Unbreakable Bond

Palace insiders spill all the details on the Duchess of Cambridge's friendship with the monarch.

- 

Whether or not Duchess Kate and Duchess Meghan thaw their reported tensions and become besties, Kate Middleton has at least one tried-and-true gal pal in the palace: the Queen!

Insiders tell OK! that the slow-to-start relationship between Kate, 37, and Queen Elizabeth, 92 – who recently embarked on their first solo royal outing together since 2012 – has bloomed into a solid friendship. ‘The Queen truly sees Kate as family,’ says a source, ‘and the feeling is mutual.’

ROUGH START

The Queen seemed decidedly uninterested in meeting Kate – let alone folding her into the royal family – for the first five years of her relationship with Prince William.