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Kate Middleton is known for honoring royal traditions. She wears hats at formal events, sits with the famous Duchess slant, and spends Christmas at Sandringham. But one custom, a book claims, she will not allow. It is a hunting ritual that Prince William and Prince Harry both went through when they were young. It involves blood, and the claim is that the Princess of Wales wants no part of it for her three children.
The custom is called blooding. After a young hunter makes a first kill, blood from the animal is smeared on his or her face. It is usually a fox or a stag. The ritual goes back centuries and is meant as a mark of respect for the animal and the hunt, supporters say. Critics call it cruel and out of date. It has long been part of royal hunting, and it is still disputed.
The claim comes from royal author Tom Quinn. In his book Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, he wrote that Catherine, Princess of Wales, “put her foot down” and insisted there would be “no blooding for her children.” The book came out in March 2025, and an excerpt spread in February 2025. The claim has now resurfaced. No public confirmation from the palace has been reported. So what do we know?
Harry Has Described Blooding in Graphic Detail, and Both He and William Went Through It
Blooding has a long place in the royal family. King Charles, Prince William, and Prince Harry all went through it as children, reports say. Harry was about 15 when he stalked and killed his first deer at Balmoral, the royal estate in Scotland. His hunting guide, a man named Sandy, was very traditional, Harry wrote. He wrote about it in his 2023 memoir, Spare.
In Spare, Harry said his guide bled the stag and pressed his face into the carcass. He wrote that he feared he would be sick and felt “a deep, upsetting warmth.” Yet he also wrote that he felt “swelling pride,” because he had been “good to that stag” with a painless shot. LBC reports he also called the ritual “a show of respect for the slain.”
William’s views may be changing. In his 2023 book Gilded Youth, Quinn wrote that William has been “struggling with the traditional pastimes of the royal family” as they become more unpopular with the public. In Yes Ma’am, he added that William loves shooting, as his father does, but knows “the tide is now moving against” what many call blood sports. The royals prefer field sports. So Kate’s reported stance may fit a wider shift.
Two Books Point the Same Way, but the Claims Rest on Unnamed Royal Staff
Tom Quinn’s books draw on conversations with people who work around the royals. Fox News reports he spoke with hundreds of former and current palace staff for Yes Ma’am. Those sources are not named. That means readers cannot check each claim. The blooding claim is one line in a longer book. It is stated as fact, which helps explain why it spread.
Quinn wrote in 2023 that few expected Kate to “allow” her children to be blooded, even as William was “keen” to get them into shooting. In 2025, he went further, writing that she had “put her foot down.” Fox News also reports Quinn said Kate made clear it was “not going to happen to her children.” That shift, from a guess to a claim, is worth noting.
What is not known matters too. No one has said publicly that any of the three children has been asked to take part. Prince George is 13, Princess Charlotte is 11, and Prince Louis is 8. An earlier report from LBC said the palace declined to comment on claims that George would be “initiated” on a stag hunt. So the reported ban may be more about the future than the present.
Traditions Rarely End With an Announcement, and This One May Be Ending Quietly in a Private Decision
The royal family has already stepped back from some hunting. In September 2023, it was confirmed that the royals can no longer hunt, stalk deer, or fish at the Abergeldie Estate near Balmoral, ending more than 170 years of tradition, according to Hello. That change was official and public. The blooding claim is different. It comes from a book, not a palace statement.
Public opinion on hunting is divided. Animal rights groups call it cruel, while some people argue it is part of rural life, Newsweek notes. After Spare came out, the animal charity PETA criticized Harry’s graphic account, LBC reports. Another group, Protect the Wild, says blooding is still common among stalkers and shooters, even as the royals are said to move away. So the debate is bigger than one family.
Traditions rarely end with an announcement. They often end when a parent says no in a private moment that no one sees. We only know about this one because a book says so. If the claim is true, one of the royal family’s long-standing rituals may end without a ruling or a vote. The next generation simply does not do it, and the rest of us read about it later.