Why royal fans think Kate Middleton has a 'birthday curse'

Kate Middleton was born on 9 January 1982, and therefore just turned 42 this week. However, while you'd expect her birthday to be an overwhelmingly happy experience, some royal sleuths have noticed a frustrating pattern in Kate's life — that unfortunate things seem to happen around the time of her special day, which likely taint her joy slightly.

Because of this, some royal reporters and commentators believe that poor Kate is subject to a "birthday curse," with four of her recent birthdays turning out to be less than ideal. The first of these instances was in 2020, when on 8th January, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their impending royal exit. Kate must have known this would mean more pressure on her shoulders to take on royal duties, plus it likely meant that her husband Prince William and the rest of his family were really preoccupied — and won't have had as much energy to dedicate to her on her special day.

The second 'bad' birthday was in 2021 when Kate's day coincided with the start of the third and final COVID lockdown, which was implemented — again — on 8th January. The third was in 2022, with the Omicron variant and its associated restrictions on socialising.

Finally, the last was in 2023, when Prince Harry's shock memoir Spare was published on 10th January, so just after her birthday. That said, in the days prior to its release, some of the most shocking excerpts from the book had already been revealed, and some of them didn't paint Kate in the most flattering light.

Spare notably detailed Kate's arguments with Meghan, as well as alleging that she and William encouraged Harry to wear his infamous Nazi costume in 2005.

However, in 2024, there were no particularly dramatic royal events just before the Princess' birthday, so that's progress!