‘The Crown’: Did Kate Middleton Really Meet Princess Diana?

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Crown, Season 6, Part 2, Episode 7, “Alma Mater.”]

The Crown has reached its end and seems to be delivering even more fiction in the second half of its sixth and final season in the form of a flashback featuring Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and… Kate Middleton (Ella Bright)?!

Yes, you read that right. In the final season’s seventh installment, “Alma Mater,” the future royal meets Princess Diana and Prince William (Rufus Kampa) in a sequence set in December 1996. As the episode opens, Kate and her mother Carole (House of the Dragon‘s Eve Best) peruse the dress racks at a London department store before exiting out onto the street.

(Credit: Netflix)

Across the way, on the other sidewalk, a frenzy is forming as Princess Diana and Prince William hand out copies of The Big Issue magazine featuring a story about drugs. Noticing this, the mother and daughter make their way across the street to pick up an issue and donate money for charity.

When Kate goes to hand Princess Diana the money, she’s told how generous her donation is, asking for the girl’s name, Carole announces it’s “Catherine,” before Kate interrupts her mother to let Diana know, “Kate” is fine. Thanking Kate once again, Diana asks William to thank Kate as well, but the young future loves are caught up in a smitten moment, hinting at their upcoming romance.

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While The Crown has certainly taken some liberties when it comes to playing with reality, this is probably one of the most apparent examples, because Kate Middleton never met her husband’s mother. Kate Middleton said as much earlier this year in April when she was caught on camera saying, “I never met her, sadly.”  The remark was shared on social media at the time.

In other words, a simple and short statement says all viewers need to know about The Crown‘s depiction of this flashback, is that it’s entirely false and used to create a thematical throughline leading up to Kate and William’s future romance.

What do you think of the show’s choice to include this flashback? Let us know in the comments section, below.

The Crown, Streaming Now, Netflix