Key Takeaways
- Kylie Kelce apologized for calling Catherine, Princess of Wales, “Princess Kate” and said she now knows how to address her respectfully.
- Kelce originally invited Catherine to discuss field hockey and parenting on Not Gonna Lie, but royal fans also criticized her language and urged her to “clean up” her act.
- Kelce said she would watch her mouth around Catherine but now doubts the royal has time to appear, despite Prince William’s previous appearance on New Heights.
Kylie Kelce has apologized to Kate Middleton after discovering that apparently even an invitation to talk field hockey can become an international incident when British royal etiquette gets involved.
The Not Gonna Lie host addressed the backlash on her Oct. 1 episode after royal watchers criticized how she referred to Middleton while inviting her onto the podcast a week earlier.
“I love learning, so I was unaware that calling Princess Catherine ‘Princess Kate’ was offensive,” Kelce said. “I didn't know that. Now I know that. Now I will proceed accordingly.”
Kelce added, “I apologize for the mistake. I would like to refer to people in the most respectful way and how they feel respected.”
The controversy began when Kelce, who played field hockey at Cabrini University, saw Middleton playing shinty, a Scottish sport similar to field hockey, during a royal engagement and floated an innocent, kind proposition.
“Princess Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, if you ever wanted to come on and chitchat about some field hockey and maybe kids,” Kelce said. “I don't know. We got a couple of things in common.”
She got one thing wrong: Middleton hasn't primarily used the Duchess of Cambridge title since Queen Elizabeth II's death in 2022, when Prince William became Prince of Wales.
That didn't stop some royal watchers from turning the invitation into an etiquette lesson.
Kelce even read one comment calling Middleton “too refined and beautiful” to be subjected to her cursing, and warned the famously unfiltered podcaster to “clean up” her act.
Kelce agreed she'd watch her mouth around Middleton but pushed back against the idea that she doesn't understand basic situational etiquette.
“Would I curse at her face? No,” Kelce said. “At the end of the day, I am respectful of the situations that I am put in, at least being respectful to the people I am speaking to.”
The royal-etiquette fuss becomes particularly amusing when one considers how comfortably Kate’s husband, William, has already entered the Kelce-verse.
William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte attended Taylor Swift's Eras Tour at Wembley in June 2024, where they posed backstage with Swift and Travis Kelce. Jason and Kylie Kelce were also at the London show.
This July, William went even further, appearing on Jason and Travis' New Heights podcast himself. Kylie referenced that connection as she extended her invitation: “Our husbands chitchatted on the other podcast.”
The episode also isn't the first reminder that royal presentation can become serious business. In 2024, major news agencies withdrew a Mother's Day photograph released by Kensington Palace after finding evidence it had been digitally altered. Middleton subsequently apologized for the “confusion,” explaining that she occasionally experimented with editing as an amateur photographer.
Kelce, meanwhile, isn't exactly expecting Middleton to accept the invitation. “Do I think she has time to hop on this podcast? No, I do not,” she said.
