-
- 13/05/2026. Reggio Emilia, Italy. The Princess of Wales during a visit to the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre, the principal hub for the promotion and teaching of the Reggio Emilia Approach. Her Royal Highness met educators and practitioners to learn more about the philosophy and principles that underpin this globally respected educational model. The Princess then took part in an immersive clay atelier workshop.,Image: 1098633512, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: © Kensington Palace. This image is free for use but may only be used for news or editorial reporting purposes. This image must NOT be used for any commercial or other use, save for news or editorial reporting and cannot be altered or amended in any manner or form whatsoever. All rights reserved., Model Release: no , Credit line: Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace/Avalon
-
- 14/05/2026. Reggio Emilia, Italy. The Princess of Wales during a visit to a rural agriturismo to reflect on her experiences during the trip and celebrate the power of intergenerational connection. Her Royal Highness spent time with families from the surrounding area to explore how whole communities come together to support children as they grow. The Princess then joined the team at Al Vigneto in preparing lunch. Joining The Princess at the agriturismo were many of the individuals she met throughout her visit to Italy, representing the different organisations and voices she had encountered.,Image: 1098940585, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: © Kensington Palace. This image may only be used for news or editorial reporting purposes. This image must NOT be used for any commercial or other use, save for news or editorial reporting and cannot be altered or amended in any manner or form whatsoever., Model Release: no , Credit line: Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace/Avalon
-
- 22/05/2026. St Mary’s, UK. The Duke of Cornwall appears on the Heart Breakfast radio show with Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston whilst visiting St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly.,Image: 1104159251, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: © Kensington Palace. This image may only be used for news or editorial reporting purposes. This image must NOT be used for any commercial or other use, save for news or editorial reporting and cannot be altered or amended in any manner or form whatsoever., Model Release: no , Credit line: Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace/Avalon
-
- The Princess of Wales in Italy on the second day of her visit, visiting Remida, the city’s ‘creative recycling centre’, where she met with local business leaders who support early childhood by providing materials to use in pre-schools Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Reggio Emilia, Italy When: 14 May 2026 Credit: Cover Images
-
- The Princess of Wales during her visit to “Salvador Allende” Scuola dell’infanzia in Reggio Emilia, to view education in nature, on the second day of her visit to Italy. The visit to the area focuses on early childhood development and forms part of a high-level fact-finding mission to explore leading international approaches to supporting young children and those who care for them Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Reggio Emilia, Italy When: 14 May 2026 Credit: Cover Images
-
- The Princess of Wales during her visit to “Salvador Allende” Scuola dell’infanzia in Reggio Emilia, to view education in nature, on the second day of her visit to Italy. The visit to the area focuses on early childhood development and forms part of a high-level fact-finding mission to explore leading international approaches to supporting young children and those who care for them Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Reggio Emilia, Italy When: 14 May 2026 Credit: Cover Images
-
- The Princess of Wales during her visit to “Salvador Allende” Scuola dell’infanzia in Reggio Emilia, to view education in nature, on the second day of her visit to Italy. The visit to the area focuses on early childhood development and forms part of a high-level fact-finding mission to explore leading international approaches to supporting young children and those who care for them Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Reggio Emilia, Italy When: 14 May 2026 Credit: Cover Images
-
- The Princess of Wales during a visit to rural Agriturismo ‘Al Vigneto’ in Reggio Emilia, to celebrate the power of inter-generational connection, on the second day of her visit to Italy. The visit to the area will focus on early childhood development and forms part of a high-level fact-finding mission to explore leading international approaches to supporting young children and those who care for them. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Reggio Emilia, Italy When: 14 May 2026 Credit: Phil Noble/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
She does not speak fluent Italian. Trying to embiggen this woman. Again. She plays expert which is a put down of others who studied and did the actual work. She came back buzzing according to scooter.
This, 100%. No way in the world does she speak fluent or even conversational Italian or we would have heard about it in the 15 years of her marriage, and especially PRIOR to this trip.
Knowing how to say “my name is Waity Keen McButtons III” isn’t being conversationally fluent.
And the part about reduce, reuse, recycle is rich coming from a family with 37 forever homes and a woman who ripped out a perfectly good designer kitchen to renovate it.
I wish I could like this comment a million times. 👍👍👍👏👏👏
Il mio nome e Susanna. Sono di Monaco in Bavaria. Prendo un CAFFÈ. Ecco, I speak Italian. My a**!
@Tessa Thiiis ☝️
“William was surprised Kate speaks Italian” – uh huh, it’s probably equally a surprise for Kate herself. She might be able to mutter a couple of phrases, but that’s not fluency. She’s barely fluent in her mother tongue, let’s be fr here.
Press is banging on about Kate’s fluency because Meghan is demonstrably bilingual.
@Where’sMyTiara
Meghan is actually trilingual and still speaks French. I don’t know how fluent she is, but she can definitely converse. And, of course, she’s currently learning online to brush up on her skills, as she herself said. She was fluent in Spanish, but, as she said, the last time she spoke it, she was a bit rusty because she hadn’t used it in over a decade. However, she spoke it fluently and could hold long conversations.
But if Kate, who can press three keys on the piano, can be called a piano virtuoso, then she can also be said to speak fluent Italian, because she said CIAO :)))))))))
Why is*Khate’s* face so greasy looking, maybe she put olive oil on her face to copy The Duchess of Sussex’s natural and beautiful tanned skin? Well, it was unsuccessful.
That dripping look happens sometimes when kate overdoes the botox.
I use olive oil on my face. Not in the sun, though. It’s actually amazing for your skin.
“Il mio nome e Caterina” is the sort of pidgin Italian she would have used in Rome’s clubs. That and “ciao, bello!”
Did she say that entire sentence in Italian? Otherwise I don’t see how using that language’s pronunciation of your name is ” speaking” it. It’s funny how some stuff doesn’t pop up for a while, but how things clearly get under their skin and stay there. Because that introduction just feels like a reaction to Meghan doing that panel in Spanish in Colombia.
As for William, something tells me she’s not going around the house peppering her conversation with Italian phrases after 20 years, but you would think that they would have enough media training to realize how always expressing shock at something that your spouse can do when you’ve been together coming up on 25 years looks weird? He didn’t know that she “knew” some Italian, she didn’t know that he avoided decaf, they always say so much by only saying a little.
I think she did say the “I speak a bit of Italian” part in Italian but that’s not even conversational to be honest. That’s something pretty basic you can pick up on the plane on the way over. We went to France this summer and my boys can say “I would like a coca cola please” in franch, along with what their names are and they can ask where the bathrooms are – that’s not conversational. that’s a few months on duolingo, lol.
But how did William not know she even knew that much? How did she not say to him “I’m excited to go to Italy and see how much Italian I remember” or something?
It only makes sense if they dont live together (or ignore each other completely if they do.)
I know how to say, “two beers, please,” in Spanish, so apparently I speak conversational Spanish!
If Kate said more than basic duo lingo greetings we would have seen video evidence of it. Because the reporters were there waiting to report on anything.
Neither of them speaks a second language decently and kate barely handles English with her acquired posh accent.
Excellent point, @Nic — if this actually happened, we would have seen video by now. The BM wouldn’t be able to shut up about their brilliant, bilingual princess.
I don’t believe Kate speaks Italian. I think she learned a few phrases for her trip which is fine. But it explains why William didn’t know she spoke Italian. If it was true that Kate spoke Italian the press would have been talking about that for years. Plus if William had better media training he could have just said well Kate did spend some time in Italy during her gap year. Instead his answer makes him look like he doesn’t know his wife or is not interested in her as a person.
I think it’s the latter. He doesn’t care about her gap year, or that she even had one. He really should have a thorough media training with Bulletproof Sunshine, if she is still around. He has probably started accepting some advice, because he actually praised her in this interview. Then went on to overdo the praise and then say revealing things because it’s so new to him to make an effort in presenting himself well in the 21st century.
@Smart&Messy, I’ve been offline for most of the last couple of months because my mother suddenly passed away, and I missed whatever “Bulletproof Sunshine” is, but keep seeing references to it on here. Would someone mind filling me in on who/what it’s referring to? Thank you!
Lorelei, I’m sorry for your loss. No matter our ages or the situation, the loss of a parent takes it out of us in unexpected ways.
@Lorelei oh I’m so sorry to hear that. I did notice you had seemed to disappear (come find me on Threads! I think I’m on bluesky too.)
Bulletproof Sunshine is the nickname for the new crisis manager person KP hired. I forget her actual name now lol but there were a lot of stories about how tough she was etc and one referred to her as bulletproof sunshine so thats how we refer to her, or BS for short, ha.
@Lorelei, I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine how I would pull myself through such a loss. I remember your comments from earlier and I’m glad to have you back.
Re: Bulletproof
“Prince William has hired a crisis management expert as the Royal Family continues to wrestle with the fall-out from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Liza Ravenscroft – as ‘bulletproof sunshine’ by a former boss – has been recruited from the blue-chip communications firm Edelman, where she works ‘arm in arm with big names facing into their toughest times’.”
This happened in January 2026. We’ve been mentioning this here a lot because the KP comms strategy (if there is one) hasn’t changed much since she came to the picture.
Spot on – he could have referred to her gap year, but he could even go so far as to admire that Kate obviously prepared for her trip! “She worked hard to memorize/remember those phrases, I’m so impressed with her.” Instead, he’s making a crack about how she must have “dusted off” something from before they dated. He almost seems like he’s affronted she made even the tiniest effort – maybe he’s worried people might compare her performance with his.
I’m honestly surprised he didn’t say, ” I didn’t know she spoke Italian either because she doesn’t.”
William probably has no idea kate went to Italy during her gap year.
That said if Kate has Italian skills we would have heard them by now.
LOL, @Nic, you’re probably right, even though *we* all know that’s what she did for her gap year
She came back buzzing because her photo ops went down without major gaffes, she managed to pencil in two successful Meghan imitations and she drew (bussed in) a large looking crowd. The latter is why she was sent out anyway, the BRF desperately needed those pictures after the Sussex Australia events. So she again proved her worth to KC and Peg. She amd Carole were elated I’m sure.
She preened and posed for pictures and had those concerned looks.
Her faux-concern looks are so bad, so obvious how hard she’s trying.
Yep, I’m betting that she knows how to say her name and perhaps Where’s the loo? Kate the great speaks Italian!
I’m Italian and she doesn’t speak italian. She only said few words.
They tried to say she spoke French when they went to France and outside of basic greetings that was it.
Oh FFS, she does not speak “conversational” Italian. She can introduce herself and exchange pleasantries. It’s Day 1 Duolingo shit.
I don’t compliment Kate often, but no snark, that little bit of effort she made was actually commendable. Native English speakers, whether they’re from the UK or the US, or any other anglophone place, do have a reputation for being obnoxiously monolingual, so when we visit another country, most locals are pleased or charmed by even the clumsiest attempt to make that little connection. Exaggerating her linguistic capabilities like this is taking away from a rare instance of Kate doing something (however small) right.
Yeah, I can introduce myself in quite a few languages but I wouldn’t say I speak them. I learned because I work in healthcare and it’s a great icebreaker with families when the white lady speaks Tigrinya. They always laugh.
My husband worked in Ethiopia for several years and speaks some Tigrinya! But he’s from Alabama, so there’s still that little bit of an American Southern accent to it, which his Ethiopian friends find hilarious.
I double majored in linguistics and anthropology, and spent summers helping to document endangered Native American/First Nations languages. During my junior year, I helped devise a program teaching people to document their own languages, and took 2 years off before grad school to take that over to Australia, working with Aboriginal people in remote communities. With all that experience, I think my greetings/pleasantries/cursing (because deep down, I’m still a child who gets a kick out of new dirty words) language count is at least 20. I was also told by a Xhosa speaker that I had the best “first try” at that language that he’d ever heard, but he also conceded that the bar was very low for a white person, lol.
Exactly. It’s Duolingo type stuff. Which is fine. It’s not bad to learn a few phrases when traveling to another country. That’s a good thing really . But overhyping it to say someone now speaks conversational Italian is the type of thing that makes the BM sound utterly ridiculous.
Watching F1 I’ve noticed that Lewis Hamilton always has a couple of words to say to the local crowd in the local language, seemingly wherever he goes.
Ugh, you know what F1 language moments I miss? Daniel Ricciardo speaking Italian with an impenetrable Australian accent. Every Italian I know was always tickled by that.
This was the issue with that whole tour. They’re acting like she’s fluent in Italian when she’s not. They’re acting like 24 hours in Italy set the world on fire when it didn’t. It ends up just making her look WORSE in my opinion.
Kate saying a few words in Italian was nice – they should do that every time they visit a country where a language besides English is the dominant language (France, Denmark, germany, poland, sweden, Norway – to name a few of the european countries they’ve visited.)
@Becks, the media is always doing Kate some sort of disservice disguised as compliments. For example, infantilizing her, and photoshopping her so heavily for so many years that once an unphotoshopped picture got out, everyone is always surprised how bad she looks. This is just one more example, embiggening the Italy trip into something way more meaningful and interesting than it actually was. She always ends up looking foolish because they overhype her and her “life’s work” so much.
Someone above thread mentioned the same exaggeration with her piano skills and this is just another example of that.
They always have to over praise this woman for the most mediocre things.
So many clues about these two (in my opinion) not living together. He had no clue she probably practiced that phrase night and day to spew it in Italy. Keep talking Peg.
And interesting that the clues always seem to come from William directly. The Charlotte being afraid of his beard came from him too.
It’s like subconsciously he wants to reveal that they are not together so he doesn’t have to pretend anymore.
Did the hosts ask W what he and the royal machine knew about Andrew’s involvement with Epstein and Maxwell? Did they ask him why he never submitted the original 2024 mother’s day photo to photo agencies for verification? Did they ask him why, unlike his father, he doesn’t release publicly his tax filings for the Duchy of Cornwall? Did they ask him why he secretly settled his phone hacking claim against The Sun? This softball interview was just image laundering. It’s shameful when people who are given the rare opportunity to interview the second highest tax payer funded individual in the country just become PR shills.
“Conversational” Italian is really pushing it. Tourist Italian is what this sounds like to me – how to say your own name, hello, please, thank you, and “I speak (only) a little Italian”. It is one step up from obnoxiously yelling in English with exaggerated hand gestures, I’ll give her that. But if this were any other British celebrity, like Lily Alan or Victoria Beckham, the tabloids would have had a field day mocking her.
“William had no idea Jate was fluent in Italian.”
Kate also has no idea she speaks fluent Italian. 🤣🤣🤣
If she could do anything, we’d hear about it 24/7.
The only thing that’s clear is that William desperately wants a wife smarter than possible, so he creates science fiction.
William is used to not having to do something, just saying he did it is enough .
Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. Unfortunately for his science fiction, during Kate’s stay in Italy, the media reported that Kate was nice because she greeted the children in Italian and asked their names.
– Ciao!
– Come ti chiami?
Finish🤣
We’ll wait until some Italian diplomat, encouraged by William’s discovery, wants to speak to her publicly in Italian. 😄
The “William couldn’t care less about his wife” brand is strong.
Thank you @Kaiser for a much needed laugh today! If this pair did the quiz Mr and Mrs and had to answer questions about each other ‘s preferences and hobbies, how many would they like? I mean recently Kate didn’t know how he liked his coffee? I bet Jason could get the answers right if he and Wilbur appeared on a Master and Minion version of the quiz!!
Kate speaks Italian like Melania speaks five languages 🙄 Another candidate for an Einstein visa!
“My name is X” is what you learn in the first week or even the first day of a language class or Duolingo. It’s far from fluency.
William didn’t know because… he actually didn’t know because it’s not real. At least he fumbled something about how she must have picked it up on her gap year instead of straight up calling bs. But someone with better training and/or who liked his wife would have said of course he’s heard her speak a little Italian, she has many talents, blah blah.
First days of language classes involve instructors going around the room asking names of students. Keen took notes so was able to use that on her trip
Why have I the feeling that William during this interview tried to rebuke Kate’s stories through the press? For example: for more than a year we read about Kate not wanting her children and especially George to board (about which many of us felt sympathetic). Well, here comes William and he destroys Kate’s narrative. Since Kate’s trip to Italy we read about “bilingual “Kate who used a few conversational phrases in Italian and everyone praises her to the skies ! Well, here comes William again and he destroys her narrative by saying he didn’t know she spoke Italian (he is perfectly aware that she doesn’t and he doesn’t have any inhibitions to say it). His words remind me his refusal for the coffee she made. I think that they antagonise each other and their relationship (if there’s any) is really bad.
That definitely sounds like something Bill would do; be passive-aggressively petty toward his wife after her trip
She speaks conversational Italian the same way I speak conversational Spanish and I know approximately 10 to 15 words in Spanish. I doubt Kate knows more than (or equal) to that in Italian.
And those would be pizza, pasta, espresso, cappuccino, Gelato, vino, Versace, valentino …
I saw a clip of Kate sitting at a table with some children. She looked like she was straining to understand what one of the children was saying. Then she leaned back, held up both hands like she was surrendering, and said “ciao!” and smiled which made me think she’s not fluent at all. But it’s totally believable that she picked up Italian phrases while she spent some of her gap year in Italy. It’s funny that she doesn’t seem to do much with her art history background in her “work.” I can see a lot of possibilities there for her to do meaningful patronage work in relation to children’s education, and in areas such as mental health and art therapy. It’s not too late, if she could rouse herself in her delicate post cancer condition to work a bit harder. Unless of course she is mentally fragile from some break down, in which case she should have all our sympathy.
A racist who used global tabloid platforms to bully another woman into suicidal ideation out of sheer jealousy and hate – deserves no sympathy.
Brassy Rebel, if William actually said that I would laugh my a** off! Suoutdoors, love your hilarious comment.
I hope this fib takes off and Kate someday encounters an Italian leader in public who tries to converse with her. It will be hilarious.
She’ll be like, “Catarina!” “Pizza!” “Amore!” “Volare!” “Grazie!”
She will say – Non ho mutandine🤣
lol.
He didn’t know because she doesn’t. She barely speaks English
“She barely speaks English” 😭 ☠️
QuiteContrary, I think Kate would just run away so as not to look stupid. On the other hand, she has looked stupid on so many occasions and she never seems to realize it or care. Just look at her pie charts!
It could go either way. Or, as Kate would say in conversational Italian, “Ita coulda goa eithera waya!”
That Bob the Builder stuff is incredibly feeble.
Also, what exactly is this supposed to convey? It’s gibberish:
“It’s something as a mother, and I feel as a family we do a lot, is try to have at the back of our minds.” Eh??
I still don’t understand what any of that meant, including the Bob the Builder reference in relation to “reduce, reuse, recycle”… what was she trying to say? I wish she was actually fluent in Italian because at least then I could justify my confusion when she speaks. It’s already a given headache when she speaks because you have to understand her mumbled posh accent but then to also have to make sense of her toddler like conversation makes it even harder to understand.
I am so embarrassed for her for the Bob the Builder reference. I mean, really? Her FIL has been an environmentalist (for a minute, let’s ignore all of his private flights, etc. — he’s been *talking* about composting/recycling since the 70’s before it was on most people’s radars) yet when this topic comes up, she quotes Bob the freaking Builder? A cartoon? Is she really that…dim?
She speaks Italian like Melania speaks Italian hahahah
… this is exactly the sort of comment my brother would make to get a laugh for himself while avoiding having to discuss or praise my skills. The nicest thing I can say is yeeek, so cringe.
When she said, “I speak a bit of Italian,” she implied she could carry on a basic conversation, so in that respect I don’t (completely) blame the media. She implied she could do something beyond parroting a tourist phrasebook sentence like “My name is….” Who knows, maybe she actually can conjugate a simple verb like parlare in the present tense, but we don’t know that from what she said to those kids.