Academy Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway’s praise for Princess Kate has gone viral after fans of the royal have taken to social media in the wake of her recent cancer diagnosis to post support and archive clips and images.
Hathaway has had a number of brushes with royalty over the course of her career, owning the title of Disney Princess for her portrayal of Princess Amelia in the 2000s Princess Diaries movie franchise.
In 2010, following the engagement of Kate to Prince William, Hathaway portrayed the future royal in a sketch for Saturday Night Live alongside Fred Armisen as Queen Elizabeth II and Bill Hader as Prince Philip.
On April 29, Kate and William will celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary. The couple have faced increased public interest since the beginning of 2024, first after Kate took a leave of absence from her public role to recover from abdominal surgery, and secondly following her announcement in March that she is undergoing chemotherapy after receiving a cancer diagnosis.
With the princess’ absence from public life expected to continue during her treatment and recovery, fans have taken to social media to reflect on favored past appearances and references in popular culture.
Stephen Pond/Getty Images/Saturday Night Live/YouTube
Uploaded to TikTok by user, milfssb, on April 14, footage of Hathaway praising Kate has been edited together with clips from the princess’ public engagement, receiving over 250,000 views in less than 24 hours.
Hathaway’s comment was taken from a 2014 interview with Good Morning America, in which she was asked who her favorite princess was, considering her roles in the Princess Diaries.
After taking a moment to consider her answer, the star responded: “Right now, I think my favorite princess is Kate Middleton…I’m gonna go with Kate Middleton. I think she’s lovely and she makes me very happy and that royal wedding just could not be beat.”
This was not the first time Hathaway discussed Kate in an interview. Following her Saturday Night Live parody of the princess—dressed in a replica of her famous blue engagement dress, copy of Princess Diana’s engagement ring and the royal’s famous blown-out hairstyle—the star told a British newspaper she’d happily consider playing Kate in a movie.
“I haven’t really thought about it before but yes, why not,” she told The Sun on the prospect of playing the real life royal in a biopic. “She’s great. It’s such a fairytale.”
Captioned “Anne Hathaway saying her favorite princess is Kate Middleton might be my new favorite thing,” the viral TikTok video has received over 45,000 likes on the platform, so far, and over 190 comments, many of which have praised both Kate and the Hollywood star.
“THEY BOTH ARE SO BEAUTIFUL, I CAN’T,” wrote one user.
“Anne and Kate, the duo I never knew I needed,” posted another, with a further comment adding: “And Anne Hathaway did a snl [Saturday Night Live] playing Kate.”
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.