The world has become accustomed to seeing Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, don her glamorous tiaras and exude glamour at State Banquets and other notable royal appearances.
However, when she’s at home with her three children - Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis - she loves nothing more than indulging in a bit of comfort food with the family like the rest of us.
After a visit to Lavender Primary School back in 2019, Matthew Kleiner-Mann, the Chief Executive of the Ivy Learning Trust, told People how Kate shared her love of a cheesy pasta, with her three children actually working together to cook it up for her.
He shared, "She was telling us how much her children love cooking and how they cook for her. They made cheesy pasta the other day.
"One stirs the flour, one puts the milk and butter in. And they make salads and stuff."
It’s not the only dish the royal children have learnt to make, with another "messy" favourite shared by the Princess when she was pregnant with Louis.
Kate revealed that she’d been learning to make pizza dough from scratch with her children. Per Hello!, she shared this back in 2018 when visiting St Luke’s Community Centre to help prepare food for the Commonwealth Big Lunch.
"I've done that with George and Charlotte - making pizza dough," she declared. "They love it because they can get their hands messy."
We know that Kate can be adventurous with food - previously sharing her love of curries and even breaking royal protocol during a 2022 Caribbean tour by eating raw conch (a local shellfish) in the Bahamas - but her revelation of loving a simple, comforting cheesy pasta or a homemade pizza fits with another insight that was shared recently.
Royal expert Emily Andrews revealed that Kate has a very simple request whenever she’s out and about on royal engagements, fizzy drinks and crisps.
Emily shared on a social media post discussing royal riders, "The Princess of Wales is never without a can of Diet Coke or some Hula Hoops if she gets peckish".
The Princess can enjoy tucking into an indulgent plate of cheesy pasta now and then because it’s understood that, for the most part, she follows a very healthy lifestyle.
It’s been widely reported over the years how Kate follows a vegetable-packed diet, opting for vegetarian or plant-based dishes at lunchtime, and a go-to smoothie full of kale, spinach, romaine, blueberries, spirulina, and matcha.
She’s also a known athlete, regularly playing tennis and sharing that she’s a fan of cold water swimming. Appearing on Mike Tindall’s The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast in 2023, she shared, "I genuinely love all sports. Personally, I love swimming wherever I can. Cold swimming - the colder, the better.
"I absolutely love it. Slightly to the point where William's [saying] 'You're crazy' and it's dark and it's raining. I will go and seek out cold water."
