Duke & Duchess Of Berkshire?

They are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge but should they really be the Duke and Duchess of Berkshire, which is, of course, a Royal county?

- Bernard Bale

Prince William and Kate Middleton are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge but should they really be the Duke and Duchess of Berkshire? Certainly William and Kate seem to be very at home here as can be seen from their many visits.

The good people of Berkshire were delighted when William and Kate were given the titles Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and who can blame them? After all, the world’s favourite Royals have helped to make the county famous all over the globe.

At present this county is proud to have an Earl – Michael John James George Robert Howard, 21st Earl of Suffolk and 14th Earl of Berkshire – but isn’t there also room for a Duke and Duchess? If so that can only really mean Prince William and Kate.

Kate was born here, a member of the Middleton family who had been on good terms with the Royal family for decades.

She was born in Reading, at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the first daughter of Michael and Carol Middleton, who still live in Bucklebury near Newbury. Kate was baptised at St Andrew’s Church in Bradfield and thus it can be said that Kate has been a Berkshire girl right from the start. Since she is still a regular visitor, her claim to the county crown is a pretty good one – and it gets better.

At the age of four she began school at St Andrews near Pangbourne and part boarded there in later years. Then came Downe House School in Ash near Newbury, where she stayed before becoming a boarding pupil at Marlborough College.