The Princess of Wales connected with an artist at the Royal Variety Performance and revealed her daughter’s emerging talent

Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte watch the the Wimbledon Tennis Championship on July 16, 2023. Photo:  Karwai Tang/WireImage

Kate Middleton has a budding musician at home.

The Princess of Wales revealed that her 8-year-old daughter Princess Charlotte is pursuing piano — just like her!

Princess Kate, 41, touched on the topic while speaking to pianist Lang Lang at the Royal Variety Performance at Royal Albert Hall on Thursday night, Hello! magazine reported. Princess Kate attended the event with Prince William as well as Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden, who are on a visit to the U.K this week.

“We talked about Charlotte. Her Royal Highness talked about Charlotte’s piano playing, I’m sure she’s good,” the celebrated pianist said. “Her Royal Highness said to me that she said to Princess Charlotte ‘Hey, look, if you practice a lot you can be like him’. ”

Lang Lang, 40, was among the artists who performed at the Royal Variety Charity’s glittering annual fundraiser on Thursday night and hit the keys with a young girl named Lucy. Lucy, 13, is blind and autistic, and won the first season of the musical competition show The Piano earlier this year, ClassicFM reported. Lang Lang is a judge on the program and said Princess Kate asked him about their teamwork together.

Lang Lang and Lucy attend The Royal Variety Performance 2023 at Royal Albert Hall on November 30.Belinda Jiao/Getty

“Her Royal Highness was asking me about how long we were practicing together, and how we discovered Lucy,” he said, Hello! reported. “We were talking about how we found her in Leeds Train Station, and how everything happened magically and how I’m so happy to play with her.”

The Royal Variety Performance wasn’t the first time that Princess Kate and Prince William have seen Lucy perform. The teen also played piano at the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle held during King Charles’ crowning weekend in May.

An interest in music seems to run in the royal family, and Princess Charlotte and Prince George, 10, were seen grooving in the front row at the Coronation Concert. Kate and William’s youngest child Prince Louis, 5, didn’t tag along, as the party was probably past his bedtime!

Kate Middleton, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Queen Camilla, King Charles and more at the Coronation Concert on May 7. Stefan Rousseau – WPA Pool/Getty

Princess Charlotte was spotted singing along to Katy Perry’s performance of “Roar” from her spot in the royal box, and her mom’s new comments about her piano practice nod to a hobby they both share.

The Princess of Wales has given a peek at her piano talent twice in the last two years, continuing an interest that began in childhood. Classic FM reported that Princess Kate was very involved with music while attending school and pursued the piano, flute and choir. Her former piano instructor Daniel Nicholls previously spoke to the Evening Standard about teaching the future queen in the 1990s, from the time she was 10 or 11 until 13.

“She was absolutely lovely, a really delightful person to teach the piano,” Nicholls said in 2012. “I don’t think anyone would say she was going to be a concert pianist, but she was good at it, she always did everything she was told,” he added.

Decades later, Kate turned to piano during the coronavirus pandemic and took “great comfort” in playing music, a royal source told PEOPLE at the time. At the inaugural Royal Carols: Together At Christmas carol show in December 2021, she surprised everyone with a musical cameo!

In a prerecorded video that aired during the broadcast on Christmas Eve, Princess Kate accompanied singer Tom Walker on the keys for a poignant rendition of “For Those Who Can’t Be Here,” surrounded by candles at Westminster Abbey. According to the royal source, the idea for the performance came from the Duchess of Cambridge (as she was styled at the time) herself.

“Music was very important to the Duchess during the lockdowns,” they explained. “She also recognizes the powerful way in which music brings people together — especially during difficult times. For these reasons, she was keen to be part of Tom’s performance in this way.”

This spring, Princess Kate played piano again to support the Eurovision Song Contest. She contributed a short instrumental performance to the opening sequence film of the popular European contest, which was hosted by the U.K. on behalf of Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

Kate joined the 2022 Eurovision champions, Kalush Orchestra, in performing their winning entry, “Stefania.” Her section of the performance was recorded in May in the Crimson Drawing Room of Windsor Castle.

Looking ahead, there’s another musical event on the royal calendar in just one week. Kensington Palace announced last month that Princess Kate will host a third annual Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey.

The festive event will be held on Friday, Dec. 8 (the same date that was accidentally leaked on the royal family’s website last month!) and later air on ITV on Christmas Eve, as it has in years past.