Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Catherine Elizabeth "Kate"; née Middleton; born 9 January 1982), is the wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. Following his father Charles, Prince of Wales, William is second in line to succeed his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, as monarch of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms.
Middleton grew up in Chapel Row, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, England. She studied art history in Scotland at the University of St Andrews, where she met William in 2001. Their engagement was announced on 16 November 2010, and she attended several royal events before they married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. The Duke and Duchess have two children: Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, who are respectively third and fourth in line to the British throne.
She has had a major impact upon British and American fashion, which has been termed the "Kate Middleton effect", and in 2012 and 2013, she was selected as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time magazine.