Kate Middleton's Gorgeous Hair Transformation Through The Years

Even in the earliest days of Princess Catherine's relationship with Prince William, she wore her chocolate-colored mane in a bouncy blowout. The couple met at the University of St Andrews in 2001, and they were initially nothing more than friends. Their dynamic took a romantic turn in 2002 after William saw Catherine walk the runway in a college fashion show titled "The Art of Seduction" — for which she wore a sheer slip dress that gave a peek at her black bandeau and briefs beneath. 

When the pair dated in the aughts, Catherine's go-to hairstyle was a head of cascading, medium-brown locks with long layers and modest, swooping bangs parted to one side. Though she's now known for her curly, billowing blowouts, the princess favored a more straight and sleek blowout in the 2000s. She frequently donned the casual style, including at her graduation ceremony in 2005 and the Cheltenham Festival in 2007. As the next decade neared, Catherine started adding a slight flip to the ends of her tresses, which gave her usual blowout a more feminine, piece-y look in combination with additional layers framing her face. She was commonly seen with her bangs pinned back in the later stages of the aughts, and around 2008, the royal began growing the swath of hair from cheekbone level to chin length.

Princess Catherine's hair transformation continued in her first year as a royal family member. In the months leading up to Catherine and Prince William's April 2011 wedding — and in those that followed, for that matter — Catherine's tresses were lightened to a dimensional milk chocolate color, and her rich strands were routinely coaxed into curls. Though the styles slightly varied at each event and engagement she attended, the staple characteristics of the princess' hairstyles were volume, shine, and femininity. In addition to her polished clothing and natural makeup, Catherine's perfectly placed glossy locks helped to create her public persona as the dutiful and beautiful royal woman who would one day reign as queen alongside Princess Diana's eldest son.

From her sleek blowout for the June 2011 Absolute Return for Kids gala to the bouncy, girlish mane of large-barrel curls for a visit to comfort victims of a UK riot in August 2011, Catherine's hair became an integral element of her image as a high-ranking royal family member. With not a hair out of place or spot of frizz to be seen, Catherine's sleek and sophisticated hairstyles helped to position her as a fixture in the monarchy to be admired for her physical beauty and poised demeanor — the ideal traits of a queen in waiting.

Those who thought Princess Catherine's hair couldn't possibly get any more stunning were proven wrong in 2013. Throughout her pregnancy with Prince George, Catherine let the hormones work to her advantage by growing her glossy strands longer than ever. When she and Prince William made their first appearance on the steps of the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital following their eldest child's birth, it wasn't just the baby Catherine was debuting. 

According to Hollywood Life (via Romper), the expecting mom made a visit to the Rosa Ferreti salon a month before George's arrival, and she treated herself to a $1,500 cut and color. Catherine premiered her new look on those iconic hospital steps, showing off a mane of cascading honey-highlighted hair styled in loose waves. The relaxed look was jaw-droppingly gorgeous, especially considering its debut followed her first-ever labor and delivery.

Catherine kept the subtle blond tones and mermaid-esque length in her hair throughout the rest of the year, and in the final months of 2013, she attended an engagement with her tresses styled in a more bohemian fashion than usual. While the princess typically opted to keep her look pretty classic up to this point, she rocked loose, tumbling waves parted down the center of her head for a charity visit on Poppy Day. Like her feathered fringe from the previous year, Catherine's boho Poppy Day look suggested she's partial to glamorous hair trends from the 1970s.

Princess Catherine was pregnant with Princess Charlotte for the first half of 2015, and she didn't change her hair too much while she awaited her second child's arrival. Her medium-length chestnut locks from the latter half of 2014 stuck around through Charlotte's birth in May 2015, but a few months later in the height of summer, Catherine premiered a fresh look reminiscent of her vintage 'do of 2012. 

While attending Wimbledon in July, the princess' honey highlights returned, and a modest curtain bang framed her face. A few months later, Catherine had swapped the blend of blond for auburn tones — fitting for fall — and her '70s-style fringe was even more pronounced. She revealed the full comeback of her blown-out bangs in September during a visit to the Anna Freud Center, and the polished retro look was an instant hit with fans — and one that has remained a favorite in the years since. Catherine committed to bangs for the rest of the year, growing them out slightly but very much keeping the face-framing swaths as a defining feature of her hairstyle. However, come December, the princess would make her most dramatic hair change to date — one that would stick around for the next several years.

During her pregnancy with Prince Louis, Princess Catherine opted to keep her low-maintenance, relatively short mane. At the beginning of 2018, she seemed to have two go-to styles: perfectly coiled curls with a side part, which boasted plenty of girlish bounce, and a more polished blowout style with voluminous curls only gracing the bottom few inches of her locks. After Louis' birth in April, Catherine was ready for yet another change to her flowing head of hair — and she debuted just that at Wimbledon in July. Her hair had grown out slightly by summer, and for the sunny season, Catherine had golden highlights woven into her chestnut strands.

The princess flew under the radar for the next few months, enjoying time with newborn Louis and making few public appearances until mid-fall. In October, she and Prince William attended their first joint engagement since welcoming their third child, stepping out at the inaugural Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit. For the event, Catherine's hair was a tad longer than it had been at Wimbledon, though it was styled a similar bouncy blowout with honey and caramel tones still peeking through her tresses. By the end of the year, she had begun to return to her signature royal hairstyle of warm brown coloring, long layers, and no bangs — a factory reset, if you will, as she grew out her mane again ahead of her next style change.

Princess Catherine carried her classic look into 2020, that warm chestnut mane and its perfect medium-length serving as a staple accessory to her every look. Just before the world shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, the royal cut a few inches off her ends in March, transforming her bust-length hair to graze her collarbones instead. Then, alongside the rest of the globe, the royal family followed lockdown procedures, making far fewer appearances than usual. As summer approached, Catherine began attending a couple engagements here and there while following safety protocols, and during an August visit to Wales with Prince William, the princess revealed the slightly more experimental look she was rocking under the radar. Her ends fell a few inches below her shoulders, and the style featured lots of piece-y layers and warm gold highlights.

As summer gave way to fall, Catherine once again let her tresses grow back out, and her color returned to her staple milk chocolate hue — but the reset was a very brief one. By the middle of fall, the princess debuted her most experimental hair color to date: a sandy bronde (a sun-kissed blend of blond and brown). The Princess of Wales must not have loved the look, however, since she was only seen with her lighter mane during an October engagement at the University of Derby. Before the end of the year, Catherine had once again undergone a factory reset, with her long chocolate strands making a return.

Princess Catherine's commitment to growing out her mane paid off in 2022; her rich brown hair was even longer than it was back in 2013. The royal's shiny strands reached the bottom of her bust, and she began parting her hair down the center of her head much more frequently than usual, which emphasized her length even further. While Catherine's hair M.O. up to this point had seemingly been to create an image of the idyllic princess, her sleek hairstyles in 2022 felt like a strategic move to help position the royal family as relatable and in touch with the modern era. 

The Princess of Wales, known for her curly, voluminous hairstyles, began wearing her hair blown out very nearly straight with minimal volume — a look that was aided not just by styling tools, but also by the fact that her layers were so very long. In March, she donned the sleek style several times, first during a visit to a Ukrainian cultural center, then on numerous days during a tour of the Caribbean with Prince William.

While Catherine continued to favor straight locks throughout 2022, including at London's "Top Gun: Maverick" premiere, she also wore her signature curly blowout many times. Additionally, the princess played around with half and full updos more than usual, incorporating various hair accessories such as her stunning boucle hairband at an Anzac Day service and her elegant purple pillbox hat for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's UK visit.