Catherine, Princess of Wales (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne. Born in Reading, Catherine grew up in Bucklebury, Berkshire. She was educated at St Andrew's School and Marlborough College before studying art history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where she met William in 2001. She held jobs in retail and marketing and pursued charity work before their engagement was announced in November 2010. They married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. The couple's three children together—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—are second, third, and fourth respectively in the line of succession to the British throne. Catherine holds patronage within over 20 charitable and military organisations, including Action for Children, SportsAid, and the National Portrait Gallery. She undertakes projects through The Royal Foundation, with her charity work focusing on issues surrounding early childhood care, addiction, and art. To encourage people to open up about their mental health issues, Catherine envisioned the mental health awareness campaign "Heads Together", launched with her husband Prince William and brother-in-law Prince Harry in April 2016. The media have called Catherine's impact on British and American fashion the "Kate Middleton effect". Time magazine selected her as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and as a finalist in 2018. On 9 September 2022, she became the Princess of Wales when her husband was created the Prince of Wales by his father, King Charles III. Early life and career Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982 into an upper-middle-class family. She was baptised at St Andrew's Bradfield, a local parish church, on 20 June 1982. She is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton (b. 1949) and his wife, Carole (née Goldsmith; b. 1955), a former flight dispatcher and flight attendant at British Airways, respectively, who in 1987 founded Party Pieces, a privately held mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations with an estimated worth of £30 million. By the early 20th century, the Middleton family had married into the British aristocracy and benefited financially from trust funds which they established over 100 years ago. Her Middleton relatives, including her great-grandfather Richard Noël Middleton and his wife Olive, played