Kate Middleton has been a part of the royal family since 2011, but on Tuesday she finally crossed off a major royal first.
The Duchess of Cambridge stepped out alongside Queen Elizabeth II for their first joint appearance without another member of the royal family present, according to People.
They went to King’s College’s London Strand campus to see Bush House, a recently renovated part of the campus, and meet with people who took part in the project.
“The Queen is Patron of @KingsCollegeLon – which is the 4th oldest university in England,” read a tweet from the Royal Family’s account.
They also got to see some pretty spectacular views of London during the visit:
It took the Duchess of Cambridge nearly eight years to make her first joint appearance with the queen, but Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, stepped out solo with Her Majesty just two months after marrying Prince Harry.
William Hanson, a British etiquette expert and coach, told HuffPost there’s no “sinister” explanation for why the Duchess of Sussex had her first solo outing so early.
“Royal diaries are booked months, if not years, in advance and both Her Majesty and The Duchess of Cambridge have chronically busy schedules and sometimes different interests,” he said.
“There will be no sinister reason that a joint, double-headed engagement has not happened until now,” Hanson added. “The two have appeared many times in public together at various engagements, including the ‘three Queens’ visit to Fortnum and Mason in 2012, together with The Duchess of Cornwall.”
Royal news doesn’t stop at the wedding. Subscribe to HuffPost’s Watching the Royals newsletter for all things Windsor (and beyond).