Kate Middleton Just Made a Surprise Appearance—But Something Super Striking Stood Out

To close out the 2024 Paris Olympics, Prince William, 42, and Kate Middleton, 42, took a break from their summer vacation to share a special video on their joint Instagram page, congratulating Team Great Britain on their performance during the Games. Not only was the Princess of Wales’s brief cameo in the clip a delightful surprise for royally obsessed fans like myself, but something else super striking stood out to me while watching the video. 

The star-studded video features an appearance by Snoop Dogg (who stole the Olympics with his meme-worthy faces), Greg James, Rebecca Adlington, Sir Chris Hoy and David Beckham. After Snoop Dogg greets viewers, the Prince and Princess of Wales take a moment to show their support for Team GB. 

“From all of us watching at home, congratulations to Team GB!” Princess Catherine says in the clip. Then, Prince William adds, “Well done on all you’ve achieved. You've been an inspiration to us all.”

Though it was refreshing to see the future king and queen together for the first time since Trooping the Colour (where Princess Catherine made her first public appearance since starting her cancer treatment), I couldn’t help but notice one thing about the royal couple in the video: they seemed super casual. (Royals, they’re just like us.)

Not only isn’t the video message overly produced, but the prince and princess are notably wearing casual clothes. Prince William is clearly unshaven and the father of three is even wearing an unbuttoned shirt that shows off his chest hair—a huge contrast from his usual navy blue tailored suit. Even Princess Catherine looks super cas with her black and white striped shirt. 

This surprise video message comes after multiple reports claimed that the Prince and Princess of Wales would make an appearance at the 2024 Paris Olympics—but they didn’t. According to a report shared by The Daily Express, Prince William was expected to travel to France to catch some of the Games alongside two of his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. And it was speculated that the Princess of Wales could tag along as well.