As the Princess of Poise attends a secret rural rave, we remember when Kate Middleton used to REALLY let her hair down…

• Plus: how the other royals rate on the dance floor…
• READ MORE: The times the Royals really showed us how to boogie!

Catherine, Princess of Wales has become known for her unwavering poise.

So it was something of a surprise to learn that she made an impromptu visit to a rave a few days ago.

According to The Daily Mail Diary Editor, Richard Eden, the princess had been was dining with her Norfolk neighbours, the Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley, David and Rose, at their Palladian stately home, Houghton Hall.

 At the time, the Houghton Festival was taking place on their 1,000-acre estate. 

‘After dinner, one of the guests suggested that Catherine go to the festival,’ a source told the Daily Mail.

It is thought to have been Kate’s first ever visit to a music festival  – yet it is by no means the only time she’s let her hair down over the years, as these pictures show…  

Kate has become known as the princess of poise, seeing here chatting with her friend  Rose Hanbury at a charity event at Houghton Hall in 2016

But there was a time when she was happy to let her hair down, seen here in a 1970s-style sequin dress plus a huge sparkling ring on a night out at Mahiki nightclub inl 2007

In 2004, Kate attended an 80s-themed charity roller disco in Vauxhall, South London organised by Richard Branson’s daughter

The evening had a  1980s theme – and Kate led from the front

Kate looking glamorous as she arrives for a private house party in Chelsea in 2007

An earlier version of Kate, pictured as she leaves the Mahiki Club in 2007…

She danced the night away with William’s friend Guy Pelly at Richard Branson’s Summer and Tennis Party in 2006

It’s hard to know what they were trying in this move, but they seem to have survived…

Kate showed off her sense of rhythm as she danced in Tuvalu while on tour with her husband

So how do the other Royals rate? 

Prince William

The Prince of Wales has been known to indulge in a spot of dad dancing, not least when he was spotted enjoying himself at KOKO nightclub in Camden in June. 

Footage shows the Prince of Wales dressed in a light blue shirt, holding a beer and dancing from side to side while at the concert venue and former theatre in London.

It comes after the heir cringed over his dancing at the coronation concert, joking to a fan that ‘dancing sober is always a bad idea’.

In 2017, the future King was spotted busting some old-school moves inside the Farinet nightclub in Verbier during a lads skiing trip to Switzerland, and he was once again alongside Guy Pelly.

Footage taken by a member of the public shows William ‘raising the roof’ to the hit song ‘I Got 5 On It’ by American hip-hop duo Luniz.

And it was little better on tour in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific in 2012, when he seemed to lack the more natural rhythm of his wife.

The Prince of Wales has often been seen with friend Guy Pelly is by his side. They are pictured leaving Boujis, a nightclub in South Kensington in the noughties

William’s enthusiastic moves were less effective than Kate’s on their tour of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific in 2012

The prince was seen enjoying himself in the stands at Wembley at the Concert for Diana alongside his brother Harry

Prince Harry

Party Prince Harry is not afraid of the dancefloor and has sniffy about his older brother’s moves.

While on a visit to Rio in 2012, he referenced his father’s dance with a samba girl in Brazil before adding: ‘I’m just glad my brother isn’t here as he would want to do it and that wouldn’t be cool.’

He worked up an even greater sweat by dancing the Jahncanoe, another local favourite, with Laverne Arzu who said: ‘Harry danced so good, he really shook his hips.’

The following year, the prince was seen kneeling down to join in a dance at a school for deaf children in Lesotho and on another visit in 2015, he broke into some impromptu dance moves with children at Sentebale’s Mamohato Children’s Centre.

Prince Harry joined in the dancing at a street party in Belize as part of his Diamond Jubilee Tour of the Caribbean and Brazil

In 2015, he broke into some impromptu dance moves with children at Sentebale’s Mamohato Children’s Centre in Lesotho

King Charles

King Charles has faced decades of polite demands than he get on the dancefloor.

 In 1998, he was seen thrusting his hips in a synchronised recreation of The Full Monty to the sound of Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff while the following year he flamboyantly kicked his feet as he led his expert partner Adriana Vasile in a Tango in Buenos Aires.

Charles was left particularly enamoured with the samba after he took to the floor with a dancer in Rio in 1978, performing what he described as ‘a somewhat rudimentary version of the samba with a rather dramatically semi-naked lady’.

He once took to the stage with the glamorous Three Degrees to boogie alongside them as they performed during a charity fundraiser for The Prince’s Trust.

And despite his awkward moves and lack of technique, he also joined in with gusto as he was enticed onto the dancefloor by a lively group of young people at a disco in Middleton-on-Sea.

The striking moment – which came following a workshop organised by The Prince’s Trust for young unemployed people – saw Charles spontaneously shuffle his feet and kneel down in attempt to breakdance, to the delight of onlooking crowds.

King Charles is most at home on the dancefloor and has often been pulled up for a dance at royal engagements (pictured at a Prince’s Trust party to celebrate his 40th birthday in Birmingham)

Dancing at the Town Hall in the city, Charles later explained  he had performed a ‘somewhat rudimentary version of the samba’

Charles led his expert partner Adriana Vasile in a Tango at The Alvear Palace Hotel in Buenos Aires

He boogied unashamedly with the glamorous Three Degrees as they performed during a charity fundraiser for The Prince’s Trust

During a 2014 trip to Mexico, Charles looked gleeful as he joined in a dance, known locally as a Sarao Campechano

Charles was pictured trying a robotic wrist movement as he attempting breakdancing at a gathering for The Prince’s Trust

Despite his awkward moves and lack of technique, he boogied with gusto as he was cheered on from the sidelines

He did not hold back during a visit to the Madeley Community Centre in Derby when he hit the dancefloor much to the delight of the crowd

Queen Elizabeth 

The late Queen loved Scottish dancing and would hold a ball at Balmoral every year.

The historic Ghillies Ball is attended by the Royal Family, estate and castle staff, neighbours, and members of the local community.

But dancing for the Queen was also an act of diplomacy and she famously danced the foxtrot with Ghana’s first president, President Kwame Nkrumah, as a symbolic act, after he appeared ready to reject the Commonwealth in favour of links with Soviet Russia.

The monarch’s dance in Ghana in 1961 was significant as it was implied that, in return for the photo opportunity, dancing with the Queen, he would ‘return to the fold’ and turn his back on the Soviets.

Nkrumah was captivated by the monarch, later presenting Prince Charles with his one of his most prized boyhood gifts of a bow and quiver full of arrows.

Rare footage released from a Ghillies Ball in the 1990s shows the Queen dancing the Eightsome Reel, a Scottish country dance, with Prince Philip, the Queen Mother, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Charles.

As the royal family all take part in the traditional Scottish country dancing the Queen smiles and giggles, in the footage from the BBC’s coverage of the ball.

She has also been snapped joyfully dancing with her husband on many occasions, including at a square dance in Canada in 1951 where the pair wore country style dress.

The Queen would spend her summer at her Scottish getaway Balmoral and also enjoyed Scottish dancing (pictured at The Royal Caledonian Ball in Grosvenor House)

The royal was snapped at a square dance with Prince Philip in Canada in 1951 where the pair wore country-style dress

The engaged Elizabeth and Philip were pictured dancing publicly together for the first time at a ball at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh in 1947

Source: Read Full Article