Socialite. Fiancee of Britain's Prince William. Born January 9, 1982, in Berkshire, England, to pilot Michael and flight attendant Carole Middleton. In 1987, the Middletons founded their own party goods company, which helped to make them millionaires. Kate, the oldest of three children, has a younger sister, Philippa ("Pippa") and a younger brother, James. Middleton attended the exclusive St. Andrew's Prep School until she was 13 and then Marlborough College, where she passed 11 GCSEs and three A-level exams.
Like Prince William, Kate Middleton was a student at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, where she graduated in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in art history. In 2001, while in her second year at the University of St. Andrews, Middleton met Prince William of Wales. Since 2003, she and the prince have been in an on-again-off-again relationship that has been the subject of intense media scrutiny.
On November 16, 2010, it was announced that Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged after the prince proposed during a vacation to Kenya. The wedding is scheduled for April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey in London. The couple made plans to live in North Wales, where Prince William is stationed with the Royal Air Force, after their marriage.
In February 2006, it was announced that Middleton would receive her own 24-hour security detail from the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department. This led to rumors that Middleton was being groomed for a position of royalty. In 2007, however, the couple publicly split. Media reports said otherwise, as Middleton had been spotted at several royal events accompanied by the prince, and other rumors indicated that the couple had been living together. Both parties denied the rumors.
In November 2006, Middleton accepted a position as an assistant accessories buyer with the British clothing chain Jigsaw, but it was reported that she left the company in order to study portrait photography. In 2010, it was revealed that Kate Middleton had been working on plans to start a new bakery business with her brother, James. Since 2007, James Middleton has been running The Cake Kit Company, with the goal of encouraging kids to cook and making the baking of party cakes easier.
