A dainty duchess. Princess Kate exhibited some subtle fancy footwork during a February photo opportunity — and the moment is now going viral.
During her visit to Copenhagen two months ago, the Princess of Wales, 41, posed for pictures with Queen Margrethe of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary. After the queen, 83, motioned for Kate to stand closer to her, the Duchess of Cambridge discreetly scooted closer to the monarch via a heel-toe slide which social media users have dubbed the “Princess Shuffle.”
A clip of the moment shared by TikTok user @theroyalwatcher on Monday, April 24, already has more than 1 million viewers and 70,000 “likes.” Fans took to the comments section to praise the royal’s moves.
“And in heels! I would definitely get caught on the carpet and wipe out 😂,” one commenter wrote.
@the.royal.watcher #fyp #katemiddleton #katemiddletonstyle #princessofwales #princewilliam #williamandkate #coronation #royalfamily #princess
Another chimed in: “Shufffffffle!! Discreet and elegant love you Kate 🥰🥰🥰.”
Some social media users, however, thought the technique was unnecessary.
“This will never not be funny to me 😂 the Queen literally invited her to come in closer. She didn’t need to shuffle in 😭,” one person commented.
Another added: “This is less discreet and less smooth than just taking that tiny step over.”
In addition to creating a viral moment, Kate’s trip to Copenhagen marked her first solo overseas tour since 2017. During her visit, she stopped by the Copenhagen Infant Mental Health Project (CIMHP), which aims to promote healthy relationships between infants and their parents.
A statement from Kensington Palace at the time noted that the trip had given the duchess an opportunity to see how Denmark had “created an enabling culture for early childhood development, specifically how it has promoted infant mental wellbeing alongside physical health, and how it harnesses the power of nature, relationships and playful learning in the first five years of live.” The St Andrews alum launched her own project centered around the well-being of children — the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood — in June 2021.
Fans’ support of the “princess shuffle” comes less than two weeks before Kate and her husband, Prince William, will reunite with Prince Harry at King Charles III’s coronation on May 6. The occasion will mark the duchess’ first time seeing her brother-in-law, 38, since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022 — and since the release of Harry’s January bombshell memoir, Spare.
In the tell-all, the Duke of Sussex claimed that William, 40, and Kate — who share sons Prince George, 9, and Prince Louis, 5, and daughter Princess Charlotte, 7 — encouraged him to dress as a Nazi soldier for a 2005 costume party.
“I went up and down the rows, sifting through the racks, seeing nothing I liked. With time running out I narrowed my options to two. A British pilot’s uniform. And a sand-colored Nazi uniform. With a swastika armband. And a flat cap,” the BetterUp CIO wrote. “I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said. I rented it, plus a silly mustache, and went back to the house. I tried it all on. They both howled.”
After the book hit shelves, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Kate was “appalled” at Harry for “dragging her name through the dirt.”
Although the Archewell cofounder was invited to his father’s coronation next month, tension between him and the royal family remains high.
“After Harry said so much about Kate in Spare and about [his stepmother, Queen] Camilla, the extended family … none of them really feel the need to follow up with the conversation,” royal expert Nick Bullen exclusively told Us on Saturday, April 20.
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle — who share son Prince Archie, 3, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 22 months — have been at odds with The Firm since stepping back from their roles as senior royals in 2020.
“I think he’ll be nervous about how the family [will] react to him,” Bullen told Us of Harry’s upcoming trip across the pond for the coronation. Meghan, 41, will not attend the event, which takes place on Archie’s 4th birthday.
“I think Meghan not attending is a huge relief for everybody involved,” the editor-in-chief of True Royalty TV said. “Then [there would be] shots of, ‘Does she give side eye to Kate or does Kate give side eye to her?’”
Bullen added of the Suits alum’s estrangement from Kate: “There was never really any relationship beforehand.”
