Kate Middleton has been proving for a few days that she still has a lot to share about herself and her past. The wife of William of England revealed just a week ago part of her childhood in Jordan, and now she has publicly shared a skill that she has possessed since she was a child and had never shown before. On Christmas Eve he surprised the whole world with his participation in the performance to open the concert Together at Christmas, an event that she herself launched together with the Royal Foundation to officially kick off the festivities with a tribute to health workers and all those who work on the front line to combat the pandemic. Although it was recorded in early December at Westminster Abbey – the same place where the Duchess married a decade ago – it was not until the 24th that it was broadcast on the ITV television channel, showing unique moments of the British royal family. Among them, the moment in which the Duchess of Cambridge herself played the piano with the artists participating in this recital, an image that has led the most curious to wonder when the relationship between the Duchess and music began.

It is the first time that he shows a skill that he acquired between the ages of 10 and 13, as confirmed in 2011 by his piano teacher, Daniel Nicholls, from whom he received private lessons. The Middletons’ teacher and neighbor in Bucklebury (a town in Berkshire, United Kingdom) revealed the information after being interviewed by the media after sending the Duchess a very special wedding gift: the recording of a song composed especially for the couple, under the simple name of A song for Kate (and Guillermo).

“Kate came to teach between 1993 and 1995. She was absolutely lovely, a really adorable little girl to teach to play the piano. In fact, I taught the whole family except Mike: Carole, Pippa and James who, again, were absolutely charming people and piano students like any other, “confirmed Nicholls then, who assured that the now duchess had a special sensitivity for play the instrument. “I don’t think anyone expected her to be a professional pianist, but she was very good at it. He always did everything I expected him to do, ”explained the teacher, who is also the father of three children and teaches music with his wife Sandra at their home, just several minutes from the Middleton home. Thus, he became the duchess’s guide during private lessons that lasted three years and led to the Christmas performance that has left many with their mouths open.

The theme he wrote for the dukes’ wedding was created “quite quickly” and, since he composed it, his choir has gathered tirelessly once a week at his house, to learn and perform it, and finally record it as a gift for the partner. “We did a performance of the song at a concert to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support – one of the UK’s largest financial support organizations for people affected by cancer – in Newbury,” Nicholls revealed at the time, in order to give to know that this gift also had charitable purposes.

And it’s thanks to another charity that Middleton and Tom Walker meet. The Forward Trust, of which the Duchess is patron, organized an event last October in which the Manchester-raised singer performed one of his best-known songs, Leave a Light On, whose lyrics speak of addictions to drugs and alcohol, a subject on which the NGO focuses. When listening to him live, the woman was impressed and approached him to invite him to perform with her at the Christmas carol concert that, at that time, he was still organizing, as confirmed by the magazine Hello!.

The 39-year-old duchess, clad in a red dress, launched into the melody For those who can’t be here, played by British artist Tom Walker. A song composed by the author himself after the death of his grandfather, reflecting on what it would be like for his mother to spend Christmas for the first time without a loved one. The broadcast of the interpretation was followed by a statement from Middleton herself. “Music was as important to me during the pandemic as I think it was also to many people,” she commented, recalling that she spent confinement with her husband and three children, princes Jorge, Carlota and Luis, at the home of field they have at Anmer Hall in Norfolk.