The Princess of Wales surprised viewers as she opened the final of Eurovision with a touching piano tribute to Ukraine.
Kate seemed assured as she performed alongside played alongside last year’s Ukrainian winners, the Kalush Orchestra in a pre-recorded clip from Windsor Castle.
But if the 41-year-old is (justifiably) proud of her efforts, it is perhaps Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton, who royal fans should be thanking.
According to author Christopher Wilson says that it was Carole who had to drag her daughter to endless piano lessons.
The Princess of Wales has opened the Eurovision song contest with a piano performance in a touching tribute to Ukraine
For, while the future Princess of Wales excelled at sport as a child, she struggled with the piano.
Mr Wilson wrote in The Express: ‘Driven by a burning desire to see her children succeed, Carole, now 68, even took time out to take lessons along with them in the hope of achieving better results.’
Kate’s teacher, Daniel Nichols, also told The Express: ‘I don’t think anybody expected her to be a concert pianist, but she did what was asked and she enjoyed it, which is the main thing.’
But at Eurovision, Kate, wearing a beautiful one-shouldered blue gown from Jenny Packham and earrings from the late Queen Elizabeth, seemed the picture of confidence.
The Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast by the BBC, reached around 160 million viewers world wide. The Princess of Wales’s participation had been kept a closely-guarded secret.
Carole Middleton with her first daughter, Catherine, later to be Princess of Wales. Although originally from a working class background, Carole was determined to better herself and her family – and could one day be the first middle-class queen mother
Although she enjoyed games and sport as a child, Kate was less keen on taking piano lessons. Here she is pictured aged three while on holiday in the Lake District
Michael Middleton with his daughters Kate and Pippa in Jordan, where the family lived between 1984 and 1986
Kate and Carole visiting The Spirit Of Christmas Shopping Festival in London in 2005
Although the daughter of a part-time lorry driver, Carole has embraced what are commonly described as middle class values of hard work and educational aspiration from the very beginning.
You might say, in fact, that she will become the country’s first Middle Class queen mother.
In comparison with royal life, the sheer normality of the Middleton’s world is said to have been a major attraction for Prince William when he joined their family.
Kate is the eldest of three children: sister Pippa, 39, was born in September 1983, while her younger brother James, 35, arrived in April 1987.
She has previously described a ‘very happy’ childhood, saying:
‘It was great fun and I’m very lucky I come from a very strong family. My parents were hugely dedicated.’
Her home was a small semi-detached house in the village of Bradfield Southend until the age of two, when the family moved to Amman in Jordan for two and a half years.
Michael, now 73, was working as a British Airways Manager.
Kate, who also played the flute in the school orchestra, took additional piano lessons at the request of her mother, Carole. Pictured: The Princess of Wales and her Carole Middleton at the first day of the Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse in June 2017
From the age of three Kate attended Assahera nursery school in Amman.
In September 1986 the family returned to their home in West Berkshire, and the future Princess of Wales started at St Andrew’s School in Pangbourne, where she remained until July 1995.
From the outset, Kate has adopted a variety of interests – aside from sport – including music, arts and crafts, cooking and gardening. This has served her well as a working royal.
With the help of money from the Middleton side of the family, Catherine and Pippa would attend prestigious Marlborough College.
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