What Princess Catherine may have thought was a simple request turned into hilarious speculation about her romance with Prince William! LOLz!

As everyone knows, the 42-year-old was known to the world as Kate Middleton when her relationship with the heir to the throne first started when they were in college together in the early 2000s. After their 2011 wedding, she was named Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. But she didn’t really push hard for the public to call her Catherine until more recently when becoming the Princess of Wales.

But several years ago, it turns out she had a change of heart and decided to revert back to her full moniker in private — before she embarked on her more formal life. As you can imagine, though, given the optics, the timing of the request had her friends in a panic — because they thought she was about to get engaged! Classic!

In Robert Jobson‘s new book, Catherine, the Princess of Wales, out now, the author recalls the mother of three sending a “humorous email” to her inner circle informing them of the change. Citing a 2008 article by Sunday Express writer Adam Helliker, Jobson wrote:

“I hear that in the past few weeks, the former accessories buyer has quietly informed friends that she would like to drop the informal ‘Kate’ and in future wishes to be known by her full name: Catherine.”

It’s unclear if she just didn’t like being called Kate anymore or if “it was part of a bigger preparation for her formal public role as Prince William’s future wife.” Either way, the book noted that it appeared she “had a genuine desire to go by her full name.”

But instead of just going along with the name change like it was no big deal, her friends were totally sus over it. And they started essentially counting down the days until a proposal! The author dished:

“Inevitably all this led to a flurry of speculation about a potential royal title in the future.”

Hah! Ultimately, that wouldn’t come for another TWO YEARS when Willy finally popped the question in 2010. Guess this wasn’t totally about entering the royal family. In fact, at the time, King Charles III‘s communications secretary Paddy Harverson “flatly denied” the rumors.

Also, the monarch had issues with the name change!! In Spare, Prince Harry claimed that his father once asked his daughter-in-law to change the spelling of her name because he thought there were already too many royals with names beginning with “C.” That would be him and his wife Queen Camilla. The Duke of Sussex spilled the tea:

“This was because there were already two royal cyphers with the letter C in them — and they didn’t want another.”

Though it’s unclear exactly when this conversation took place, Harry recalled them suggesting she change it to “Katherine with a K,” adding:

“I turned to Willy, gave him a look that said, ‘You listening to this?’ His face was blank.”

Dang. It would’ve been WILD to make her change her name just so it wouldn’t be the same as her new relatives! Like what?? Talk about royals being spoiled! As Perezcious readers know, she ultimately kept the preferred spelling of her name and continues to be referred to as Kate by the public, though she and her husband use the formal name in official statements.

Love that such a minor change caused so much speculation among her friends! They must have been analyzing every little thing she and William did in anticipation of an engagement. Reactions?? Sound OFF (below)!