It is a truth universally acknowledged that buying gifts for your long-term partner for their birthday and Christmas is always a challenge. If you are blessed with a husband with an interest that makes them easy to buy for (golf? Star Wars? Crime novels?), be eternally grateful.
Not even Royals are safe from this challenge – but Catherine, the Princess of Wales, seems to consistently nail it.
According to former royal gardener Jack Stooks, who worked at Highgrove House for more than 20 years, Kate often bought William ‘thoughtful little gifts’ to express her love for her husband. She has continued this gesture long into their relationship, even after 15 years of marriage.
What kind of things does Catherine buy for the Prince of Wales? Well, Jack has confirmed one of them was a ‘lovely beltbuckle’. A great gift, in our opinion – something that William can wear over and over again, that’s unlikely to go out of fashion and shows that Catherine knows her husband’s style well.
The Princess of Wales reportedly gave her husband an especially sentimental gift for his 37th birthday; a scrapbook made up of family photos and paintings and drawings by their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. At the time, a source told The Sun: ‘Kate and the children have been compiling a large album of the children’s paintings, drawings and collages and prints. They reflect what they have been doing over the past year. You can look at any event they were involved with as a family, and there will probably be a picture, drawing, print or photo.
‘It’s taken a great deal of time and effort to make, and as a present, it means something. You could say it’s a reminder to William about what is really important. It’s been put together with a great deal of care.’
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Kate has form with thoughtful gifts for other Royals, too. Before he met Meghan, Kate gave Prince Harry a ‘grow your own girlfriend’ kit. And for her first Christmas with the Royal family in 2011, Catherine handed the late Queen a jar of her homemade chutney – a present she was nervous about at the time.
In the ITV documentary Our Queen At 90, the Princess of Wales remembered: ‘I was worried what to give the Queen as her Christmas present. I was thinking, “Gosh, what should I give her?” I thought, “I’ll make her something,” [which] could have gone horribly wrong, but I decided to make my granny’s recipe of chutney. I was slightly worried about it, but I noticed the next day that it was on the table.”
And what about the gifts Kate’s received in return? The rest of the Royals have a good reputation for their present-picking, too. Catherine has received a wide range of beautiful jewellery – both hand-me-down heirlooms and specially designed pieces – from her husband over the course of their 25-year relationship.
But Jack Stooks says Prince William’s preferred love language isn’t actually giving physical gifts. Jack revealed that the Royal is ‘romantic, but in more private ways’, and ‘would sometimes arrange small, private dinners’ just for his wife. Beautiful, right?
And both halves of the couple are certainly into words of affirmation. The Princess of Wales has previously declared that she is ‘very, very lucky’ to have Prince William. Prince William, meanwhile, has called Catherine ‘an amazing mother and a fantastic wife’, most recently commenting in a Heart breakfast radio show that he was ‘so proud, very, very proud. She’s been amazing,’ he added. ‘She’s been through so much in the last few years. Literally, our family couldn’t cope without her. She’s been absolutely stunning.’
