Prince William and the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) married in 2011 and have three children together. They began dating during their college days at St. Andrew’s University. We learned that back then, the prince had some cute nicknames for her, including “babykins.”

Well, turns out that William’s college buddies had a nickname not just for Kate but for her entire family. Read on to find out what they called the Middleton clan.

Author reveals nickname Prince William’s friends came up with for the Middleton family

In her book The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie Nicholl shared the odd nickname William’s friends gave Kate’s family.

“William’s friends jokingly refer to the close-knit family as ‘the OM Middletons,’ meaning the ‘On Masse Middletons’ because they are always together,” Nicholl wrote (per The Daily Mail).

Nicholl said that the Middletons were always very close and supportive of each other. She pointed to one example when the press first learned that William and Kate were a couple and how the family fled to Mustique to escape the paparazzi.

“The family needed privacy, and the only place to get away from the media storm and the paparazzi camped on the doorstep of their home was Mustique,” Nicholl explained.  

The Princess of Wales’ brother, James Middleton, spoke about the family’s close bond after Kate received her cancer diagnosis in 2024.

“For her and her family, it was a challenging time. And I know for us and our bigger family, it was a challenging time. Being there for someone is such an important part, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be on your terms, and it shouldn’t be on your terms,” James told The Times. “It should be on their terms — unconditional … And that’s the simplest way of really demonstrating love. You can do it in all these various fancy ways, but actually, it is just generally being there.”

Kate received a rude nickname before her engagement to Prince William

The princess received another name when she and William were dating — by members of the press — and it wasn’t flattering. For anyone who didn’t know, Kate’s estranged sister-in-law, Meghan Markle, brought up the rude name during her televised interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

While talking to Oprah about how she felt she was a big media target and had countless negative headlines written about her, Meghan mentioned what the press used to call Kate. She said, “If they can compare the experience of what I went through as similar to what has been shared with us. Kate was called ‘Waity Katie’, waiting to marry William. While I imagine that was hard. And I do; I can’t picture what that felt like. This is not the same.”

Meghan was referring to the fact that before Prince William proposed, the British press dubbed his longtime girlfriend “Waity Katie.” The nickname was given due to how long they had been together before getting engaged. It implied that Kate was waiting around for William to finally pop the question.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams previously told The Mirror: “It was very sensible in the circumstances for Kate and William to get to know each other over the length of time that they felt appropriate. But it can be hurtful seeing those headlines and obviously very stressful.”