If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a picture of Kate Middleton must be worth a million words. Her face is always so filled with expression. Whether she's sad or mad or glad, her face says it all. In her years of being a celebrity, the Duchess of Cambridge has been photographed at a ton of events. As a result, Kate has made a lot of funny faces that have been recorded by cameras for posterity.
Whether she means to or not, they're super entertaining.
Some of the faces are less fun than others. Kate has teared up in public, gotten frustrated with her kids, and been devastated in the public eye. But most of her funny faces are just that, funny — and her emotions are sometimes just set to the extreme. If she's smiling, she's doing it with her whole face, not just her mouth.
Kate Middleton is basically the human equivalent of one of those caricature drawings that artists do on boardwalks — the ones where they exaggerate someone's facial features to the extreme. Now, imagine if the duchess got one of those drawings done. Her eyes and mouth would basically be leaping off the page.
To be fair to Kate, she isn't always a ball of emotion. There are many photos where she's polite and relaxed, giving only a soft smile for the cameras. But those subdued moments are overshadowed by her more expressive ones. Kate is most expressive when watching sports, particularly tennis. Clicking through photos of her at Wimbledon, we can get a sense of how the game play went based on her facial expressions alone.
Here are 20 of Kate's best faces from all the times she wore her heart on her sleeve.
Irritated
Kate sat between Prince William and Prince Harry during the 2014 Commonwealth Games while they watched gymnastics. The two brothers immediately started talking over Kate, and we can just sense her annoyance at the both of them. She's just there to watch some sports, guys! Cool it. We do love her sassy eye roll though. She just couldn't help it
Excited
The duchess usually looks happy at her various engagements, but she's over the moon excited here. Perhaps it was the super pretty bouquet of flowers she was just handed that elicited this reaction, but it we can practically hear this photo she's beaming so wide — and the thumbs up is so funny, because her face already says it all. But for some reason, she felt she had to add to her emotions with a hand signal, too.
No Cares to Give
If there was a dictionary photo for "sorry, not sorry" it would be this one. The pic was snapped when Kate Middleton hit the open waters in Australia in 2014. She was racing Prince William, and this was a gesture she threw his way. Perhaps she was telling him that she wouldn't be sorry if he lost to her. That's the duchess's competitive spirit we know and love.
Excuse Me?
Kate caught a bit of New Yorker attitude on a 2014 trip to Harlem. She was wrapping gifts with children and making a little bit too much small talk with the kid next to her when one one of the adults joked, "Keep wrapping." The cameras caught this moment of major eye roll from the duchess as she evaluated how she had just been spoken to. She wasn't in bonny England anymore!
Grossed Out
One thing that Kate almost never does in public is eat — and probably because of photos like this. She looks beyond grossed out by whatever she tried here, but the real story is probably just that Prince William made a joke as she was taking a bite and she was trying not to spit her food out while laughing. The duchess is way too polite to show actual disgust at trying another culture's food, so there just had to be another explanation.
Overjoyed
Kate is smiling so wide here, our faces hurt just looking at the photo. She was attending a workshop for the children's hospital. Since there are few things Kate loves more than kids, it must have been the general excitement of the day that had her all riled up here. Her smiles and laughs just look so genuine, too.
It's hard to not want to cause that reaction from her.
Frustrated
As much as Kate is usually smiling and laughing while out in public, she has her moments of frustration, too. Parenting in the public eye can't be easy, but she doesn't let cameras stop her from disciplining her children when they need it. Here, she scolded Prince George for being naughty at his aunt Pippa's wedding.
Definitely not the best time to misbehave.
Delighted
Sometimes when her kids cause trouble, Kate can't help but laugh. Right before this picture, Princess Charlotte had stuck her tongue out at the photographers. Kate couldn't stop laughing when she noticed, and she didn't scold Charlotte. Life's too short to get mad about something as funny as that. She's a spirited one, that Charlotte — just like her mama.
Tearing Up
She rarely lets her negative emotions get the best of her in public, but shedding a tear was totally appropriate at this event that the Duchess of Cambridge was at. She was visiting a Nazi concentration camp and became overcome with the sadness of it all. We definitely can't blame her for her display of emotions here. It's sweet that she's not afraid to show her sensitive side.
Embarrassed
At the 2019 King's Cup regatta, William and Kate faced off on separate racing teams, and Kate came in dead last. As a nod to her failure, she was presented with a giant wooden spoon — as is tradition. She looked a little embarrassed about losing so spectacularly, but it happens to the best of them.
Better luck next year, Kate.
Totally Shook
Coming out of an event at the Natural History Museum in London, Kate looked completely caught off guard. Perhaps the film she'd just seen was shocking — it was David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive 3D, though, so probably not — or maybe her companion here said something alarming. Either way, the shock on her face is palpable.
So Annoyed
Some of Kate's best facial expressions come when she's watching sports — particularly Wimbledon tennis matches. She gets so invested in what's happening on the court, and her face displays it all. At the 2016 Wimbledon event, the player she was rooting for must have been playing poorly, because Kate looks beyond annoyed here.
In Disbelief
Here's another shot from Wimbledon, where Kate just could not believe what was going down on the court. She looks like she's a little angry and a little shook — and just in total disbelief. How dare the tennis players make Kate feel this way! Maybe it's a good thing that Wimbledon's been cancelled for 2020. Kate's emotions deserve a break.
Taken by Surprise
Whoops! The wind started blowing up Kate's skirt here and she reacted much the way any of us would, with a little scream and she hastened to keep the skirt in place. Her facial expression is a mixture of shock and fear as she knows all the photographers are watching. Fortunately, she kept the skirt down and avoided the wardrobe malfunction.
Darn wind!
Pouting
This is a familiar look to anyone who is married. Kate and Wills may have been attending a fancy event with a royal flyover and everything, but it just looks like Kate is trying to get Will to give into something. Her little pouty face is honestly adorable, so we're sure Will caved to whatever it was that his wife wanted. The duchess always wins in the end, right?
Concerned
Hockey can be a dangerous sport, and it certainly looks like someone may have gotten injured on the ice as this photo was taken. Both William and Kate look concerned for the player's safety, but Kate's face gives away the most emotion. We can basically feel the player's pain just by looking at the Duchess of Cambridge's reaction to what happened.
Keeping a Secret
Kate looks like she's trying to be so sly here, but her face is worth a thousand words, so she's not really being that sneaky at all. We don't know what the context for this face is, as Kate's just attending a race here, but whatever is going on, we love it. Petition to bring this photo back and turn it into a viral meme?
There are so many potential captions for it.
Evil Genius
Insert witch cackle here, right? Kate looks positively evil here with her big grin and fixed stare. This photo was snapped while she was watching a swimming match at the 2012 Olympics, so most likely she was just excited about the race outcome. But we like to imagine that she's plotting some dastardly deed, like deciding not to wear pantyhose at her next outing with the Queen.
Disgusted
At Royal Ascot in 2019, Kate scrunched up her nose and pulled this hilarious face. It sort of looks like she was being told a particularly disgusting story and couldn't help but be grossed out — or maybe she just smelled some horse poop. Royal Ascot is a horse racing event, after all, and those animals can be smelly. Either way, the duchess still manages to be totally cute even when she's totally disgusted.
Puppy Eyes
Aww. Kate's little frown and sad eyes here are almost too much to handle. (Who did this to her?! We'll make them pay!) She was attending a sailing race here, so maybe she lost again or her team lost or something else happened to make her upset. Whatever it was, we hope it never happens again.
We don't like to see the duchess sad!
