Catherine, Princess Royal

Catherine
Princess Royal
Honorary Advisor to the Minister for Women and Equalities
Tenure	26 July, 2016 - present
Preceded by	Position established
Minister	Nicky Morgan (CON)
Born	(1969-01-28) 28 January 1969 Buckingham Palace, London
Spouse	Alex Atkinson (m. 1999; div. 2017) Evan Rachel Wood (m. 2017)
Issue Detail	Catalina Hernandez Lauren Atkinson Mary Atkinson Louise Atkinson Maya Atkinson
Full name Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick
House	Hanover
Father	Charles III
Mother	Lauren Bacall
Religion	Protestant

Catherine, Princess Royal

Full name	Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick
Country (sports)	United Kingdom
Residence	London, England
Born	(1969-01-28) 28 January 1969 Buckingham Palace, London
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Turned pro	12 December 2002
Retired	7 July 2011
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Gabriel Davis (2002 - 2011)
Prize money	$20,460,311
Int. Tennis HoF	2012
Singles
Career record	652-144 (81.90%)
Career titles	51 (11th in overall rankings)
Highest ranking	No. 8 (July 2, 2006)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (2010)
French Open	W (2011)
Wimbledon	W (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009)
US Open	W (2009, 2010)
Career record	{{#property:P555}}

Catherine, Princess Royal (Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick; born 28 January 1969) is a member of the British royal family, a British supermodel and entrepreneur, along with being the current title holder of Princess Royal since 1975. As the eldest daughter of King Charles III and American actress, Lauren Bacall, she was bestowed upon with the title following the death of her grand aunt, the late Princess Alexandra. To date, at fourty six years long, she is currently the longest titleholder of the Princess Royal title, having superseded her 3rd great grand aunt, Charlotte, Princess Royal, at thirty nine years long.

From the 1990s to the early 2000s, Catherine first gained international fame as a Victoria's Secret Angel, the first British model to do so, and later for her record five cover appearances for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, making her the most featured cover model for the magazine alongside Australian model, Elle Macpherson. Since the start of her modelling career, she has been referred to by several nicknames by the media, which includes the "Princess of Swimsuits" and the "Queen of Models".

Following her retirement in 2004, she subsequently opted for a modestly successful tennis career of her own, in which she thrice won the Wimbledon Championships, that is, in 2006, 2007, and 2009 respectively. On July 2011, she then announced her official retirement from professional tennis, before going on to become further involved in the causes of women's empowerment and animal conservation. Furthermore, she is the royal patron of multiple organisations relating to both causes across the United Kingdom, and has also been vocally active on a number of issues which includes domestic violence, sexism, animal cruelty, and deforestation.

Meanwhile, she has also launched a clothing line of her own, named Bold Royal Designs. On the other hand, since July 2016, Catherine has been the current and first Honorary Advisor to the Minister for Women and Equalities, a position created in recognition of her contribution to women's issues by the British government.

On August 1999, she married Alex Atkinson, an American lawyer, with whom she has four daughters, namely Lauren, Mary, Louise, and Maya, with all four of them, by the couple's own behest, were never accorded to with any royal titles of their own. In 2017, after persistent rumours of incompatibility, the couple officially divorced but has since continued to live with one another. In that same year, Catherine married American actress, Evan Rachel Wood on the latter's 30th birthday, thereby becoming the stepmother to Wood's only son with actor, Jamie Bell from her previous marriage, and notably, the first member of the British royal family to be married to a partner of the same gender. Meanwhile, prior to her first marriage, she secretly dated the late legendary singer, Michael Jackson from the early to mid-1990s, while at the same time, becoming a lifelong friend, aswell as a most likely romantic partner of the singer, Madonna, with whom she was described of having a "mix of sisterly and romantic bond". On the other hand, she is also known for her equally sensational relationship with Julian Hernandez, a retired American taxi driver, with whom she had the American model and actress, Catalina Hernandez. However, in recent years, and especially since her marriage to Evan Rachel Wood, Catherine has largely toned down her romantic affairs with both Madonna and Hernandez, having instead opted for a "strictly monogamous" marriage with her wife.

For her contribution to the fashion industry, Catherine was twice awarded the Model of the Year Award in both 2001 and 2009, and has since been wholly recognised by many as one of the United Kingdom's most successful and celebrated models alongside Kate Moss, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Naomi Campbell. In addition to that, she has also been listed in the Time 100 list several times, and is herself a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador since 2012, being one of the two British nationals to do so at the moment along with actress, Emma Watson.

Following the death and subsequent division of her father's wealth among his four children, Catherine is officially considered to be the richest model in the world, with an estimated net worth of around $4.6 billion (£3.7 billion).

In 2022, Catherine is expected to land her first major acting role in an upcoming film titled Ladies of America, starring herself and wife, Evan Rachel Wood. Prior to this, the Princess Royal has taken on a largely supporting role in the ongoing television series, Westworld, also alongside Wood.

Early Life

Catherine was born on January 28th 1969 as the eldest daughter of King Charles III and Lauren Bacall. Named Catherine after one of her parents' close friends, the American actress, Katharine Hepburn, she was subsequently named after her third-great grandmother, Queen Charlotte, her maternal and paternal grandmother, Natalie Bacall and Queen Louise, and lastly after her own mother and father.

In contrast to her predecessors, Catherine and her siblings' respective upbringings were completely void of any royal nannies, as Queen Lauren herself had insisted on personally raising her children. Nevertheless, amidst some initial hardships, Catherine and her younger sister, Princess Alexandra in particular, were quick to become generally close with their mother. While she mostly enjoyed warm relations with her brothers, she reportedly exhibited a certain degree of rivalry towards her younger sister in an unofficial competition for their mother's affection. Regardless, both princesses shared a number of common interests themselves, ranging from swimming to horseback riding. At the age of eight, Catherine was made the new Princess Royal by her father, thus succeeding her grand-aunt, the Duchess of Uppland, whom had previously held the title prior to her death.

Having been born only a year apart from her younger sister, the later Duchess of Albany, both Catherine and the latter generally enrolled together for both their primary school and middle school educational years, with Catherine herself being supposedly trusted as the duchess's much older guardian when at school or in public, although it was later on gradually noted that, despite the rather tiny difference in age between the two princesses, which puts Catherine only a year above her younger sister, the latter is instead seen as the more "assertive and calculated" one out of the two sisters. Nevertheless, despite their apparently contrasting characters, both Catherine and Alexandra are generally accepted as being "much in tune with one another", although it was also rumoured that the two, during their younger years, would occasionally compete to a "partly extreme and passionate level" in earning their parents' affection, particularly that of their mother's.

During much of her primary and secondary school years, despite her more "bright and bubbly" nature, Catherine was also noted, alongside her general passion for sports, particularly in football, of having been a considerably proficient speaker, and a considerably excellent student in the English subject herself in particular, with one of her teachers in her secondary school later speaking of the princess as being a "young, socially bright, and an academically adept girl with an insatiable amount of curiosity she is dedicated to uncovering almost every single day". At the same time, upon reaching teenagehood, Catherine chose to take up acting lessons for a while, a decision she attributes to her own parents' past acting backgrounds along with the likes of the famed actress herself, namely Katharine Hepburn, whom was a close partner of the royal family. However, despite the overall promising progress in her acting lessons, along with a much enthusiastic reception of her lessons by the princess herself, Catherine ultimately chose to abandon any future prospects in acting, which she later described as "not being her personal destiny".

Princess Royal

University Years

The Princess Royal photographed in New York City during the 1990s

While her younger sister had promptly chosen to seek a military career soon enough after graduating from high school, Catherine herself chose to further her studies in academics instead. To that end, like her two older brothers, she was allowed to travel abroad to the United States, where she then chose to enroll at the University at Albany, located in the eastern state of New York. However, unlike her older brothers before her, the princess reportedly lived a mostly independent lifestyle while residing in the North American country, although her parents' old residence of Wales House in the city of Albany itself was said to be her preferred off-campus residence, not least due to its proximity and familiarity with the princess, but also due to the fact that it is also the primary choice of residence for whenever both the King and Queen chose to personally travel to the United States themselves, which they did so on multiple occasions while the princess was furthering her studies there. Furthermore, while pursuing her studies there, Catherine later described the first few months into her university years as being "considerably complicated" and "somewhat demanding", before disclosing that she was also taking extra classes on perfecting her own American accent at the time, as to better integrate herself among the largely non-British speaking community there.

At the same time, in the first few months into living in the United States, Catherine would first gain much personal fame when both she and then President Ronald Reagan sat down together for an unofficial, on-air debate regarding both the latter's domestic and foreign policies and her own personal take on American issues on NPR radio. In the following year, she then went on to publicly campaign for the reelection of her second cousin, Princess Hedy, a Democrat politician whom was also the then incumbent Governor of New York. Then, while publicly campaigning on her cousin's behalf, Catherine was initially met with some criticism and accusations of "nepotism" and "favouritism", with critics accusing her of using her royal status and familial ties to the New York elite in general to benefit her own cousin's reelection campaign. However, the princess soon responded by stating, "My decision to support my dear cousin in her career is not just necessarily because she is my cousin. It's because I solely believe that she is a good governor who deserves more than what she has now". Hedy herself would later win her reelection campaign by a generally wide margin. Subsequently, for the latter's 1990 reelection campaign, Catherine appeared publicly campaigning on her cousin's behalf once more, with much success overall as Hedy was then ultimately reelected to a third term as governor, before voluntarily stepping down from office herself three years later, paving the way for her to become the 63rd and also the first female Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, whose 1996 reelection campaign Catherine also became a major part of, in her typically assigned role as a rally host. In around 1988, Catherine secretly registered herself as an official member of the Democratic Party, following her own cousin's footsteps almost a decade prior.

In a manner similar to that of her two older brothers and her own father back then, Catherine also initially adopted an entirely new alias of her own, as she chose to further her studies at the university there under the name of Jeane Watts, with her supposed given name being reportedly derived from the late actress, Marilyn Monroe (real name: Norma Jeane Mortenson), whose middle name the princess was said to have taken from in creating her alias. In connection to that, Catherine later disclosed in a public interview that her somewhat common-like behaviour in public during much of those years helped solidify her assumed alias, as according to the princess herself, "People tend to ignore a princess acting like a regular woman or lady because they have been fed with for generations the expectations of an actual princess walking around in fancy gowns or on some fancy carriages". However, perhaps by her own desire to do so, Catherine would later gradually cease in using her assumed alias following both her graduation from university and her subsequent entry into the modeling industry, with the given rationale behind it being the "desire to let everyone see a proud Catherine, Princess Royal, and not a made-up Jeane Watts that I used to be".

In 1989, Catherine eventually graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in women's studies, thus following in the footsteps of her older brothers whom had both graduated from the Central Connecticut State University themselves around a decade prior.

Post-University

Fahd, King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005

Having been made a Counsellor of state by her father at the age of twenty, the princess, upon finishing her own studies, then began to soon undertake a series of her own state duties herself, ranging from royal functions such as attending public events to representing her country abroad through various international visits. To that end, on January 1990, Catherine undertook her first official trip abroad as a working royal by visiting the Middle Eastern kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where along with its then ruler, King Fahd, Catherine toured the capital city of Riyadh, along with various numbers of technological institutions across the kingdom. Eventually, despite an overwhelmingly successful visit to the kingdom, it was then rumoured that the Saudi government had supposedly protested in secret against the visit, as one Saudi official was then reported of having issued a statement which read, "In regards to the British government's request, His Majesty The King has found it somewhat difficult to receive the presence of a lady whom had recently exposed herself in a manner unacceptable by the Islamic religion". Nevertheless, just a couple of years later, in light of the Gulf War conflict that saw both the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia allying against Iraq under its leader, Saddam Hussein, Catherine was once more sent to the kingdom to facilitate bilateral post-war agreements involving the two allies, amidst some concern that her then newly beginning career as a Victoria's Secret model, along with her own outspoken views on women's issues would become sources of conflict with the generally socially conservative Saudi monarchy and government. Ultimately, Catherine's second visit to Saudi Arabia also ended in a general success, leading to one British news organisation dubbing her the "most effective British diplomat alive".

However, ironically enough, Catherine would later promptly criticise the Saudi government when The New York Times reported that several "reformist" Saudi women were persecuted and imprisoned following a demonstration for greater female rights in the kingdom, during which the princess's likeness, along with an accompanying slogan which read, "Saudi Arabia for Women", were mainly used by demonstrators in their demands towards the government. Then, a few days later, in a public interview with the BBC, Catherine proceeded to claim that "it is baffling for the Saudi government to host a woman who had publicly posed in lingerie into their country and not to then accept some demands that are generally less offensive than seeing a woman openly wearing lingerie in public as a Saudi citizen".

According to one popular rumour at the time, in around March 1989, following the release of the notoriously controversial song, Like a Prayer by singer, Madonna, the Princess Royal, as a consequence of being the former's close friend at the time, was reportedly banned from ever visiting the Vatican City by its then Pope John Paul II, whom also openly criticised the song's controversial use of Catholic symbols and imagery himself. However, while Catherine herself would personally abstain from ever visiting the Vatican City in the following years, she would eventually do so otherwise in 2006, during which she was received by the new Pope Benedict XVI, whom had taken office following the death of his predecessor a year prior, and whom would later step down from the position himself in February 2013.

The Eight Nation Asia Tour

Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992

From the following month of January to March, Catherine then opted to conduct a series of successive state visits, all of which were to take place within the Asian continent, under the guise of furthering Britain's diplomatic relations with said countries in the area. Officially known as the Princess Royal's Eight Nation Asia Tour, or PRENAT, in which she successively visited the countries of China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, the princess consistently received much positive publicity and acclaim during the tour, with her "general openness" and "extremely warm character" being subjects of appraisal by various media outlets. In particular, the locally based BBC news organisation, in covering the princess's trips around the continent, once spoke of it as being "Major's brilliant and successful charm offensive against the Asian countries in the East".

Despite the overwhelmingly warm and positive nature associated with her respective visits to each of the eight aforementioned countries, she notably faced only one assassination attempt during the entirety of the trip, with the attempt itself having took place during her visit to the Philippines, when a supposedly disaffected Filipino citizen attempted to stab the princess from the front as the latter was being escorted through the passageway of Manila International Airport in Manila. While the assassination attempt itself was quickly foiled by armed security guards nearby, Catherine herself nevertheless persisted in continuing her visit to the country, as she then went on to tour the majority of the country amidst newfound security fears for the British royal. In particular, on one occasion during the tour itself, she openly praised then President Corazon Aquino for "restoring a state of normalcy and tranquillity to a nation scarred with unrest and corruption". Almost immediately, the statement itself became a subject of mass criticism, particularly from supporters and family members of the deceased, and notorious former President, Ferdinand Marcos, whom Catherine was alleged to have openly disrespected, thus conflicting with the largely positive view of the late President held by his supporters.

Reportedly, while en route to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, the princess was quoted by a former staff member of hers onboard the flight at that time, as having expressed "much hesitancy and resistance" against meeting with then Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammad, whose infamous anti-semitic remarks long before the visit itself the princess had personally taken issue with, due to her own mother being of Jewish descent herself. In addition to that, the final layout of the touring event itself, which had left out several other Asian countries from the princess's itinerary, also attracted some criticism from their respective governments, with the British government being accused of "selective discrimination" by Suharto, whom was Indonesia's president at the time. In response, then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher declared that the layout of the event had been based on the princess's "physical and mental capabilities", arguing that it would have been too physically demanding for Catherine to cover the entirety of the Asian continent for her touring event.

Women's Empowerment & Animal Conservation

The Princess Royal at the inaugural Speak Up, Rise Up event in 2012

Prior to her retirement from professional tennis, Catherine has well been a public advocate for women's empowerment, which began roughly around the time the princess herself first became a professional model. For instance, while her decision to become involved in the modeling industry was first labeled by critics as being a "behaviour unfit of royalty", Catherine also earned much praise otherwise for her own unique take on the modeling industry, alongside her own natural physique, which the princess would often tie to in her lifelong advocacy for the modeling industry to be more "womanly inclusive". On January 2005, the princess sparked some controversy when she openly claimed that her known royal status might have actually been the decisive factor behind her success in the modeling industry, as she then claimed that her body's measurements "were not exactly what they were mostly looking for".

However, since her official entry into her royal duties and alike, Catherine has since well maintained her long held positions, as she went on to further publicly speak in conventions or official discussions, most of which are centered around women's empowerment. In particular, the princess, despite lacking in any personal experiences of domestic abuse herself, has also openly spoken out about the issue, having personally founded and established Speak Up, Rise Up, a program encouraging both married and unmarried British women to actively report any sightings of domestic abuse that affects either themselves or other people aswell. On July 11th 2014, in honour of her 47th birthday, Catherine was given the position of Honorary Advisor to the Minister for Women and Equalities by the then incumbent minister, Nicky Morgan, whom championed the appointment as being the "government's honest and undivided acknowledgment of the Princess Royal's works in the cause of uplifting women of all backgrounds in the United Kingdom".

Furthermore, in her capacity as a royal, Catherine is also passionately outspoken on behalf of the cause of animal conservation. For instance, during one of the first few interviews in which the princess first made public her support for the animal conservation effort, she publicly disclosed that she was first attracted to the cause itself at a rather young age, supposedly during a private family holiday to Kenya, where Catherine and her family had then visited the famed Maasai Mara National Reserve, known for its exceptional diversity in regards to wildlife habitats. "At first sight, Kenya does really attracts my eyes as some sort of animal's heaven, and since I'm British and not necessarily Kenyan myself, I feel like we can have another Kenya, or another Maasai Mara too, right here in the UK", said the princess further. Afterwards, on August 2019, in a manner similar to that of a previous one concerning the issue of domestic abuse, the princess herself once more spearheaded a program of her own, named Animals of Britain, which is solely dedicated towards the causes of both preserving and also improving pre-existing wildlife aswell.

In addition to that, Catherine herself has also worked closely and extensively with Princess Charlene of Monaco, whom she is said to be closely partnered with in matters relating to wildlife conservation and others.

Modelling Career

Catherine, Princess Royal
Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick
Born	Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick (1969-01-28) 28 January 1969 Buckingham Palace, London
Citizenship	British
Years active	1988 - Present
Spouse(s)	Alex Atkinson (m. 1999)
Partner(s)	Madonna (1985 - Present)
Children	Catalina Hernandez Lauren Atkinson Mary Atkinson Louise Atkinson Maya Atkinson
Parent(s)	King Charles III (Father) Lauren Bacall (Mother)
Modeling information
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Hair color	Blonde
Eye color	Blue
Agency	IMG Models

While furthering her studies in the United States, Catherine, under her alias of Jeane Watts, was first scouted by the New York-based IMG Models agency. Then, upon being successfully hired as a model by the agency, the princess initially opted on keeping her actual royal identity secret, although this was soon discovered by the agency's founder, Mark McCormack, whom nevertheless agreed to keep Catherine's true identity a secret, unless told otherwise by the latter herself. However, as a result of her then newfound priorities, both Catherine and McCormack agreed to initially put her modeling career on hold, although she would continue to remain under the agency itself, having first debuted at the 1988 New York Fashion Week show. Then, following a subsequent return to the industry, she proceeded to further model for various designers, namely Ray Aghayan, Steven Alan, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Betsey Johnson, Anna Sui, and others.

In 1997, a year mostly accepted as being the supposed peak of her modeling career, Catherine was listed by Forbes as being the fourth highest paid supermodel, with earnings reportedly amounting to around $3.5 million dollars. At the same time, Catherine was also unanimously praised by critics for her decision to publicly exhibit her "generally natural, and unexpurgated" physique, with then Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief, Bonnie Fuller, referring to the princess as the "absolutely authentic queen of models", and her involvement in the industry as a "breakthrough for women who aren't naturally fit for the modeling industry itself". In addition to that, she was also celebrated by many for her self-invented "no-editing clause", a special rule she reportedly employed during all five of her magazine cover photoshoots with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, in which she would allegedly refuse any editing to the final product of her photoshoots for the magazine, which she labeled as "deceiving" and "harmful to young women across the world". During one particular interview, she also openly encouraged future cover models to also employ the so-called "no-editing clause" technique, stating, "When you're going to bare your stomach or your body as a whole for the general public, you might as well make it as realistic as possible. You're an actual living human, not a fictional character that can be easily drawn up in any form by one's own pleasure or desire".

Following her retirement from Victoria's Secret in 2004, Catherine has since indulged herself at a much lesser scale involving the modeling industry, although she nevertheless continued to remain involved with modeling to a certain degree, through her appearances on Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue's 2006, 2007, and 2010 covers which, including her other two appearances in the years 1990 and 1997, established her as the most featured cover model for the magazine alongside Australian model, Elle Macpherson. At the same time, she has also modeled for various luxurious brands, ranging from Gucci to the likes of Versace and Louis Vuitton.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

On February 12th 1990, during the infant years of her modeling career, Catherine began attracting much attention towards her professional career when she was chosen to be the cover model for that year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue publication, thereby making her the youngest Swimsuit Issue cover model at the time at the age of twenty one, until in 2002, when she was surpassed by an eighteen-year-old Paulina Porizkova. The princess, whom sat strategically posed on top of the famed Darwin's Arch formation in Ecuador while donning a two-piece swimsuit for the magazine cover, was immediately met by both praise and criticism towards her decision, with supporters praising her general beauty, while detractors claimed that the photoshoot was against the princess's inherited royal character and standards. However, in response, Catherine herself promptly responded to critics by stating, "Young girls or women should not be balking at the sight of an actual princess choosing to exhibit her femininity and wear some revealing clothes as she likes. Or else, it is truly disheartening to realise that the antique, and outdated social norms of the past are still ingrained in our daily lives". At the same time, following an initial ban on the magazine's issues depicting the princess by the British Home Secretary, Catherine herself personally protested against the decision, which was soon overturned by a negotiated compromise, whereby the ones containing her likeness on the front covers would be allowed to be sold to the general public, albeit with a disclaimer attached to it, along with a small additional tax imposed on said publications.

Subsequently, in February 1997, Catherine would cause another stir among both the British public and media when she appeared once more for the magazine's annual issue that year, in which she appeared alongside African American model, Tyra Banks. In particular, the princess's apparent shift from a slightly less revealing two-piece swimsuit in her first and previous photoshoot to a more considerably revealing bikini apparel for her second respective photoshoot was also heavily criticised by a number of local media outlets, with The Telegraph calling the princess's departure from a "slightly acceptable form of apparel" as having crossed the "lines of royal decency". Nevertheless, thanks to swift intervention by the princess herself on the own magazine's behalf, this publication too was also able to escape any punishment or restrictions by the British government, having instead been simply subjected to an official disclaimer instead.

In the years following her departure from Victoria's Secret, Catherine herself opted to further appear on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue's annual magazine cover three more times in total, with her latest appearance marking her fifth overall cover appearance for the magazine, a record she shares alongside Australian model, Elle Macpherson.

Around February 2015, amidst general criticism levied against American model, Hannah Davis for her rather controversial pose for that year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine cover, the princess herself subsequently came out in support of the model, whom she first praised for her "bold" and "daring" personalities, before proceeding to rebuke the former's critics herself, whom she then referred to as a "culturally repressive" and "misogynistic" group of people. Then, in an interview on BBC One, Catherine further issued her public support for Davis, whose controversial decision of having her bikini bottoms slung dangerously below her hips for said magazine cover being personally equated by the princess herself to her own 1990 debut for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine.

Victoria's Secret

Soon after her infamous modeling debut on the 1990 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue photoshoot, Catherine herself, having consistently expressed further interest in the modeling industry, was soon afterward scouted and cast by the famed lingerie company, Victoria's Secret. Almost immediately, due to her inherited royal status, the casting proved much controversial and sensational in its entirety, with one British tabloid newspaper dubbing her "the Princess Royal of Lingeries". In a follow-up public interview with NBC, Catherine otherwise publicly defended her controversial decision, which she simultaneously likened to "women being allowed to vote when they were not allowed to before", along with it being a supposed milestone for women, as she then proceeded to claim, "It's not every day you get to see a strong, confident princess stepping out of the grand palaces onto the catwalk trying out fabulous lingerie herself. It's a rarity and has never been done before". Then, following her inaugural walk on the Victoria's Secret runway the same year, during which she gained much acclaim for both her beauty and her persistently bold nature, Catherine proceeded to make further appearances for the brand's succeeding shows in the following yeas, with the princess being chosen to open the show for a record of four times in total. For instance, following her 1994 appearance in that year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show event, Vanity Fair notably coined her "the sexiest British princess alive". In addition to that, popular rumours at the time spoke of Catherine being supposedly approached twice for the infamous Bond girl role, particularly for the 1995 and 1997 James Bond films, GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, which would have had Catherine acting alongside Irish actor, Pierce Brosnan in both films. Later on, these rumours were eventually confirmed by Catherine herself, whom in turn claimed that her decision to refuse the role twice in her lifetime was due to failed negotiations between her and the films' respective directors on how the Bond girl character in each respective films should be portrayed onscreen, with Catherine having supposedly demanded that the character itself be tailored specifically to the princess's own likings.

For the 2001 show, which would be Catherine's final opening for the brand, she was eventually chosen by organisers to wear the prized "Fantasy Bra", then officially known as the "Heavenly Star Bra" which, at a total worth of $12.5 million, is to date, the second most expensive lingerie set after Gisele Bündchen's "Red Hot Fantasy Bra/Panties", which totaled instead at a worth of $15 million. In the year 2004, she walked in her final Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, ending her contract under the brand with a total of thirteen catwalks to date.

In the years following her retirement from Victoria's Secret, Catherine has since been a public advocate for further inclusion and diversity relating to the brand's model requirements, having cited her own experience under Victoria's Secret. In one instance, the princess publicly proclaimed, "Intentions may vary among everyone that does, but personally, I see my modeling as if it was a torchlight to the young girls that are inspired just by looking at such a natural looking woman proudly exhibiting herself in very expensive lingerie". In both the years 2014 and 2018, Catherine aroused another substantial amount of controversy when she posed nude twice for the two respective editions of the book, Angels, published by photographer, Russell James, whom photographed, in addition to the princess herself, other leading Victoria's Secret models including Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Candice Swanepoel. Then, in light of immediate criticism chastising the princess for her double nude photoshoots despite a previous statement of hers supposedly abstaining against it in the past, and particularly towards her choice of props for the photoshoots which consisted of both her own tiara and a similarly designed royal coronation robes traditionally worn by British monarchs, Catherine herself then famously chided her critics of the photoshoots in a public interview, stating that she found it "personally baffling on how the media are still unfamiliar with a woman who's been posing in lingerie for almost three decades now", before adding that her choice of props was meant to give off a "more royal" vibe to her photoshoots, thus corresponding with her own royal background. In the same interview, Catherine, in her direct criticism of both sexism and ageism, also echoed a statement by fellow supermodel, Cindy Crawford, in which she emphasised how "retired and aging supermodels should not be clamped down by the reality of life that prevents them from feeling as proud of their own body as they want to be". In addition to that, according to some rumours at the time, Catherine's rather markedly controversial 2018 photoshoot had led to some consideration on revoking her "honorary advisor" status by the British government, although this was never ultimately implemented.

During one particular interview, Catherine publicly disclosed how she was almost unable to markedly wear the brand's coveted and annually produced Fantasy Bra that year, as the birth of her eldest daughter a few months before the annual fashion show itself had initially led the higher-ups to possibly consider for an alternative instead, as it was at first deemed unlikely for the princess to ever achieve an ideal postpartum body state, a feat which she ultimately achieved through "rigorous exercise and a strict diet", thus eventually allowing her to do so instead of being disallowed by proposed alternatives. Nevertheless, Catherine herself has also expressed much discontent with the "brutal exercise regimen" undertaken to achieve the aforementioned feat, stating that the regimen "felt more like a preparation for some bloody war, rather than simply being consistently healthy in general".

Professional Tennis

Following her departure from Victoria's Secret, Catherine, having had some experiences of her own in the game of tennis, with most of it being derived from her own training under her father, a former tennis champion himself in his youth, then chose to follow in the latter's footsteps, as she was then reported to have begun frequently playing tennis with her peers during much of her spare time. Subsequently, prior to competing in the Wimbledon Championships, Catherine first took part in several local tennis tournaments herself, achieving moderate success overall.

Just a year later, the princess would make her official debut in the sport by competing in that year's Wimbledon Championships tournament. To that end, despite it being her very first participation in the rather prestigious Grand Slam championship, Catherine's overall performance during the first few rounds was generally received with many appraisals, although she would eventually be eliminated from the competition upon decisively losing to her Portuguese opponent in the fourth round stage. Regardless of this, in the following year, upon decisively defeating Belgian-born tennis player, Justine Henin with a 2-1 victory, she eventually won her first Wimbledon Championships title, a feat which soon earned her much international coverage from various media outlets across the globe.

Prior to her eventual retirement from the sport in 2011, Catherine would go on to further achieve a streak of three consecutive victories at the Wimbledon Championships tournament, with wins in 2007, 2008, and in 2009, followed by two additional victories at the US Open in both 2009 and 2010, aswell as a penultimate title win at the Australian Open in 2010, and lastly a 2011 win at the French Open tournament, just prior to her own retirement that same year.

On July 7th 2011, Catherine ultimately announced her retirement from professional tennis, citing "mounting and demanding maternal duties", along with the birth of her youngest daughter, Maya Atkinson two years prior as the primary reasons for her eventual withdrawal from the sport.

Entrepeneurship

Sometime after her retirement from professional tennis, Catherine then publicly announced the creation of her own clothing line, which she named Bold Royal Designs, with the name alluding to both her "bold" personality along with her own background as a royal princess. The company, which was initially based strictly in the United Kingdom, Catherine's home country, saw instant success in its first few weeks of operation, leading it to be referred to as "one of Britain's fastest growing companies of the 21st century". A few months after its establishment, its first international branch was established in neighbouring Ireland, which was met with modest success. As a result, the company soon expanded into other nearby European countries, namely France, Belgium, and Norway, with the most recent ones being the Netherlands, and Germany. Prior to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the company was reported to be worth around $890 million (£534 million).

The company, despite being described by Catherine herself as the "general producer of women's everyday clothes and lingerie", was initially deemed by several observers as a potential rival to the more established American lingerie company, Victoria's Secret, for which the princess herself used to model. However, these assumptions were flatly denied and refuted by Catherine, whom openly stated that "it is not my intention to be the founder of a Victoria's Secret 2.0". In addition to that, the decision to incorporate "women's everyday clothes" in the company's catalog is also believed to have arisen from the princess's own personal desire to not have her own company being popularly depicted as a competitive rival to Victoria's Secret itself, with the latter company being mostly concentrated on the selling of women's undergarments and the likes, while on the other hand, the aforementioned inclusion in Bold Royal Designs's catalog would instead be seen as a break from the assumed rivalry between the two companies, whilst being in line with Catherine's own professed vision.

Marriage

Alex Atkinson

Around March 1997, in the midst of her then rising modeling career, Catherine first met her soon-to-be husband, Alex Atkinson, whom was four years the princess's senior, and was also then working as a lawyer in the state of New York. Then, it was alleged that despite a mostly successful first date, a follow-up second date however was initially discouraged, as Atkinson himself in particular once publicly stated in an interview, that he found it "somewhat difficult to understand a princess with such a dubious morality and whom trots on stages wearing expensive lingerie for a living". Eventually, after a subsequent and nearly aborted second date on Atkinson's part, the two did eventually do so afterwards (with Atkinson later claiming that singer, Madonna, a close friend of the princess herself had consistently pressuring him to do so), the two later went on several more dates together in the following months, although the couple was rarely seen together in public, presumably to protect Atkinson's own privacy by Catherine's own insistence.

Then, on August 5th 1999, the two were married to one another at Oheka Castle in Long Island, New York. The wedding ceremony, aside from its much pompous nature due to Catherine's own personal royal status and her accompanying fame in the United States, was also noted for its much symbolic choice of venue, as the Oheka Castle itself was once most famously used as the wedding venue for the princess's own parents, King Charles III and Lauren Bacall in 1946. In addition, the wedding ceremony itself also saw the debut of Catherine's niece, the then three-year-old Princess Alexandra, whom then served as the ceremony's flower girl, while singer, Madonna, expectedly served as her sole bridesmaid for the wedding. From their marriage, the couple has four children together, namely Lauren, Mary, Louise, and Maya.

Despite the relatively low profile nature of their marriage, both Catherine and Atkinson were alleged to had been involved in several "marital difficulties" themselves, with one anonymous source claiming that Atkinson is still unable to deal with his wife's rather "open and flamboyant nature", while another source alleged that Catherine's rather well-known friendship with the singer, Madonna is also an alleged point of major contention between the couple since both Catherine and the singer themselves were almost regularly photographed being rather intimate with one another, leading to further speculations suggesting that the princess is in an open relationship with both her husband and the singer, Madonna herself. Afterwards, when questioned regarding the current state of her marriage during one particular interview, Catherine subsequently denied the aforementioned rumours regarding the alleged problems surrounding her marriage, before subsequently proclaiming in the interview itself, "He [Atkinson] is very much aware of the nature of my friendship with Madge, and he understood it well that something like that could not just be suddenly broken up because one side is seeing it in a much more different way compared to the other. In a nutshell, you just cannot do so that easily when it comes to matters like this". Later on, a source supposedly close to the couple made the claim that the two have been practicing open marriage for "years on end", with Atkinson rumoured to have been in his own extramarital affair, much like the Princess Royal herself.

Eventually, on February 11th 2017, in a move that was described by many as a "long time coming", the couple announced that they were officially divorced. However, in a follow-up announcement, it was otherwise announced that despite their divorce, the two, whom were said to have maintained a mostly friendly relationship with one another since then, would continue to live and raise their four daughters together at Kensington Palace, where the couple has generally lived since the beginning of their marriage in 1999. Meanwhile, a source close to the former couple claimed that their four children together were "virtually unaffected" by their parents' divorce, with the exception of a small and largely insignificant change whereby the two would begin living in separate but adjoining rooms, whilst still maintaining regular contact with one another.

Evan Rachel Wood

Evan Rachel Wood as the character, Dolores Abernathy in Westworld

Sometime in 2016, while still officially married to her then-husband, Catherine would begin a long-term relationship with actress, Evan Rachel Wood, whom, in comparison to her then-husband, is roughly eighteen years the princess's junior compared to Atkinson himself whom is otherwise four years Catherine's senior. Irrespective of this, it was believed that the couple had first met one another when in a Rolling Stone interview that year, Wood claimed that she had been raped twice by a "significant other", a remark which reportedly drew the attention of the Princess Royal, leading the latter to soon arrange a private meeting between herself and Wood, whose claim of alleged sexual abuse "clicked well" with the agenda of Catherine's own program, Speak Up, Rise Up, which, among others, seeks to address domestic violence. Soon enough, it was said that the two immediately got along with one another at their first encounter, which, in turn, led to a few more subsequent meetings between the two, all of which were conducted in utter secrecy so as to avoid any unwanted attention. Later on, according to Wood, the Princess Royal's "genuine interest in addressing issues that disproportionately affect women, coupled with my own experience in the matter really charmed me and brought us two together as we know it". Around the same time, in what was later seen as the first few indicators of the beginning of the couple's relationship, Catherine herself subsequently starred as a largely minor character on a few episodes, supposedly on Wood's own behalf in the science fiction television series, Westworld, which Wood herself starred in as the central character of the show. However, as the princess had previously left no visible indicators of her actually being in a relationship with the actress, no major media outlets would even begin to speculate that the two are indeed in a romantic relationship.

A year later, around March 2017, their relationship would reach a new point when on that month, the Princess Royal officially divorced her husband of eighteen years, Alex Atkinson, with whom she was long to have been rumoured incompatible despite giving birth to four children in total by the latter. However, around this time, Wood was once more clear of any speculation surrounding her relationship with the princess by the media, as most media outlets believed that Catherine would instead be more interested in marrying either one of her longtime romantic lovers, namely the singer, Madonna, with whom she has been romantically affiliated since the late 1980s, and Julian Hernandez, a retired American taxi driver and with whom Catherine already had one illegitimate child, the American model and actress, Catalina Hernandez. Eventually, on September 6th of that same year, Buckingham Palace announced that the Princess Royal and Wood were officially engaged, much to the surprise of many with the exception of Catherine's own close relatives whom, by nature, were already made aware of the relationship but had otherwise agreed to keep it a secret for a specific period of time. On that same day, a rumour arose that with the intention of honouring the couple's marriage, Catherine's older brother, the then-King William VI had offered to officially make the actress Duchess of Buckingham should her marriage with the Princess Royal went ahead, which it ultimately did, although, in the end, Wood herself was never made a duchess, presumably on her own behest. Later on, in an interview with Vogue magazine, the actress told that she would "feel really awkward of being addressed as Duchess Evan, rather than just Evan, as it normally was", hence her refusal to accept the ducal title for herself. However, in celebrating the one year anniversary of her marriage with the Princess Royal, she was otherwise given and personally accepted the Royal Williamite Order award conferred on her by her sister-in-law, the American supermodel, Christy Turlington, whom did so on behalf of her own daughter, the reigning Queen Alexandra, for whom Turlington was then acting as regent, thereby officially making her Dame Evan Rachel Wood, an appointment that was met with some controversy, particularly by fans of singer, Marilyn Manson, whom in recent years have largely criticised the actress for her perceived lies against the singer and those whom considered Wood's acting career "insufficient" by comparison to that of actresses, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, both of whom were also made a dame themselves. In response, Buckingham Palace largely defended the decision, claiming that the appointment was "merely a matter of convenience for a spouse of a member of the British royal family".

The following day, which purposefully coincided with the date of Wood's 30th birthday, the two were married to one another in a private ceremony at the island nation of the Bahamas, with the wedding ceremony being attended by both of Catherine's and Wood's close relatives and friends, including the future Queen Alexandra, whom served as one of the select few bridesmaids to the Princess Royal and actor, Luke Hemsworth, Wood's Westworld co-star and brother of famed fellow actors, Liam and Chris Hemsworth, whom is notable for his portrayal of the superhero Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Almost immediately, not least due to the fact that the couple's relationship had largely been a secret from the public until that very moment, the couple's marriage proved quick to gain media attention, as Wood herself in particular, especially in the following years, would gradually become embroiled in a controversy which included her former fiancé, the singer, Marilyn Manson, with whom Wood was in a relationship from 2007 to 2010, coupled with her recent divorce from actor, Jamie Bell, with whom she had a son whom the actress currently has custody of. Consequently, it was then rumoured that from the very beginning, most of the Princess Royal's relatives, including her eldest brother, the King were said to have otherwise been opposed to the couple's relationship, an opposition not necessarily rooted in any form of homophobia, but rather out of the actress's own controversial romantic history, which, according to some, would not be an ideal antithesis to Catherine's own equally controversial romantic past. Moreover, several media outlets were also quick to note the eighteen-year age difference between the two, which was even slightly greater than that of Wood and Marilyn Manson's, with The Telegraph, in its remark on the royal wedding, commenting that "the Princess Royal might as well just marry her own firstborn daughter, who is only two years younger than her soon-to-be wife". Meanwhile, as a side note, as a result of her family's Jewish upbringing, Wood is therefore considered to be the second person to be of the Jewish faith to ever marry into the British royal family after Catherine's own mother, the actress, Lauren Bacall, whom like Wood was also born and raised as a Jew herself. However, much like Bacall too, Wood largely considers herself "non-religious", despite largely retaining her Jewish upbringing.

Soon after their wedding ended, the couple went on to spend their month-long honeymoon period at an initially undisclosed location, presumably in order to avoid detection by Wood's former lover, Marilyn Manson. Consequently, it was only after a week had passed since the end of their honeymoon period that the two would reveal that they had actually chosen Switzerland as the place to spend their month-long honeymoon period. In a subsequent interview with the BBC, Catherine revealed that she had initially proposed the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica as the place to spend their honeymoon, while, Wood, whom ultimately won in the decision-making process, had otherwise suggested Switzerland, so as to possibly be as distant as possible from Marilyn Manson, a longtime US resident, and the fact that Wood herself was reportedly "enchanted" upon looking up places to stay in the landlocked European nation, thereby influencing her decision to name Switzerland as her choice for a honeymoon venue.

A day afterwards, Wood, in addressing prevailing rumours that her marriage to the Princess Royal might effectively force a premature end for her growing acting career, revealed that she would "continue to do what I do best as an actress myself", while Westworld producer, J. J. Abrams, in a press conference addressing the aforementioned rumours, said that "Westworld fans would continue to see more of Evan, who would definitely stick around for as long as the show asks for it". Meanwhile, Catherine herself also personally commented on the rumours, stating that "even when married, I would absolutely not try to stop Evan from what she does best in her life, especially in regards to her acting career, which I would absolutely support all the way". Then, on November of that same year, the couple would make their first appearance together at the 2017 Whistler Film Festival in British Columbia, Canada, where Wood herself received an award of Best Performance for her role in the 2017 film, Allure. Most famously, as the actress herself was about to give her acceptance speech for the aforementioned award, she briefly locked lips with the Princess Royal, a moment which instantly gained considerable media coverage. On the other hand, prior to this occasion, the two, despite already being in a relationship by that time, chose not to attend any award shows together as a couple, for fear of prematurely exposing their relationship to the public.

Marilyn Manson performing at the Rock am Ring festival in June 2018

Since their marriage to one another, both Catherine and Wood have together been involved in numerous projects relating to both humanitarian and social causes, ranging from poverty to domestic violence (an issue that the two are mutually invested in), wealth inequality, deforestation, and others. For instance, shortly after their wedding on September 7th, Wood herself was made vice-chairman of the Speak Up, Rise Up program by none other than Catherine herself, the program's founding chairman. In addition to that, the two of them have both individually sponsored or involved themselves in numerous other related organisations concerning the issues that the two are largely passionate about. On February 2018, the actress personally testified before the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations in support of the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights Act. The following year, the actress personally testified before the California Senate to help pass the Phoenix Act, which extended the statute of limitations in domestic-violence cases from three to five years and requires police to have additional training, during which she accused her former partner, Marilyn Manson of various forms of abuses, aswell as anti-Semitism. Two years later, Wood finally named Manson as her abuser, which she did so on Instagram along with four other women, followed by others in the subsequent months.

In the years since, whenever the couple would be staying in the United States, a small group of armed professional bodyguards could reportedly be seen frequently escorting the couple, with the bodyguards themselves having been most likely hired by Catherine herself, so as to make up for the lack of protection she generally receives while in the United States, unlike in the United Kingdom, where as a working member of the royal family, she is generally entitled to and afforded with a security detail that has also come to include her own ex-husband, Alex Atkinson, for fear that the latter may be potentially harmed by Manson himself, although such an instance has since never materialised as of late. In addition to that, though unconfirmed, the Princess Royal herself was said to have even carried her late father's old Colt M1911, a handgun dating back to World War II. According to one source close to the couple, at one point, Catherine herself reportedly expressed the view that she would "not end up like poor Sharon back in 69'", a reference to the murder of actress, Sharon Tate by members of the Manson Family, whose infamous leader, Charles Manson, was one of the two choices of American cultural icons which forms the stage name of singer, Brian Hugh Warner, along with famed actress, Marilyn Monroe.

Meanwhile, on May 2020, Wood herself was formally granted a British citizenship, along with her son, whom, though unconfirmed, is reported to be currently going to a school in London, near the couple's residence of Kensington Palace, supposedly under a false alias. It is also said that in both public and private, Wood's son also "generally gets along" with Catherine's own four daughters, Lauren, Mary, Louise, and Maya.

In a November 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Catherine publicly revealed that since her marriage to Wood, she has been "cutting down" significantly on her past dalliances with both of her lovers, namely the singer Madonna and Julian Hernandez, the father to her firstborn child, Catalina Hernandez. When questioned behind the reasoning for doing so, the Princess Royal subsequently stated that she was doing so "out of a personal desire", which she later described as "wishing to give Evan a normal, happy marriage unlike my first, with no other romantic affairs on the side or cheating one another from either of us". Soon enough, this remark was met with much applause from members of the British public, whom praised the princess's apparent departure from her previously adulterous life, while others, particularly her most fervent supporters, otherwise bemoaned the princess's apparent shift in attitude, while also particularly accusing Wood of "taking away the Princess Royal's identity". However, in response to the criticism directed towards her, Wood later stated that while she was "personally opposed" to her wife's adulterous and philandering past, she would nonetheless "fervently support" Catherine's own hugely successful modelling career to "the best of my ability". The following month, Vogue magazine later included the two in a list of "2021's Most Famous Power Couples".

Coincidentally enough, on March 2022, it was announced that Wood, along with actor, Daniel Radcliffe have been casted for the upcoming biopic film, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, in which she would star as none other than the American singer, Madonna, Catherine's own former longtime love interest and whom has been rumoured to have been in an alleged "cold war" with the actress over their mutual romantic feelings for the Princess Royal, with the American media outlet, CNN, describing the casting choice, particularly for Wood, as a "rather embarrassing and awkward turn of events". Meanwhile, the singer herself has so far offered no personal comment on the matter, though it was rumoured that in secret, the singer reportedly persuaded for the film's producers to replace Wood with someone else to portray her in the film, an effort which, irrespective of its authenticity, proved to be a failure.

Generally, although both Catherine and Wood each have their own professional careers, Catherine's career as a supermodel is otherwise said to be more successful and pronounced in general than Wood's own career as an actress. Furthermore, Wood's modest net worth of $8 million is largely dwarfed by Catherine's own estimated gigantic net worth of around $4.6 billion, which at the time of the couple's marriage in 2017, became the basis for unfounded allegations and rumours that Wood was simply marrying the Princess Royal for her billion dollar wealth.

On April 7th 2022, the two jointly announced that they, along with a couple of currently undisclosed names would be collectively producing an untitled political drama film, which would notably become Catherine's very first acting credit for a film as opposed to a television series, and the very first instance in which both women would play major and interconnected roles of their own, for prior to this, Catherine had starred alongside Wood in the television series, Westworld, although only in a minor role as opposed to Wood playing a major character in the show. A few days later, Wood revealed on Instagram that the aforementioned upcoming movie would be officially titled Ladies of America, with Catherine and the actress herself playing the role of a female President and an equally female Vice President of the United States respectively, while the corresponding era of the film was vaguely defined by Wood as "modern-day", leading to intense speculations of it being set in 2016, and that it would most likely be a fictional depiction of a Hillary Clinton-like presidency following her hypothetical victory in the 2016 presidential election with Massachusetts senator, Elizabeth Warren believed to be the inspiration behind the vice president character in the film. Filming later began on April 14th.

Personal Information

A C4 Chevrolet Corvette and an Audi Q7, Catherine's two primary vehicles

As the eldest female child of a reigning monarch at the time, Catherine, following the death of her grand-aunt, Princess Alexandra, soon became the new Princess Royal, a royal but mostly honorary title customarily awarded to either the eldest daughters or the only daughter of a reigning sovereign at the time of a new appointment.

Similar to the likes of her own siblings and relatives, Catherine herself also owns a personal vehicle of her own, with hers being a white 1988 Chevrolet Corvette, which the princess had acquired by her own behalf and primarily used during her university years in the country. In addition to the Corvette itself, Catherine also owns a white Audi Q7, which the princess mostly drives during family trips due to its much larger available seating amount. At the same time, as a result of her late father's emphasis on flying skills and abilities, Catherine, whom much like the rest of her siblings, is said to have also been generally adept herself in flying a personal aircraft of her own, with the princess mostly piloting her late father's treasured de Havilland Tiger Moth airplane.

Much like her niece, the reigning Queen Alexandra, Catherine is also deeply invested in matters relating to a healthy lifestyle, as she would occasionally accompany the letter on visits to gyms or fitness centers around the country, along with having personally spoken out on the needs and importance of a healthy lifestyle herself on multiple occasions.

In regards to her alleged past opportunities of having been able to potentially star in a James Bond film herself, Catherine also further claimed that in addition to the roles she was supposedly offered on the aforementioned James Bond films, she was also supposedly offered a multitude of other roles aswell during much of the 1990s, with the princess later revealing in an interview that the majority of the roles apparently offered to her were "mostly sexual in nature", or otherwise meant to emphasize her "obviously physically attractive figure". Then, while offering some criticism at the nature of the roles she was offered in the past, Catherine has also emphasized that in addition to her own affinity with modeling, her refusal to ever become an actress herself was due to the fact that the princess feared "irreparably ruining" the legacy left by her parents, both of whom were considerably successful actors and actresses themselves back during the 1940s. In one particular interview, she was quoted as having said, "I wanted to avoid that particular scenario when if I were to reach a particularly low point in my acting career, both the people and the media are going to start comparing me to my own dear parents, both of whom I could respectfully say are incomparable to myself. For that, they should never be compared to anyone else by either the people or the media, especially against myself". Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, the Princess Royal also revealed that in 2004, presumably as a result of her overly sexual and lustful character at the time, she was then reportedly offered a role in the infamous drama series, The L Word, which soon become notorious for its depiction of lesbian sex from the female gaze, especially in the early 2000s. Ultimately, the princess never accepted the role offered to her by the producers of the show, a decision that was said to have come from a largely pragmatic standpoint, as according to Catherine herself, by appearing nude for the show's many lesbian sex scenes would only further endanger the popularity of her own family, particularly that of her older brother's, King William VI, whom around a year prior, was met with considerable controversy when Catherine herself, in an act of protest against the British participation in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, infamously posed nude on a British battle tank with a large Union Jack flag strategically draped over her private parts.

Then, in 2019, following the launch of its sequel, The L Word: Generation Q, Catherine once more refused to appear on the show as the main character despite rumours of her once more being offered such a role in the sequel show, with this time, the reason being that the princess herself has "other things in mind at the moment".

Nonetheless, despite her presumed initial reluctance over actually appearing on television or film, Catherine has since come to dabble, on atleast a few occasions, in the world of acting, with her most memorable acting credit being a minor character on several episodes in the ongoing television series, Westworld, starring her wife, the actress, Evan Rachel Wood. In addition to that, Catherine has also appeared in many ads promoting various products during her time as a Victoria's Secret Angel and also in a number of music videos, with the majority of them being of songs by the singer, Madonna. In this respect, she was also memorably featured in the music video for the late singer, George Michael's song, Freedom! '90, alongside her supermodel friends, including her future sister-in-law, Christy Turlington.

Due to the considerable amount of time spent living in the United States, Catherine is generally recognised as being rather proficient in both British and American accents of the English language, a trait she shares with her two older brothers and father. According to Catherine herself, while living in the United States at the time, her understanding and proficiency in the American accent were said to have been wholly useful in protecting her real identity while living in the North American country, whose people, as Catherine herself once said, were "less inclined to believe that a rather typically rich-looking white woman walking around in New York City is in fact an actual royal princess herself".

The Princess Royal in a 2008 interview with Starz

Despite her rather publicised lifestyle in both the past and current times, Catherine herself has publicly spoken out against what she termed as both the "hidden and naked consequences of a free media", as she once notably criticised a particular news outlet for simply labeling her as the "pretty face and body princess only", to which she responded by stating, "I would never deny that I am partly a pretty face and body princess, but I personally feel as being something much more than that myself, for the word itself partly means that I am something else too, and that is someone who wants to see all women succeed in their lives, and also a woman who loves animals very much and will do whatever she could to protect them". In addition to that, despite her well recognised works and contribution in women's issues, Catherine herself notably rejected in being termed a feminist, having personally said, "I felt like some of the things that I've done in the past might not be that feminist looking or sounding today, which makes calling me an established feminist much more problematic". The princess further stated that she prefers "being defined by her work rather than a socially constructed label".

Ever since the beginning of her much scandalous but also sensational friendship with American singer, Madonna, speculations surrounding the princess's exact sexuality have been subjected to extensive debate among both of her fans and critics, while the princess, much to the dismay of several LGBT groups in both the United Kingdom and the United States, has so far remained indecisive on the issue herself, as she described the act of "coming out" in regards to one's sexuality "should rather be personally, and not collectively dictated or forced upon oneself". Nevertheless, it is mostly believed by a majority of observers that Catherine is most likely a bisexual herself, with observers noting her various public displays of affection towards both her husband and also her longtime friend and singer, Madonna, with whom the princess was photographed with multiple times exchanging kisses in public, along with being sighted by the latter in intimate settings on a number of occasions.

Relationships

Despite having led a rather private life of her own during her early years in the United States, Catherine, according to some published articles by several American media outlets at the time, was rumoured to have been in a relationship with several established names of the time, ranging from actor, Tom Cruise, to drummer and Mettalica co-founder, Lars Ulrich, although all of these aforementioned relationships were never officially confirmed by Catherine herself, whom was noted to had once ridiculed the media coverage of her public life, having once said, "It's a shame how the media is missing out on things that are far more newsworthy on the other side of the ocean, such as what my beloved father and mother have done for the world in general since they got married, compared to things like what a British-American princess is doing right now in a foreign country". Ultimately, since then, she has so far only acknowledged three romantic relationships of hers in the past, namely one with the late legendary American singer, Michael Jackson, another with fellow singer, Madonna, and a third with Julian Hernandez, a now-retired American taxi driver, with whom she had the American model and actress, Catalina Hernandez.

During a 2017 appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Catherine publicly alleged that during her past diplomatic trips to Saudi Arabia in the 1990s, she was reportedly proposed to with a marriage offer by the recently divorced Saudi businessman, Adnan Khashoggi, whom reportedly offered the princess a hand in marriage (thereby making Catherine his co-wife alongside the Italian-born Lamia Khashoggi) in exchange for additional financial support meant to further boost her thriving modelling career at the time. However, the offer itself was promptly rejected by Catherine, whom later referred to it as "rather demeaning in nature" and "against my independent nature". However, she nonetheless asserted that she would have "little to no problems" in marrying someone of the Islamic faith herself, provided that the said person "understands and appreciates me for who I truly am as a person".

In an infamous 2007 interview, when questioned on whether the princess had "any thoughts of or had actually been involved in a group sex session before" as alleged by the American model, Jenny Shimizu in her "tell-all book", in which she claimed to have at one point simultaneously dated the Princess Royal, the American singer, Madonna, and actress, Angelina Jolie, she replied, "Personally, I'd admit that I do have thoughts of a group sex session every now and then, but of course, for something that is as delicate and unique such as that, I'd say that it only happens if anyone of us involved, irrespective of whom it might be, mutually agrees to it, which could go either way". However, in a separate interview the following year, she otherwise sharply denied Shimizu's claim, alleging that her worst fear when it comes to having a group sex session was the "increased risk of catching the nasty AIDS disease", which she claimed was the primary motivation behind her decision to have never been involved in one for her entire life.

Michael Jackson

Following the death of popular American singer, Michael Jackson on June 2009, Catherine publicly revealed in an interview several days later that she formerly had a "borderline romantic" relationship with the late singer from the early to mid-1990s, claiming that she had first met the latter during a concert sometime in 1993 and that the two "soon hit it off" following a private backstage meeting with Jackson. At the same time, in discussing the perceived anonymity regarding her relationship with the late singer at the time, Catherine then stated that her own family members and several contemporaries of hers from her close circle were wholly aware of the princess's relationship with Jackson, although following a reputed mutual agreement between the two that it was best for their relationship to never either be intentionally or unintentionally leaked to the press, the couple proceeded to only see one another on rare occasions only, with multiple extra steps said to had been taken whenever the two are physically together, as to preserve the confidential nature of their relationship, coupled with the fact that the singer himself was momentarily married to the daughter of popular singer, Elvis Presley, namely Lisa Marie Presley, from 1994 to 1996.

A generally active attendee herself of Jackson's concerts and tours, Catherine later publicly issued a eulogy of her own in light of the singer's death in June 2009, in which she described Jackson as an "adventurous, warm, and caring man", along with thanking the late singer for the "bittersweet memories", presumably alluding to their romantic relationship prior to her marriage. At the same time, Catherine would also go on to provide some amount of financial donations towards various charity organisations related to Jackson, and to several other organisations responsible for combating drug overdose, during which she declared, "Millions of people have lost their loved ones to drugs, and so did myself with a great friend of mine in my life. This whole problem must stop once and for all". Later on, around January 2019, following the release of the controversial documentary film, Leaving Neverland, which centers around the sexual abuse allegations relating to the late singer, the princess went on to publicly criticise the documentary film, calling it an "unabashed attempt at destroying the reputation of a much-celebrated, long-deceased man". In another separate interview, the princess reportedly compared the film itself to another controversial documentary film, The Real Charles III, which came out a year prior specifically centering on the late monarch's alleged hidden communist and Nazi sympathies, and which the princess herself particularly referred to as "nothing more than an idiotic, insulting film driven by the minds of bored-out conspiracy theorists".

Madonna

The Princess Royal and Madonna together at an event in 2011

In addition to her past romantic relationship with Jackson, Catherine was also and remains closely tied to famed American singer, Madonna, whom Catherine, in a manner similar to that of her own first meeting with Jackson, had first met backstage during one of the singer's concerts in 1985, not long after her own arrival in the United States. The singer, whom Catherine later described as the "American, non-royal and singing expert" version of herself, was quickly noted by observers as being among the princess's closest acquaintances while living in the United States, in addition to her own cousin and then Governor of New York, Princess Hedy, along with later romantic partner and singer, Michael Jackson. However, in later interviews, Catherine herself openly referred to the singer as her "big American sister", whilst revealing that up until her own marriage in August 1999, the princess generally lived together with the singer on an intermittent basis at a shared New York estate, along with having frequently accompanied the singer on her various tours inside and outside of the United States.

Due to the much publicised and sensational nature surrounding their longstanding friendship, both Catherine and Madonna consequently became constant subjects of various rumours regarding their own friendship itself, with one American news outlet once alleging that the princess was a "closeted but openly expressive bisexual woman", an allegation that Catherine herself only responded to with a rather indecisive answer, although the allegation itself would consequently lead to some considerable controversy back in the United Kingdom, with several British government ministers at the time reportedly urging the princess to "appropriately and benevolently" lessen her appearances or general contact with the singer, whose public character had been deemed "wholly inappropriate for a lady of royalty to be associated with". Ultimately, Catherine herself resisted any attempts in doing so by her critics, even going so far as to once jokingly declare the singer as her "lawfully-wedded wife and beloved soulmate", although this was quickly addressed by both women, whom promptly confirmed it as being a rather mutually agreed practical joke meant to "mess with the critics and doubters". Nevertheless, in later years, the princess was noted for having taken a more relaxed approach surrounding the rumours of her public friendship with the singer, during which she once proclaimed that "anyone is allowed to refer to the relationship as to how they see it fit, be it two bisexual women being closely in love with one another, or rather where one bisexual woman is simply close friends with a mostly heterosexual woman".

In addition to that, despite having a general track record of mostly defending the singer herself, Catherine eventually broke with this record when she chose not to publicly speak out in defence of the singer, following the latter's controversial The Girlie Show tour, along with her infamous appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman show, both of which had then earned the singer much criticism from the general public. Eventually, despite prevailing rumours at the time claiming that the two had broken off their friendship with the princess having supposedly departed back for the United Kingdom, the two were once more seen dining together at a New York City restaurant, thus dispelling any rumours of permanent separation between the two. Then, a couple of decades later, when asked by the host, Stephen Colbert why she did not chose to "protect her own dignity" by disassociating herself from the singer amidst an apparent low point in their friendship, Catherine replied by stating, "Even with all the bad things going on back then, I could never felt leaving someone who somewhat appeared and felt just like myself in almost every meaningful way. I could never leave the other half of myself even if I'm allowed to do so". At the same time, the princess also spoke out against malicious rumours suggesting that she was under both the singer's "physical and emotional control" at the time, claiming instead that her monumental decision was "based upon her own free will", and that the singer herself allowed her to voluntarily leave the country in order to ideally protect her own image.

The cover for the 1990 song, Justify My Love

Just three years later, the two once more attracted considerable controversy when they were featured together on a Vogue magazine cover that year, with their pose (which involved the singer lightly embracing the princess from behind with one hand over the abdomen and the other over her right shoulder with the singer's head resting on it), in addition to being described by The Telegraph as being a "not so subtle imagery of the two women being romantically attracted to one another", also arousing a substantial amount of controversy upon its release, leading to several British government ministers at the time calling for Catherine to be forcibly returned back to the United Kingdom, in an apparent effort to separate her from the singer, although the princess herself promptly responded by stating, "If this was to happen inside the United Kingdom, I'd be very much apologising, for while I am in the United Kingdom, I am her princess. But when I am in the United States, I owe no apology whatsoever for I am my own self, free to chart my own path and free to be with whomever I chose to be with". At the same time, several observers began to popularly nickname her "the British and of royalty born Madonna", in alluding to her own similarly "unapologetic, bold and confrontational nature", while some likened her to the famed Hollywood actress, Marilyn Monroe, whom, in addition to her acting career, was well-known for both her beauty and controversial love life.

In a 2015 interview on The Graham Norton Show, Catherine notably disclosed her participation in the widely controversial music video for the singer's 1990 song, Justify My Love, for which she reportedly made out with the singer. Then, when questioned on whether she "harboured any regrets" over her participation in the aforementioned music video, she issued a strong "no" as a response, before going on to state that "society, especially that of the male demographic, should not be determining what happens in something as simple as a music video, even if it involves some acts that would be labeled 'unorthodox' or 'non-normal' in general". She has also described the experience as "rather enjoyable and mesmerising", although she nonetheless concurred that she was "a little nervous at first", knowing that the music video would be immediately publicised in conjunction with the song itself.

Meanwhile, in a 2009 interview with The Guardian, Catherine also revealed that at one point, the singer, Madonna, whom, upon being given a main role in the 1993 film, Body of Evidence, then reportedly attempted to convice the Princess Royal to also appear on the movie in the role of Sharon Dulaney, in what would have been the princess's first acting credit. However, the somewhat initially curious Princess Royal, upon learning of the film's explicit nature and the requirement for her to appear naked for a sex scene in the film, was said to have ultimately refused such a suggestion, with the role ultimately going to actress, Julianne Moore, whom much like Catherine, has also been rather critical of the nudity required for the film, particularly the nudity involving her own character. She later said, "I'm fine with the public and my own family watching me gracefully and elegantly strut in a pair of lingerie on stage, but what I would definitely not be fine with is having them seeing me on screen naked and having sex, which I'm obviously aware is simulated, with another man for the sake of a movie". Despite this, Catherine herself did indeed appear in the music video for the singer's 1990 song, Justify My Love, in which she appeared to be "making out" with the singer, an act that she stressed only consisted of "nothing more than kissing and absolutely nothing like what you'd see in sex scenes from the movies".

Because of this, the song, primarily as a result of the princess's participation in its sexually explicit music video, would later become a subject of comparison to the 2007 song, Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand), in which actress and Catherine's later wife, Evan Rachel Wood, much like the princess herself, also appeared to be "making out" with her own love interest in the music video (albeit a male one), the singer, Marilyn Manson. However, unlike the case of Catherine and Madonna's music video, where both Catherine and later the singer jointly stressed that there were "no acts of penetration" involved in the making of the music video, there have otherwise been conflicting claims as to whether Wood and Manson themselves apparently had unsimulated sex in the music video, with both the actress and the singer offering differing claims of their own.

Meanwhile, in her own personal take on the issue of onscreen female nudity, Catherine fervently asserted that, if she was offered to appear nude onscreen, she would generally abide by her so-called "three golden rules", them being 1) Her nude physique would not be subjected to any visual editing 2) The nude scene would only be conducted in a closed space and with minimal crew presence 3) The nudity would ideally serve some real purpose other than simply eye-candy, particularly for male viewers.

In a separate interview, when questioned regarding her own opinion on the nude scenes oncsreen involving her wife, the actress, Evan Rachel Wood, Catherine replied, "Generally, I'm fine with it for as long as she's (Evan) fine with it too, and for as long as it remains a largely professional matter, and not necessarily something that veers into literal pornography". Additionally, Catherine also stated that she would "absolutely like", if given the opportunity, to ever star in a major film or television series along with her wife, or even be involved in a love scene with the latter.

Hypothetically, should she ever do so, Catherine would thereby become arguably the second female from the British aristocracy to ever appear nude onscreen, after Lady Clara Paget, daughter of Charles Paget, 8th Marquess of Anglesey, and whom notably appeared nude on several occasions while playing the role of Anne Bonny in the television series, Black Sails. Incidentally, Catherine has, in the past, personally applauded Paget for choosing to appear nude onscreen as an English aristocratic woman, while Paget herself, in an interview with Vogue magazine, said, "When I choose to appear nude as Anne for the series, something that an English aristocrat would obviously rarely do, I definitely felt that I owe her (Princess Royal) lots of thanks for perhaps being the first of us aristocrats to break the barriers and do something that we aristocrats wouldn't usually do, such as in her case, flashing herself in a pair of expensive lingerie".

The Ibiza Gran Hotel in Ibiza, Spain

Throughout the following years, Catherine would go on to feature in several of Madonna's other music videos, owing to both her close friendship with the singer and her own established popularity as a Victoria's Secret Angel herself. She also later named the singer as the overall godmother of her four daughters, with the second and third eldest being respectively named Mary (a variation of the singer's given name) and Louise (the singer's own middle name). At the same time, Catherine also began to discuss slightly more about her self-described "platonic friendship" with the singer, whom the princess popularly referred to as a "dearest dear" and an "overall sisterly sweetheart" throughout the course of several interviews. On both August 16th 2008 and most recently, on July 11th 2014, the two were notably photographed spending some personal time together at the popular Ibiza Gran Hotel on the Spanish island of Ibiza, where judging by the respective dates of the visits themselves, is believed to have been the venue where both the princess and the singer held their respective 50th birthday celebrations together in a more private manner.

On February 5th 2020, amidst the recently emerging coronavirus pandemic in both of their respective home countries, the two were reported to be dining together in a restaurant at the Isle of Man, which subsequently invited some criticism from the general public, whom accused the two of having bypassed the travel restrictions then recently enforced in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Nevertheless, in response to the reporting itself, Catherine herself promptly disclosed the nature of the meeting, stating that it had been intended to celebrate an "unbreakable and immovable thirty-five years long worth of friendship", before also publicly apologising in response to the restrictions breaking accusations.

Much like her other affair with Julian Hernandez, the more "romantic" and "sexual" nature of her relationship with the singer were said to have been gradually toned down since Catherine's marriage to actress, Rachel Evan Wood, with whom the princess is said to have enjoyed a strictly monogamous relationship, a stark contrast to her previous marriage to her husband, with whom she was said to have otherwise practiced an open marriage, with both the princess and Atkinson reportedly conducting their own series of affairs that were mostly tolerated by the other.

Julian Hernandez

Sometime in 1988, while undergoing her studies at the University at Albany, Catherine began a largely discreet romantic relationship with Julian Hernandez, an American taxi driver whom was atleast seventeen years her senior. Nonetheless, the relationship reportedly began when Hernandez, whom after just having delivered the princess back to her New York home, unexpectedly suffered a broken engine in his vehicle, which in turn led the princess herself to offer to temporarily accommodate Hernandez at her very own residence, thereby signifying the beginning of their long-term relationship.

Throughout the following months, the two began seeing one another on an almost day-to-day basis, which ultimately resulted in Catherine eventually giving birth to a daughter, Catalina Hernandez in May 1989, at the mere age of twenty. Initially, on Catherine's part, the princess herself at first opted to take a temporary break from her university studies, so as to accommodate her newborn child, although this responsibility was soon transferred to Hernandez's wife, whom was initially unaware of the child's history, having been initially told that the aforementioned child was "an unfortunate orphan" belonging to a friend of Hernandez, while Catherine herself opted to distance herself from her romantic partner, out of respect for the couple's marriage. However, around a year later, when the child's true history was ultimately discovered, the couple's marriage soon became permanently damaged, with Hernandez's wife subsequently filing for a divorce and taking their two children together away with herself.

Soon enough, the princess and the now-divorced Hernandez opted to reconnect with each other once more, which led to Hernandez opting to permanently live together with the princess, whom as a result of this new arrangement, promptly took up her duties as a mother to their single child together. At the same time, under the guise of avoiding any major controversy should the couple's relationship be leaked to the media, both Catherine and Hernandez together took various extreme precautions so as to not be accidentally seen together in public by the paparazzi. Thus, for the next ten years or so, the couple largely lived together as a family of three at the princess's Wales House residence, before Catherine herself eventually moved back to the United Kingdom following her marriage to her husband on August 1999. However, despite abruptly leaving her romantic partner and their now ten-year-old daughter behind in the United States, Catherine nonetheless continued to personally provide for the current family of two, by way of a monthly donation of $2,500 every single month until their daughter eventually reaches the age of eighteen. It was later revealed that not long after Hernandez herself turned eighteen years old, the two eventually reconnected with one another, with Hernandez herself being subsequently considered as an official member of the British royal family, although, unlike her cousin, Princess Victoria, Duchess of Cambridge, she was otherwise not given a princely title for herself, as per her own request.

On May 11th 2009, in an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, the princess finally acknowledged herself as the biological mother of her illegitimate daughter, Catalina Hernandez, while also publicly disclosing her previous romantic relationship with her past lover, Julian Hernandez, which immediately sparked considerable controversy, with critics promptly criticising her once more for her openly controversial and sensational lifestyle, which by that point had already been of public knowledge, while supporters otherwise lauded the princess for her decision to publicly reveal her past romantic relationship, regardless of the immediate consequences. Meanwhile, Layla Parry of The Independent otherwise wrote that "while the act of publicly disclosing the controversial and sensational details of one's lifestyle, thereby opening one's self to public criticism and evaluation should not necessarily be normalised or tolerated by society, one could not simply ignore how this whole incident itself could also be seen as an extension of the Princess Royal's longstanding and arguably empowering attitude of defying society's traditional expectations in the face of an ever-changing world". On the other hand, Catherine, whom in responding to criticism surrounding her decision to reveal her past romantic relationship with her former lover, said, "For as long as that person knows how to and is able to commit to a relationship I personally desire, I don't mind being in love with that person, be it a man or a woman. If I happen to have a million romantic partners that I personally found suitable and appropriate for myself, then so be it".

Much like her other affair with the singer, Madonna, the more "romantic" and "sexual" nature of her relationship with Hernandez were said to have been gradually toned down since Catherine's marriage to actress, Rachel Evan Wood, with whom the princess is said to have enjoyed a strictly monogamous relationship, a stark contrast to her previous marriage to her husband, with whom she was said to have otherwise practiced an open marriage, with both the princess and Atkinson reportedly conducting their own series of affairs that were mostly tolerated by the other.

Controversies

Jeffrey Epstein

Since her rise to personal prominence in the early 1990s, Catherine herself has often become the subject of various controversies, be it regarding her well-known and much controversial lifestyle, aswell as her own personal views, which have occasionally brought her both praise and criticism from various sectors of the general public.

Around July 2019, during a subsequent interrogation which followed the arrest of disgraced financier and later convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein by American authorities, the princess herself then consequently became a subject of an intense media coverage by various news outlets in both the United Kingdom and the United States, when it was alleged by the financier that he and the princess were momentarily "intimate partners" during the early to mid-1990s, a claim that was promptly dismissed by the princess herself. Then, in an interview with the BBC just days after Epstein's arrest, Catherine, whom in response to the allegations, claimed that she had never personally met Epstein himself, while also admitting that she had nevertheless personally heard of the financier and his illicit activities at the time, a majority of which the princess claimed to have otherwise mostly heard through hearsay.

At the same time, Catherine's own close friend and singer, Madonna, whom was known to have lived almost extensively with the princess herself during much of the latter's time in the United States, otherwise took to publicly defend the princess against the financier's allegations, which the singer publicly denounced as "falsely misleading" and "unashamedly derogatory in nature". Afterwards, during an interview with CNN, the singer said, "If Kate (Princess Royal) was indeed involved in something with him (Epstein), then I would have known all about it, for being somewhat of an older sister figure to her back then, she would have told me everything if what both she and Epstein were involved in are truly wrong and immoral". On July 28th that same year, the FBI then announced that they were intending to actively investigate the princess themselves, on the grounds of the latter being a potential key witness in the case, making it the first and only instance of a member of British royalty to ever be investigated by a government agency in regards to a criminal case. However, just days after Epstein's suicide on the following month, the agency itself later announced that they had ceased any further investigations into the princess, stating that the latter was "wholly unreliable and unfit to become a key witness to the case due to a proven lack of active communication between the Princess Royal and Mr. Epstein".

Later on, during an interview on 60 Minutes, Catherine proceeded to claim that she had in fact met the late financier herself in the past, although it was stressed as being a one-time instance only. Nevertheless, it was said that during one afternoon in late 1985, the Princess Royal, whom was then in the midst of going to a nearby restaurant for lunch during her given free hours at her university, was then suddenly approached by a thirty two year old Epstein, whom Catherine subsequently alleged to have afterwards unexpectedly offered her a supposed modeling gig of her own under the sponsorship of one of his close associates. Ultimately, this offer was never seriously considered by the Princess Royal herself, whom was said to have then abruptly ended the conversation following the arrival of her close friend and singer, Madonna, whom was herself initially oblivious to the situation. Eventually, upon learning of Epstein being investigated by American authorities in 2005 for having paid a number of girls to have sexual acts with him, the princess was quoted as having said, "The news made me want to hug and thank her (Madonna) so badly, which was exactly what I did later that day for having unknowingly saved me from suffering the same fate as those poor girls and women". On the other hand, the singer herself otherwise said, "When I learned of what was really going on between him (Epstein) and those girls, I definitely felt sorry and heartbroken for them, but at the same time, a huge part of me also felt relieved and much proud for having saved a much precious young woman, who is also a close lifelong friend of mine back then from suffering the same fate aswell without even knowing it at first myself".

Donald Trump

Since the beginning and even after the end of the presidency of real estate mogul, Donald Trump, Catherine is known to have generally been an ardent critic of the former president, whom the princess has largely criticised and derided in most of her speeches or interviews regarding the real estate mogul, with the first such instance being a July 2016 interview with the The New York Times, in which Catherine revealed that in the early 1990s, she was reportedly "bombarded" with a number of marriage proposals by the real estate mogul, whom was said to have first came into contact with the British royal at a New York social event attended by both Trump and Catherine. Then, according to Catherine herself, soon after returning back to her residence later that day, she was subsequently met with a "wave of phone calls", all of whom were believed to have been from the real estate mogul, whom she subsequently claimed to have "immediately ask for my hand in marriage, telling me that a British princess like myself is worth millions more than your typically beautiful American model", a statement most likely referring to Trump's own wife at the time, the Czech-born Ivana Trump. Ultimately, Catherine herself was reportedly discouraged from ever following up on the real estate mogul's marriage proposal, particularly by her close friend and long-term romantic partner, the American singer, Madonna, whom was otherwise not personally fond of Trump herself.

Some time afterwards, according to a popular rumour involving both the princess and the real estate mogul, it was said that at one point, Trump himself was reportedly beaten up by Catherine's older brother, the later King William VI, whom reportedly did so upon hearing claims that the real estate mogul was "incessantly harassing" the Princess Royal, which in turn culminated in a supposedly short scuffle at Trump's own New York residence, during which the future British monarch reportedly warned the real estate mogul to "indefinitely stay away" from the Princess Royal. However, in a 2017 interview, Trump himself otherwise disputed the authenticity of the rumour, claiming that the two "had never met in person", while also claiming that the Princess Royal herself was "actually very into me", but was supposedly prevented from doing so by her parents, particularly by her father, the late King Charles III. In response, Catherine herself largely denied the claim that she had any interest in marrying the real estate mogul, although she did confirm Trump's claim that her own father was against such a marriage, stating that "he (Charles) never really liked him (Trump) anyway".

Iraq War

Around April 2003, in the midst of the largely controversial invasion of Iraq that year, the Princess Royal, whom is said to have been a public opponent of the invasion herself, became the subject of a nationwide controversy, when she, in an apparent act of protest against the invasion, famously posed nude herself on the monthly cover of the British Vogue magazine issue that year. In the midst of this, her decision to appear completely bare on the magazine cover while also having a Union Jack flag strategically draped over her entire body as to otherwise mask her private body parts was almost immediately criticised and also interpreted by many as a "shameful act of disrespect towards her own country's national pride", aswell as her decision to include the British-made main battle tank, the Challenger 2, which the princess leaned against in the magazine cover itself, which was particularly criticised by a number of British military officials, with the British Army's then Chief of the General Staff, General Mike Jackson even going so far as to demand the princess herself to be criminally prosecuted under the grounds of "treason", although this was never effectively implemented by the British courts. At the same time, one British news outlet was said to have infamously dubbed her "the Jane Fonda of the 21st century", in likening the princess's controversial photoshoot to that of actress, Jane Fonda's own photographs of her taken while the actress herself was in the Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam War.

Later on, in addressing the immediate controversy surrounding her nude photoshoot that year, Catherine promptly defended her decision to do so, arguing that her photoshoot was "no different to the many protests the American public staged against the Vietnam War during the 1960s".

Interests

Much like her older brother, Prince William, Catherine herself is also deeply fond of the animal conservation cause, having been an official and active supporter of the cause since the early 2010s, which followed her retirement from professional tennis. Furthermore, in a conjoined manner with her older brother, Catherine herself has personally invested a portion of her own wealth dedicated to improving pre-existing national reserves across the United Kingdom. At the same time, she would also occasionally visit a number of national reserves located in the southern half of the African continent, particularly in the countries of Kenya and South Africa, where Catherine was said to have mostly taken part in wildlife observation activities herself, along with occasionally patrolling the national reserves themselves against any intruding poachers.

Titles & Honours

• 28 January 1969 - 11 July 1975 Her Royal Highness The Princess Catherine
• 11 July 1975 - Present Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal

Ancestry

Ancestors of Catherine, Princess Royal

8. George V of the United Kingdom 4. Edward VII of the United Kingdom 9. Princess Sophia of Prussia 2. Charles III of the United Kingdom 10. Wilhelm II, German Emperor 5. Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia 11. Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg 1. Catherine, Princess Royal 12. Zalman Perski 6. William Perske 13. Sheyna Yofa 3. Lauren Bacall 14. Max Weinstein 7. Natalie Bacall 15. Sophia Bacall