Princess Charlotte’s impressive hidden talent is surprisingly unroyal

Princess Charlotte might be a member of the royal family but in many ways she is just like other children her age – including her choice of hobbies.

Her parents Prince William and Princess Kate have endeavoured to give their three children as normal an upbringing as possible. And while they tend to keep their home life out of the spotlight, they do occasionally lift the lid on what their children are up to. Proud mum Kate did just that during a joint visit to Ireland with her husband back in 2020. She revealed that Charlotte has an energetic hobby – and is showing real talent.

“Charlotte is really into gymnastics, she’s doing cartwheels, handstands, everything,” Kate said during a visit that saw the royal couple meet a group of circus performers. “It’s so good for their basic skills of balance and coordination.” Prince William then added, “And their flexibility, it’s really good for their long-term health, isn’t it? We went to watch the Cirque du Soleil recently, it was amazing.”

It’s thought that Charlotte has another much-loved hobby, too – ballet. It was previously reported that Charlotte had been taking weekly private ballet lessons at a dance school in south London. And Kate is known to have taken her daughter to watch The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House in central London. The young royal is also said to enjoy tennis and horse riding.

Both Kate and Prince William have previously opened up about Charlotte’s love of dance, with Kate confirming that her little girl “loves” dance when talking to English National Ballet director Tamara Rojo in 2017, and William echoing her comments when he spoke to former Maltese president Joseph Muscat back in 2018. Ballet is also something that Charlotte has in common with her grandmother, the late Princess Diana. During her childhood, Diana aspired to be a professional ballerina, but she was rejected due to being too tall.

Diana – who went on to become patron of the English National Ballet – enjoyed dancing so much that she put on a surprise display at London’s Royal Opera House. In December 1985, Charles and Diana attended a gala performance at the storied venue. Midway through, the princess quietly left her seat in the Royal Box to grace the stage with dancer Wayne Sleep. They danced to Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl,” which was Diana’s own song choice.

Wayne later spoke to HELLO! about the experience, saying: “I walked in and I looked up at this towering sort of goddess above me and I thought: ‘This Isn’t going to work; it’ll be hysterically funny’. Then I said: ‘You know, I’ve been up very late last night. Do you mind if I sit down?’ And she said: ‘No, not at all, you naughty boy.’ From that moment, we started giggling and laughing. We had the same schoolboy humour. I was her sort-of jester, in a way, but we did get on incredibly well. We had something that clicked. She had natural style. She could do the high kick, she could do a pirouette and she had lovely swinging hips.”