Kate Is Always Asked to Fix William and Harry’s Relationship. What About Her Relationship With Pippa?

Every other week, we seem to get another story about Kate Middleton supposedly trying to repair the relationship between Prince William and Prince Harry, as though she has somehow become the royal family’s resident expert in reconciliation. Yet the press rarely applies that same curiosity to Kate’s own relationships, particularly her apparent distance from her sister, Pippa Middleton.

Pippa was notably absent from Kate’s recent Christmas carol event and, perhaps even more strikingly, did not appear during Kate’s Three Peaks Challenge. Kate completed the National Three Peaks Challenge in late June, with her brother James Middleton also taking part and supporting her along the route. At the finish, she was greeted by William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Carole and Michael Middleton, as well as James.

Given how prominently other members of the Middleton family appeared, Pippa’s absence has led some royal watchers to question whether the sisters are still as close as they once seemed.

Rumors most recently surfaced that Pippa and Kate are no longer as close as they once were after fans noticed that Pippa skipped Kate’s annual Christmas concert in December. At the time, a royal insider claimed that it was just because of a schedule conflict for Pippa, but was her absence actually deeper than that?

In a discussion about the situation on Reddit, one person said that Kate may not have been impressed by Pippa’s behavior around the time she was diagnosed with cancer — including reports that Pippa claimed Kate was “not sick in the traditional sense,” though that quote has never been confirmed.

Cafe Mom

What I think is actually worth discussing here is how little scrutiny Pippa and Kate’s relationship receives compared with the endless stories about Kate supposedly trying to reconcile William and Harry.

In 2026 alone, royal coverage has repeatedly cast Kate as the woman responsible for repairing William and Harry’s relationship. In March, InStyle said she had seen it as her “duty” to act as peacemaker, while Harper’s Bazaar reported that she had tried to keep the brothers “on the same team.” By July, Extra was claiming she was actively encouraging William to meet Harry and his family. Yet only weeks earlier, other reports insisted Kate was “done with Harry.” The story changes depending on the headline, but the role assigned to Kate remains remarkably consistent: royal mediator.

But while the press keeps assigning Kate responsibility for repairing relationships elsewhere in the royal family, it shows far less curiosity about a relationship much closer to home: her own with Pippa.

Pippa’s Recent Absences Are Becoming Harder to Ignore

There are legitimate reasons for people to notice Pippa’s recent absences. She did not appear at Kate’s Three Peaks Challenge in June 2026, even though Carole and Michael Middleton were there and James Middleton actually took part alongside his sister. Just over a week later, Pippa appeared at Wimbledon with Carole, which makes her absence from the challenge more noticeable, though it still proves nothing about the state of the sisters’ relationship.

It is one thing for the press to report that Kate and Pippa continue to spend time together privately, but another when the public rarely sees them together. In January 2026, Kate was reported to have celebrated her birthday with Carole and Pippa at a restaurant in Berkshire.

The sisters have appeared together publicly in recent years. Pippa joined Kate and Charlotte at the Wimbledon men’s final in July 2024 while Kate was undergoing cancer treatment. Before 2026, Pippa’s last widely reported appearance at one of Kate’s events was the December 2024 Together at Christmas service.

Final Thoughts

What I find interesting is the contrast in coverage. The public record shows William and Harry remain estranged, yet the press still casts Kate as the peacemaker, as though she herself is on good terms with Harry. There is little public evidence to support that. I suspect part of the appeal of this narrative is the royal press’s attachment to the old image of William, Kate and Harry as a trio, with Harry frequently positioned as the third wheel.

What receives far less attention is Kate’s own relationship with Pippa. When William and Harry are not seen together, the press interprets every absence, seating arrangement and public appearance as further proof of their feud. Yet when Pippa is missing from a highly personal event involving Kate’s cancer experience, while almost the entire Middleton family is present, the press largely treats it as unremarkable.

There may be a completely ordinary explanation. Pippa has three young children and lives a private life outside the working monarchy. But that is precisely the point. We do not know. And if the royal press is willing to build endless reconciliation narratives around Kate and Harry from very little, we should reasonably ask why it treats the apparent distance between Kate and her own sister with so much more restraint.