Here's Everything We Know About Princess Catherine's Inner Circle

Life as a royal can't be easy. Not only does the role involve an endless stream of events, appearances and duties, it also involves living and breathing in the public eye. Naturally, the royals need to have a strong support system to fall back on. 

For Princess Catherine, having loyal, dependable friends has always been vital to her success. From her school to her university days to her days as a royal, her friends have supported her, grounded her and stood by her side. In fact, over the years, she has built up a pretty impressive troop of confidantes. 

From school friends like Trini Foyle and Hannah Carter to university roommates like Olivia Bleasdale to new friends like Lucy Lanigan-O'Keefe, Catherine's inner circle is filled with a wide variety of fascinating figures. Curious to learn a little more about the people who have always stood by Catherine throughout her royal career? Here is a look at the princess's inner circle.

Hannah Carter, née Gillingham, is another best friend of Princess Catherine who has been around since the princess' Marlborough College boarding school days. According to the Daily Mail, Hannah and Catherine both played on the school's hockey team. 

Hannah was present at Catherine's wedding and, one year later in 2012, Catherine and William attended Hannah's wedding to a Norfolk landowner, Robert Carter. After the wedding, the royal couple reportedly drank at a local pub with Hannah, Robert, and other friends until one in the morning. As the staff of the pub told Hello! Magazine, the royals had asked to be "treated like everyone else" for their friend's wedding. Carter is now one of Prince Louis' six godparents (via The Sun). According to the Eastern Daily Press, she and her husband run a construction business called R G Carter in Norfolk. 

Alicia Fox-Pitt is yet another school friend who met Princess Catherine as a teenager while boarding at Marlborough College. Fox-Pitt comes from a well-known family from Kent — her brother, William, is a former Olympian, while her father was a famous equestrian and banker. According to Hello! Magazine, Fox-Pitt bonded with Catherine when the pair both joined the Sisterhood rowing team. "[Kate's] been training with us," she once said. "All being well she will be in the boat. She is a very gifted sportswoman and we played a lot of sport together at school." 

Rumor has it, Fox-Pitt and Catherine also did their fair share of partying when they were younger. According to the New Zealand Herald, Catherine once threw up on a train home after staying up all night and drinking champagne at her friend's house. Fox-Pitt was also in attendance at Catherine's karaoke bachelorette party.

Fox-Pitt went on to marry Sebastian Stoddart in 2013, and she now works as a vet in South London. 

Sophie Snuggs (née Carter) is an old friend of Princess Catherine who has been part of her circle for years. She and the princess frequently spend time together. According to The Sun, she has attended several official royal events and even went on a ski trip with Catherine and her family in 2016. 

It seems that Snuggs has been part of the royal circle for years. As Cambridge News reported, her family is one of the elite farming families of England who are known as the "Turnip Toffs." Her brother, Thomas, is married to Catherine's friend, Hannah Carter. Snuggs also once dated Thomas van Staubenzee, one of William's close friends. Snuggs and van Staubenzee are now both godparents of William and Catherine's daughter, Charlotte.

In 2018, Snuggs married Robert Snuggs. Prince George and Princess Charlotte served as page boy and flower girl (via Marie Claire). The Snuggses had their first daughter, Amalia Rose Charlotte, in 2019 (via Yahoo!). 

The longest-running member of Princess Catherine's inner circle? It's safe to say that title belongs to her sister, Pippa Matthews. Like all sisters, Catherine and Pippa have had their ups and downs, but they have remained close throughout it all. With only two years between them, Catherine and Pippa have always been close, from their early days living in Jordan to their days as members of the royal family. Pippa often appears alongside Catherine at both royal events and social events. She was even her maid-of-honor.

"I mean, obviously she has pressures that she's taken on and things. But we spend a lot of time together. We still do a lot together as a family," Pippa said to "Today." "We have a very normal, sisterly relationship. We're very close. And, you know, we support each other and get each other's opinions and things." It sounds like Pippa is definitely a member of the inner circle.

Olivia Bleasdale is another close friend of Princess Catherine. Bleasdale first crossed paths with the princess at university. In Catherine's second year, she and Prince William moved into a shared apartment for just £100 a week with Bleasdale and another friend, Fergus Boyd. Catherine and William continued to live with Bleasdale for their third and fourth years when they all shared a farmhouse off-campus (via ABC and Cambridge News). 

According to the Daily Mail, Bleasdale went onto work in corporate communications at Taylor Bennett. Based on an Instagram photo, it seems that Bleasdale later married Robert Wallace, but has kept her life as private as possible.

While we all need good friends, we also need allies within our extended families. For Princess Catherine, that person seems to be her aunt-in-law: Sophie, Countess of Wessex, wife of Prince Edward. According to Hello! Magazine, Catherine and Sophie are often seen chatting and laughing at official events like the Royal Ascot, Trooping the Colour, Wimbledon, and more. And as Express reported, Sophie lives just 40 minutes away from Catherine and William's home in Norfolk.

When Catherine assumed her new role as Princess of Wales in 2022, it seems that Sophie became her mentor. "One friend tells me that, as we move into the next phase of the monarchy, it will be critical for the Duchess of Cambridge to have a female sounding board," said Rebecca English, royal editor of the Daily Mail, in the documentary "Edward & Sophie: The Reluctant Royals." "And they genuinely couldn't think of anyone better to provide that than loyal, trustworthy Sophie" (via Express).

One of Princess Catherine's newest additions to her inner circle is rumored to be Lucy Lanigan O'Keefe. O'Keefe is a teacher at Thomas's Battersea, the London school where both George and Charlotte studied before moving to Norfolk. According to The Times, O'Keefe specializes in teaches mindfulness and outdoor learning. O'Keefe became even closer to the royal family when she married Prince William's friend and Charlotte's godfather, Thomas van Straubenzee (via Entertainment Daily). 

Laura Warshauer was an American student at St. Andrews when crossed paths with Prince William and Princess Catherine when they all lived in the same dormitory, St. Salvator's Hall. According to Warshauer, she immediately noticed the connection between the prince and his future wife. As she told People, the pair "definitely had chemistry" in their early days. "Whenever Kate was in the room, Will was obviously paying attention to her," Warshauer said. "When we'd be sitting at lunch in the dining hall and the two of them would be talking, it was amazing to see how natural it was, how they had so much to say to each other. Looking back, there were all these small moments — certainly moments where I was like, 'Wow, this could really be something.'"

In another interview, Warshauer recalled how William had invited his friends to a "Harry Potter" party at a nearby castle. "We all got on a big bus to go there and I remember Kate and William dancing together all night," she recalled. Warshauer, who is a singer-songwriter, went on to write an original song for William and Catherine's wedding (via the Daily Mail).