Moment Kate Middleton is told off by Queen Camilla during public royal outing

Princess Kate is known to have a good relationship with her step-mother-in-law, Queen Camilla. 

They have much in common, acting as key support systems for their husband, and royal commentators have said that Camilla offered Kate advice and guidance on navigating royal life when she first joined the family.

The two royals are often seen riding together in carriages for events like Trooping the Colour and stand side by side at national remembrance services. But on one occasion, Camilla stepped in to reprove the Princess at a public-facing event.

At the time, Kate was the Duchess of Cambridge, following her marriage to Prince William in 2011. 

She joined the rest of the royal family for the 2019 Order of the Garter, taking her place to watch the ceremony alongside Camilla and Sophie, now Duchess of Edinburgh.

Kate gets distracted – and Camilla notices

Also in attendance was Queen Maxima, whose husband King Willem-Alexander was being bestowed the title, along with King Felipe of Spain. And she proved a bit of a distraction for Kate.

The two ladies got caught up in their conversation and almost missed an important part of the procession.

But Camilla was there to step in, and tapped Maxima on the shoulder to remind the pair to face forwards as they parade passed by. Sophie, meanwhile, was also seen quickly taking her place in the lineup next to now-Queen Letizia of Spain.

The Order of the Garter was founded by Edward III in 1348 to recognise contributions to public service.

The reigning monarch – now King Charles – leads the order, and membership is strictly limited to 24 active members at a time, known as Knights Companion or Ladies Companion. 

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They include other senior British royals, such as Prince William, as well as foreign monarchs, who are known as Stranger Knights and Ladies. The monarch chooses new members personally to honor people who have given major public service or national contributions.

In 2025, King Charles stripped his younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, of his prestigious Order of the Garter, and Royal Victorian Order honours.

The disgraced former prince was previously made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter in 2006 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 2011 by his mother, the late Queen.

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But Charles directed that Andrew’s titles should be “cancelled and annulled” and his name “erased” from the historic orders’ registers.

Andrew had already been stripped of his birthright to be a prince and an HRH and had his Duke of York title removed from the Roll of the Peerage by Charles for his ‘serious lapses of judgment” over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The entry in The Gazette, the UK’s official public record, read: “THE KING has directed that the appointment of Andrew Albert Christian Edward MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, dated 23 April 2006, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.

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“THE KING has directed that the appointment of Andrew Albert Christian Edward MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR to be a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, dated 19 February 2011, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.”

Who is in the Order?

Members of the British royal family in the Order alongside King Charles and Prince William include the Duke of Kent, Princess Anne, the Duke of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, Prince Edward, Queen Camilla and the Duchess of Gloucester.

Foreign monarchs bestowed with the honour – stranger Knights and Ladies – include King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Emperor Akihito of Japan and his son, Emperor Naruhito, King Felipe VI of Spain and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.