The Princess of Wales had to adapt to a whole different way of life when she married Prince William. However, there is a personal change that she underwent that only those closest to her would have noticed.

Anyone who has seen Catherine’s TV interview will know that she spoke with a perfect received pronunciation accent. “She made a point of placing her hands on her lap so that she didn’t fidget with her hair and spoke beautifully in a cut-glass accent,’ wrote royal expert Katie Nicholl in her book, Catherine: The Future Queen.

However, it has been reported that the royal may not have always sounded like this. Katie Nicholl spoke to one of Catherine’s contemporaries from St Andrew’s Prep who revealed: “She has changed a lot, she’s certainly grown into a beauty, and the funny thing is her voice has completely changed.”

They elaborated, adding: “She sounds very posh, and she definitely wasn’t that well-spoken when we were at school.”

Meanwhile, royal biographer Omid Scobie noted that her accent is “even more plummy” than her husband’s.

Has Catherine had elocution lessons?

Though Catherine hasn’t spoken openly about elocution lessons herself, it is widely believed that she has been coached on her accent to refine her accent to sound “more regal”.

She worked with voice coach Anthony ‘Ant’ Gordon Lennox ahead of her 2011 royal wedding. The coaching helped the royal-to-be to conquer her nerves ahead of the big day.

Stepping into the royal limelight is certainly daunting but Catherine’s skills as an orator have come on no end and she now gives speeches, for example her Shaping Us keynote speech, with confidence and poise.

She has grown in confidence significantly from the anxious young woman taking on her first TV interview in 2010 upon her royal engagement. Katie Nicholl spoke to ITV News interviewer Tom Bradbury for her book on the budding royal.

 

He revealed to the royal expert that Catherine had been “dreading” the interview and when it was complete she leaned back and sighed with relief, saying: “I’m no good at this!”

 

Catherine’s speaking voice

Actress Meg Bellamy played a young Catherine in season six of The Crown. In an interview with Vogue, Meg spoke about training her voice to sound like Catherine.

Her dialect coach taught the star to speak “proper posh and tight” and “through a permanent smile”. Meg also endeavoured to remove the regal air to Catherine’s voice as she played the princess during her university years.