The BBC has issued an apology to Kate Middleton following backlash over their Remembrance Day broadcasts.
In a rare statement on Nov. 14, the network said they “received complaints from people unhappy that we didn’t use the Princess of Wales’ correct title during our coverage of Armistice Day.”
“During our coverage of memorials to commemorate Armistice Day, we mistakenly referred to Catherine, Princess of Wales as Kate Middleton; these were errors during hours of live broadcasting for which we apologize,” the statement continued. “Throughout our Armistice Day coverage more broadly, we referred to Catherine by her correct title.”
Members of Parliament immediately took to social media after the snafu to chastise the company.
Jim Shannon, an MP for Strangford, Northern Ireland, penned on X: “A reminder to @BBCNews to educate its broadcasters that the Princess of Wales has not been ‘Kate Middleton’ since 2011. Her correct title is Catherine, Princess of Wales. Get it right.”
After Prince William and Princess Kate tied the knot in 2011, Queen Elizabeth bestowed several titles upon them.
One title in particular was the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
However, following the Queen’s death in 2022, King Charles named his son, 43, the new Prince of Wales. Since then, Middleton, 43, has been referred to as Princess of Wales.
Despite the new titles, many in the media still refer to the couple as Prince William and Kate Middleton.
During her Armistice Day appearance, the princess held a moment of silence and laid down a wreath along with handwritten note.
“In Memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we will remember them,” she wrote, signing the message, “Catherine.”
This is the second apology the BBC has issued over the last few weeks.
On Nov. 13, the British broadcaster apologized to President Trump after he threatened them with a massive lawsuit for deceptively editing his Jan. 6, 2021 speech.
“Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday,” a network spokesperson said, according to the outlet.
“BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.”
“The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms.”
The doc aired on the BBC’s current events program, “Panorama,” last October and “materially misled viewers” by cutting together clips of Trump’s White House Ellipse speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally to make it look like he incited the riot at the US Capitol, The Telegraph reported last week, citing a whistleblower.
Trump’s attorney threatened the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit if it did not retract the edited documentary and “appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused.”
The BBC argued that it shouldn’t have to compensate Trump.
“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the BBC spokesperson added.
The Princess of Wales, meanwhile, has yet to publicly responded to the BBC’s apology, but did step out on Tuesday for the Future Workforce Summit in London.
This marked Middleton’s first speech since announcing she was being treated for cancer in March 2024. That September, she announced she was cancer-free.
During her speech on Tuesday, Middleton spoke about her organization, The Centre for Early Childhood, which was launched in June 2021. She also gave a shoutout to the Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood director, Christian Guy.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Christian, who has led The Centre and built many of the relationships here today. Thank you Christian for holding the fort, particularly over the last couple of years,” the future queen shared, referring to her stepping away from royal duties during her health journey.
“My passion and the work of The Centre for Early Childhood stems from one essential truth; that the love we feel in our earliest years fundamentally shapes who we become and how we thrive as adults,” she continued. “Love is the first and most essential bond. But it is also the invisible thread, woven with time, attention and tenderness, through consistent, nurturing relationships which creates the grounded and meaningful environments around a child.”
