Kate Middleton and Prince William have opened up about their “uber competitive” nature.
The Prince and Princess of Wales joined Princess Anne and her son-in-law, Mike Tindall, for a special appearance on his former rugby player’s podcast, called The Good, The Bad and The Rugby, which went live on Saturday.
In a comment directed at Kate, Tindall made eyes and joked, “I’m not going to say you’re uber competitive, but...”
“I’m not competitive at all,” the princess quipped with a smile, though Tindall wasn’t having it.
“I’ve seen her play beer pong!” the podcaster joked, as the princess let out a laugh.
Kate then noted that her competitive side extends beyond just beer pong, and that it has trickled over into playing sports with William.
“I don’t think we’ve actually managed to finish a game of tennis, the two of us,” the royal, who is the royal patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (which hosts Wimbledon) said, noting that the game “becomes a mental challenge between the two of us.”
William added that it turns into “who can out-mental each other.”
Tindall asked if that competitive mentally had started to show in any of the couple’s three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
“Just a little bit, I would suggest,” Princess Anne said with a smile.
“What I think is really interesting, is that they are all obviously very different temperaments and as they are growing and trying out different sports ― they’re obviously still really young ― it’s going to be interesting to see how that grows and develops.”
While the podcast is centered around rugby, both the Prince and Princess of Wales spoke about their love of other sports. For William, it’s football, while Kate confessed a surprising love of “cold swimming.”
“I really generally love all sports,” Kate said, specifically that she personally loves tennis, paddle tennis and swimming.
“Cold swimming ― the colder, the better. I absolutely love it,” she said. “Slightly to the point where William’s like ‘Catherine, you’re crazy!’ And it’s dark and raining. I will go and seek out cold water.”
While the appearance on a rugby podcast might seem a bit random at first glance ― aside from the royal connection ― Anne, William and Kate all have connections to the sport.
Princess Anne is patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, while the prince is patron of the Welsh Rugby Union.
The Princess of Wales was recently named patron of England’s Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League in 2022, after taking the role over from Prince Harry. The Duke of Sussex’s patronages were returned to the Queen after he stepped back from the royal family.
The podcast appearance was also timed to mark the start of the Rugby World Cup in France. Both the Prince and Princess of Wales have attended games at the sporting event so far.
Prince Harry is also in Europe at the moment, not far from the royal family. The Duke of Sussex attended the WellChild Awards on Thursday, and is currently in Düsseldorf, Germany, in support of the 2023 Invictus Games. Harry, William and Charles are not expected to reunite at any time during the trips.
William will head to New York next week, in support of his environmental awards, the Earthshot Prize. The Prince of Wales was supposed to attend the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit ― hosted alongside Bloomberg Philanthropies ― in person last year. Due to Queen Elizabeth’s death ― and the subsequent period of royal mourning before her funeral ― the prince was unable to attend in person.
This year, he is expected to appear alongside Michael R Bloomberg in person to announce the 15 finalists for the 2023 Earthshot Prize.