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Kate Middleton reveals her surprising favourite emojis in rare flash of mobile phone

The royal accidentally shared her most-used icons

kate middleton phones
Gemma Strong
Online Digital News Director
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It's hard to imagine the royals using emojis in their text messages, but it seems the Duchess of Cambridge inadvertently revealed some of her most-used icons with a quick flash of her mobile phone this week.

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In a video shared on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, Kate thanked the public for sending in their questions about her Early Years campaign, during which she turned the phone she was holding towards the camera, giving eagle-eyed viewers the briefest glimpse of her screen.

WATCH: Kate Middleton flashes her phone in rare Q&A

While the icons aren't crystal clear - and, of course, the phone might not be Kate's own - over at HELLO! we have been carefully examining the emojis on display, and the results are rather surprising.

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Her favourite symbols appear to be two girls holding hands, a pineapple, a sliced cucumber, a gust of wind, and a purple alien – perhaps a favourite of her children, Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and little Prince Louis, two.

kate middleton phone emojis

Eagle-eyed viewers spotted Kate's most-used emojis

Her other top text pictures are seemingly a bowing woman, a vomiting face and a red face.

Although rare, members of the royal family are occasionally snapped using their mobile phones – from Prince William and Harry, to the Countess of Wessex, Princess Anne and Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

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Far less likely is to see them posing for selfies. In the spirit of goodwill, Prince William once obliged a schoolgirl by taking a selfie with her on Christmas Day at Sandringham in 2014.

prince charles william harry mobile phone

The royals are rarely pictured using their mobile phones

But generally speaking, royals politely decline photographs as they are often focused on an engagement when out in public, and in their working capacity. The times when you will see them in a selfie is when they've accidentally photobombed one.

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Prince Harry once admitted that he "hates selfies". During a visit to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, he turned down the request of a young fan, explaining: "No, I hate selfies. Seriously, you need to get out of it (the habit), I know you're young, selfies are bad. Just take a normal photograph!"

prince harry obama selfie

Prince Harry has said he is not a fan of selfies

The Queen has also previously revealed that she finds it "disconcerting" and "strange" when she is faced with a sea of people trying to take selfies with her. The implication was that Her Majesty considers it bad manners for well-wishers to be looking at a screen when she makes public appearances as a guest.

She confided in US ambassador Matthew Barzun, who told Tatler: "She was essentially saying: 'I miss eye contact'."

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