By now, we didn’t really think there were many more fun facts left to learn about Kate Middleton, but alas, here we are. Cosmopolitan recently revealed that the 36-year-old royal actually has a pretty big scar on her head — how have we never noticed that before?! — and the story behind it is quite mysterious. 

The three-inch scar is located on the left side of Kate’s head and is usually concealed by her long brunette hair. But, the Duchess of Cambridge’s pretty signigicant mark has been spotted by others in some past photos taken of Kate and the scar once garnered so much buzz that Kensington Palace had to release a statement about its origin. 

kate middleton scar
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However, the palace’s message ended up being quite short and vague. “The scar is related to a childhood operation,” a spokesperson said of Kate’s scar back in 2011. Though the details of the mom-of-three‘s surgery remain a mystery today, a doctor (who had not treated Kate) previously told the Daily Mail, “I really doubt it was any serious medical condition and I would say it is as a result of an arteriovenous malformation — a birthmark — being removed.”

Since a few photos of Kate’s scar surfaced and got major media coverage, the Duchess has noticeably chosen to hide her scar by styling her hair in different ways in recent years. Interestingly, Kate isn’t the only royal family member to be sporting a pretty large scar on her head — her hubby, Prince William, has one, too! 

prince william scar
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Though William’s forehead scar is typically barely visible, he’s noted that the mark can sometimes “glow” when he gets his heart rate up by, for example, playing sports. “I got hit by a golf club when I was playing golf with a friend of mine. Yeah, we were on a putting green and the next thing you know there was a seven-iron and it came out of nowhere and it hit me in the head. So, yeah, I was in hospital for that,” William said of his scar in a previous interview.

He also revealed why he has occasionally referred to the mark as his “Harry Potter scar” by explaining, “I call it that because it glows sometimes and some people notice it — other times they don’t notice it at all.”

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