“Yah, that reminds me, I’m going hunting with Jecca later” –Prince William in this photo.
As you will be hearing all week (probably), the UK media is in revolt about the Cambridges and it’s funny to watch. The Daily Mail released several passive-aggressive stories about Prince William and Duchess Kate over the weekend. This is one of them: “Fancy seeing you here! Friends’ surprise as Kate and Wills attend wedding together after getting used to seeing Prince on his own – and just look at what she’s missed.” The Mail basically uses a rare, private, dual appearance by William and Kate at their friends’ wedding and goes wide with it, saying that Kate exerts control over William’s private schedule mostly because she doesn’t trust him. Some highlights:
Who got married? Bear Maclaine married Daisy Dickson, some outliers in the Cambridges’ circle of friends. While Pippa and many of Will & Kate’s friends were at the wedding, W&K’s appearance “was a cause of genuine surprise to many. Indeed, some believe it was a near miracle that they appeared at all.”
Kate’s demands: “For friends of the Royal couple report that William has all but abandoned his social life in recent months – at the request of his wife, who is determined that any spare time the couple have should be spent with their children.”
William is a party pooper: “Now members of his circle are expressing concern that he is turning down invitations to highlights of the social calendar. One friend even called William a ‘party pooper’, while Kate has almost completely disappeared from the social scene.”
William’s solo appearances: Kate did not appear at the funeral for William’s childhood nanny. Kate did not attend the christening of Zara Phillips’ daughter Mia. Kate has only gone with William to two weddings for their friends, and in at least five occasions, William has gone solo to friends’ weddings, with “Kate’s absence from William’s side was noticed at one event in particular: when he was usher at the wedding of one of his oldest friends, Tom van Straubenzee, in June 2013. On the day, she was seen out shopping.”
Kate began reining him in after the van Straubenzee wedding: “In her absence William knocked part of his tooth out at the reception and when he returned home bleary eyed to his wife, he was given short shrift. Many say that this was the moment she began to rein him in.”
A close friend claims: ‘Kate has basically told him that because of his hours with his new job, any other time has to be spent with her and the kids. His friends understand, of course, but they are really missing him. And they suspect he is missing them too. William used to be allowed to go to things on his own and he’d always excuse Kate’s absence, but she’s asked him to avoid going to any social functions for the time being – with or without her.’
Kate declines: “One friend has even suggested that Kate has been turning down invitations on William’s behalf.” This weekend wedding was the first they’d attended all summer, despite numerous invitations. Kate also attends only one of William’s polo games a year nowadays.
William is already “refusing” to do social events this fall: He’s being invited to charity events, stag parties, ski holidays and the like but he’s turning them down.
An unnamed friend of William says: ‘He used to be allowed to go to things on his own but now it’s rather embarrassing. He’s turning down invitations without any real excuse. Everyone knows it’s because Kate won’t let him out of her sight. It’s not good for Kate’s reputation with his friends.’
Hm… y’all know I’m not in Camp Cambridge, but I do think some of their absence from social events this summer can be explained by the simple fact that Charlotte came into their world and they were sorting out their family situation, like moving full time to Anmer Hall with two young children. Now, all that being said, YES, of course Kate doesn’t care about showing up for William’s friends. She got the ring, she gave birth to the babies, and now she doesn’t have to pretend to like his friends anymore (plus most of his friends never even liked Kate in the first place). And of course she “orders” him to refuse those invites. Or do you think she just gets her mother to refuse the invites and Carole orders William around? That’s my guess.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
Eh, the only thing I will say in her favor is that if she’s not going to bother showing up for her charities and doing some work, at least it’s a positive she’s not spending her “free time” out at society weddings and hunting parties. Which is a sad statement indeed.
I wonder if Will has a drinking problem.
ArtHistorian, which university did you go to? The lower brow ones tend to give less work because they dont require such high marks to get in. When I did my MA in Denmark, I was pleased it was free because of the real lack of teaching. Theres a lot of trouble with Danish students coming over to the UK and not getting jobs. Not because they cant get them, but theyre so used to being given everything free and/or getting government money that they just lack the motivation. Its a shame because I really enjoyed Denmark and go back to Copenhagen often to see friends. Its a great city.
He has been shown in pics, over the years, falling out of clubs, bleary-eyed. Also, drinking problems do run in families: the QM and HM were/are said to be “very fond” of their gin and tonics, Princess Margaret was also loaded a lot of the time… and didn’t his great-grandfather, King George die youngish of alcoholism and smoking??
Glad you said it but I wonder as well.
I went to the University of Leeds – primarily to study with a professor that I admire very much.
It is true that there isn’t much teaching time at the humanities in Copenhagen. But it wasn’t less than in England in my experience. Though I know that budget cuts have really eaten into things like teaching and research in later years. However, if you put time and effort into your studies you get an excellent education. I did experience that I had a much better grounding in my field of study than most of my fellow students, perhaps because the approach to the field was different in Denmark. In some ways, there was more focus on theory in England (which was great) whereas they built a firmer base in Denmark. I found that my two degrees complement each other wonderfully – and I got my English degree trasferred as one year’s worth of my 3 year Danish MA degree.
I do think that issues such as drive and motivation differs from person to person. I must admit that I didn’t see a lot of motivation with some of the undergrads in my dorm. They mostly partied and faffed around until they left school and got a completely unrelated job.
Regarding government support and motivation. I’m very grateful for an excellent and free education because it meant that I didn’t have to burden my parents with tution, help for board and food, etc. In the humanities there’s a lot of freedom, which means that you as the student have a lot of responsibility for your own education and not all students are that mature.
What I really did appreciate in England was the more intimate teaching sessions, fewer students means a bigger outcome – and the fact that there was a more organized support structure if you get in trouble, fx with depression as I did. No one holds your hand at the universities in Denmark, at least not in my experience.
@ArtHistorian – I’m curious how hard is it to study at St.Andrews, any idea? Just wondering if WIll & Kate are actually pretty smart academically even if it doesn’t show on photographs much.
If you are heir to the Throne don’t you go to Oxford or Cambridge if you are smart enough? And William did his degree in geography which tends to be a joke program and not as rigorous as English lit or the classics, where a lot more reading and essay writing are required.
Really if you are going to be head of state even symbolically, you should be taking Law so as to understand the state you are supposed to be leading.
Oxford and Cambridge are very competitive and require really high grades to get in. That said, they would totally waive those requirements for William given any decent grades. Wills chose St. Andrews, maybe because it’s more remote? The others are easy daytrips from London and are permanently overrun with tourists.
There’s an apocryphal story told about Charles, who went to Cambridge… after 3 years following Charles to all his lessons, his bodyguard asked to write the exams. Come the results, Charles got a 2.ii, while his bodyguard got a 2.i. (For you Yanks, that’s roughly a 3.0 GPA for Charles and a 3.6 for the bodyguard.)
St Andrews is a place where poshies who aren’t bright enough for Oxbridge go. In the UK, geography would be seen as a rigorous academic first degree. Here, it’s the more vocational subjects like business administration and the like that are snotted upon as “not serious”.
I’m not familiar with St. Andrews though it is not a place that I would go to study Art History, neither is Cambridge. The really interesting research is in the field is coming from Bristol, Leeds, York, Newcastle and London. I specifically chose Leeds because I wanted to study with a world class researcher who, fortunately, turned out to be a a great teacher and a really wonderful woman.
To me, studying means more than simply passing the exams – and teachers are there to help the student along the path to understanding, critical thinking and mastering methodoloy, not to explain everything. If you are independant, focused and ambitious, you can get an excellent education even from a university that isn’t among the most prestigious. However, it does mean that you have to take responsibility for your education and work with discipline. Sadly, that seems to be something that younger students struggle with today, at least according to people I know who teach at university who say that many of the new students expect it to be like high school where the teacher checks up on students if they fall behind.
A 33-34 year old man with children goes to a wedding and gets so wasted he knocks a tooth out? What kind of lives do these people have? Kate doesn’t need to rein him in – she needs to kick him in the ass – repeatedly!
Bear and Daisy sound like characters from ‘Downton Abbey.’
I agree. I don’t think she sounds bad here.
I was just about to scroll down and ask if Bear Maclaine and Daisy Dickson were actually invented by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I suppose you kinda beat me to it in your own way.
Sadly, that is not an uncommon thing. Binge drinking is more culturally embedded in the UK, even more so than it is in the USA, if you can imagine. Does he have a drinking problem? Who knows. But if my husband got so wasted that he knocked out a tooth, he’d have a WIFE problem when I got my mitts on him. I spend a LOT Of my time treating drunken idiots in the ER, and becoming one is NOT OK.
When I studied in the UK, I was actually shocked by the culture of binge drinking and hard partying among the undergraduate students, and the way that the clubs and bars played into that (like happy hour for shots on a monday!) – and I’m Danish and we not exactly know for a healthy culture around alcohol.
There are obviously several factors to blame but I can’t keep thinking that the university’s demands on the undergrads aren’t hard enough if they can go partying on week days and still get their degrees. I remember one fellow student in my MA program saying that he really had to lay off the undergrad lifestyle if he was to survive the course work and do the essays, which were no where near as comprehensive as the ones I did in Denmark – my individual graduate essays were as long as my English dissertation and my Danish dissertation was 3 times as long as my English one.
I don’t know why Kate is the bad guy here? They have 2 kids, they are in their mid-30’s, he shouldn’t be out every weekend at bachelor parties, clubs, etc. Time to grow up.
Seriously?
This story is hardly painting Kate as a bad person. And it seems largely made up. IF the press was in true revolt I’d expect more of the certified facts regarding William’s drinking and Kate’s hovering. Nothing of too recent though.
So, Kate keeps a close watch on William… I doubt it. Her spot is secure and when he strays she’s played the press to call him back. And it works. Now if Kate is the one keeping William from honoring the vets of his country? I’ll shade the hell out of that. But I think that’s all William not viewing sacrifice of others for his leisure a priority.
Umm, kate is really showing her lack of breeding here and her bourgeoise ways. She doesn’t quite realise the party doesn’t stop when you have little kids for english aristocrats. But she thinks it does. You are expected to get a nanny or 3 once your kids are born and get on the party circut again. The show doesn’t stop just because you are parents for these peeps. Hey I don’t agree with it but that is just how it is for the moneyed class.
That isn’t how either Peter or Zara Phillips do it, and they’re both grandchildren of the monarch too. They both work and from what I can tell, neither of them has a nanny for their kids. They’re both married into the middle class too.
Bear and Daisy!
IKR, Bear Maclaine and Daisy Dickson? Those can’t be real people surely?!
Word has it they won’t be attending Snazzy Von Pants and Amanda Hugginkisses engagement party either.
That upper middle class British life is full of absurd names!
Is like they KNOW these names will never be in an anonymous resume so might as well go NUTS
Exactly you don’t need a serious name if you are not going to do serious things. Go crazy.
The Cambridges must have *really* pissed the media off recently for the Daily Fail of all outlets – the Middletons mouthpiece of choice – to be slating them this harshly.
Haha, this is hilarious!
omg they had 2 kids in 2 years, that kind of puts a damper on hanging out with your friends.
Right! At that point in life, we were only spending time with other parents with small children – anything else was too difficult. And I didn’t want to be away from my babies either.
Exactly ZombieRick. They’re not allowed to be exhausted by having 2 young kids under two. Even with help, you have to admit that is a big life changer.
They thing is, they don’t just have “help”. They have a staff, and Carole, which is a tremendous amount of help, to the point of not doing anything they don’t want to do. That is a game changer, that makes them the type of people who most of us on this site cannot possibly relate to.
That said, I do believe Kate spends most of her time with her children. It probably is wearing. Possibly even exhausting while she is still breastfeeding, because I don’t think she has help there. But for the most part, she can free time up to do the things she wants to do.
I don’t believe Wills is inconvenienced one iota by the presence of his children. Not for one minute do I believe it.
Two nannies, Carole, personal assitants, housekeepers. That is more than a little help. I think she spends time with them, but she also spends a lot of time away from them. Shopping, at the salon, exercising, exercising, exercising. She’s not with them 24/7. And I suspect she drops the kids the second William shows her any attention.
I was going to say, he is skipping a stag party to be a FATHER. This is called being an adult. I don’t think she is being unreasonable in saying free time should be with family. Now if they are skipping job responsibilities then that is wrong, but to miss out on a ski weekend well welcome to being a grown up.
They should make an effort with each other’s friends and certainly family though and you don’t skip funerals of people important to your spouse that is just wrong, but some weddings when you’ve just had your second baby in two years yeah it happens.
And one of the key events in this timeline was June 2013 – the month before George was born! Of course she’s not going to party hard and of course she’d be pissed.
Ah yes, another poor William story. His meany wife refuses to let him have fun! How dare she encourage him to stay at home with his young children!
Seriously. And at the end of course they have to thrown in evil Carol. As everyone else pointed out they have two young kids. Cutting down on the social calendar is what good parents do. If it was the opposite this site would be frothing at a story about dem babies being abandoned to the nanny.
Evil Carol is saving the monarchy. I believe that. She is working assiduously to make sure George is brought up well, and that the Cambridge private life runs as it should so that those two can make their, admittedly rare, public royal appearances with ease. Kate can concentrate on her kids and her appearance and Will can concentrate on whatever it is he wants to at the time.
These odd stories are hiding some sort of more believable truth. There’s something up with William. Another poster mentioned depression on an earlier article? Diana suffered from it, and it WOULD connect a lot of the dots re: work-shy, withdrawing from social events, bizarre press statements, etc.
It would be difficult knowing that the royal family to whom he belongs, trashed his mother so viciously. That would cause a split with moral outrage to his personal loyalties – how would he know to whom he truly belongs? I’m betting that his heart would choose his mother. The royals seem particularly human in their lack of fairness; moral outrage is a bitch.
I don’t think it is depression. As someone (LAK? bluhare?) said in another thread, he probably has the Spencer temperament. That means temperamental. In his case, I can see it being the source of his temper, his My Way or the Highway attitude, his self-pitying My Life Is Terrible I Don’t Want To Be Royal Mantra, I’m the center of the universe and I can do whatever I want actions, I will order the press around because I Get To Do Whatever I Want.
Think of how Diana would have reacted to the death of someone close to her. Someone she felt was persecuted by the press or not treated exactly the way they wanted All The Time. Now look at William’s behavior and actions. They are very similar in that type of emotional, OTT, illogical reactions where they consider themselves both the center of the universe and a victim.
I really don’t subscribe to the idea of an inborn “temperament” – behavioural patterns are formed by nurture – and both the Spencers and the Windsors are notoriously dysfunctional families. Charles and Diana both had their issues that was brought into the marriage – and the breakdown of that marriage was both public and vicious.
Dysfunctional these patters can certainly reproduced from generation to generation – and I speak from experience here. It takes a lot of conscious effort, therapy and a willingness to confront and talk about such issues to break that pattern – and the BRF doesn’t really seem like they believe in that sort of thing.
AH, I’m not saying it is genetic. It could be either nature or nurture. One side of your family could be filled with people who tend to act one way, and the other side is filled with people who act another way. As you write, they have their patterns of behavior and those patterns can be dysfunctional.
Much of William’s paternal family appears stoic and logical, which can be very dysfunctional if you refuse to deal with emotions. Much of his maternal family appears OTT emotional and illogical, which means there’s lots of acting out and illogical choices. Ex. How many times has Earl Spencer been married?
The BRF was said to offer therapy to Diana, and provided it for the boys after her death. At least they recognize they aren’t the experts in that area. IMO, William takes after the maternal side. The BRF cannot order him in to therapy to address his issues and expect that to be successful. Ultimately, William is the one who has to look at his own behavior and decide to change.
Temperament is without a doubt partly genetic. In general, we inherit about 50% of it and the other is how we are raised.
That’s a good insight nota. And crumpet, you must have seen some of the research on identical twins reared apart? There’s a large study at the Univ. of Minn and another study in Sweden. As you said, there is no denying that genetics are as powerful as learned behavior when it comes to shaping personality.
MinnFinn, yes. Those and other studies. It’s very interesting! For instance, we know with animals, that behavior is very much a part of their DNA (though some people do not realize it) and we have taken advantage of it through selective breeding for our purposes. And humans are really just another animal though behaviorally more complex.
These stories also make me wonder if Kate is mildly agoraphobic. Even the trips to Mystique include stories of them “staying in” while the others party.
bettyrose
This has been speculated before.
Kate is extremely outgoing, unless something is expected of her she can’t deliver like a speech.
She’s animated with body language and expressions more often than not. Only when things are expected does she appear shy or closed off.
And the story of staying in. That was reportedly because they were fighting the whole trip.
I just wonder at someone who shies away from work but also seems to avoid social scenarios. I understand that she might feel uncomfortable around W’s friends if they’ve never liked her/contributed to his numerous daliances, but if she doesn’t have her own friends, it seems she spends a lot of time at home. (As do I, but I work outside the home 50 hours a week, so I value every quiet minute at home).
I don’t know if she might be agoraphobic, but I’ve wondered if underneath her obvious control issues, Kate has an anxiety disorder. Not in the sense that she’s shy or timid but rather people knowing anything real about her however benign is some kind of threat.
She’s really heavy handed about deflecting attention away from her as a person starting from her first public engagement when she wore that altered coat, her first speech when she wore Carol’s dress, the exaggerated expressions, hair and makeup, keeping her coat on during engagements, taking Lupo everywhere including an engagement and even into Starbucks. And she’s also isolated in her private life so it isn’t just avoiding the public.
Kate seems to have stronger trust issues than even William. To me, she comes across as someone who has been very badly harassed (and I know she ran headfirst towards this life despite the harassment) and has subsequently retreated into extreme self-protective measures. I don’t think she wants to be around people who would treat her as a peer, she wants staff she can control and order around.
Can’t edit -Just wanted to add, Kate, Carole and Pippa all strike me as users, so it could also partly be that Kate simply has no desire to have close friends unless they’re somehow useful to her in some way.
Natalie
If you had a puppy wouldn’t you take them out too? Those Lupo pics were officially staged for PR.
And Kate is still active and social. Agoraphobia would keep Kate from going to that polo game. Appearing so comfortable and animated at engagements or in conversation.
I’d guess her lack of friends and staying closed off is more from William’s not trusting others rubbing off on her. And his friends mocking her likely didn’t help. She was driven closer to her family and they took care of her in full.
Social anxiety is cancelled out too. Cooking class, personal trainer, and her chatting up shop keepers tacked in with her not fearing and outside world, but rather being open to it.
I believe her lack of being more social is her own doing and not the result of agoraphobia.
Natalie – I’m 100% convinced she has clinical level anxiety problems. Every time I see video of her that lasts more than about 2 minutes I notice some nervous behavior. In a few different appearances she has the nervous habit of picking at a spot on one of her thumbs. And there is evidence she picks at that thumb too much because in some photos it has a bandaid on it. And it’s reported that she has a lifelong nervous habit of being a voracious nail biter.
I would guess that being part of the BRF and the attendant media exposure would be a prime breeding ground for an anxiety disorder for someone who married in – especially if you consider the fact that she has almost no independant life experience outside of her family and her relationship to William.
She has never ever had to stand on her own two legs and manage her life for herself. She has never had to work to support herself and thus she has never had any work experience. She has never really been tested but has instead remained inside her insulated and comfortable bubble. I don’t think she has given herself any chance to acquire the skills and experience to be confident in her own abilities when it comes to performing her public duties – and it shows. I tmust be absolutely nerve-wracking for her and I actually feel sorry for her if this is the case, especially since William didn’t seem very helpful in the start of her royal “career”.
I don’t think it is an anxiety disorder. As AH writes, and others have said before, it is lack of experience at doing something. Not an inability to do it. She has no problem being chatty with shop assistants and people on Mustique. She’s done that for years.
Going to work and having to talk to people as a professional? She has no experience of that. She may be nervous, but I wouldn’t put it down to a diagnosable anxiety problem. It is just lack of experience and not working enough to get better at it.
@NOTA, the fact that she’s put no effort into getting better at this so-called job of hers, makes me not feel sorry for her one bit. She doesn’t work at speaking, she just thinks she can flick her hair, smile, arm wave, and everyone will curtsy to her. LOL.
I respectfully submit that all of you are dead wrong.
I believe the incontrovertible evidence shows that Kate’s social-anxiety, nervous-habit disorder manifests itself in the over-application of black kohl liquid eyeliner.
In fact, it’s a highly genetic predisposition that has been passed down through generations of Goldsmith females. For the love of God, I pray this affliction skips a generation or poor wee Charlotte.
nota, Good reminder about her extreme lack of life experience. I revise my earlier statement. I believe her public behavior is evidence of both an anxiety problem and arrested development. In my view, Kate suffers with comorbid disorder uniquely found in the .05%.
Edit – OOPS, I forgot about LAK’s point that she also has Hyacinth Boo-kay disorder. That makes it trimorbidity, yes?!
It was AH’s comment about KM’s lack of life experience. I just commented on her insights.
@NOTA, yes, understood. You and AH are right on the money. Kate is lacking in life experiences, and some of the ones she does have are sort of crazy. (being paraded in front of the press after giving birth – for example.)
It’s so, SO bizarre and weird that a 30something person (Kate) in the current age has no life experience whatsoever and no desire to experience life at all and is praised for it whereas a 19yr old (Diana) in a previous more judgemental age had some life experience and the foresight to recognise that she needed to acquire or educate herself in ways that would make up for what she lacked in life experience and in the end recognised that she really needed to get a life, all before she turned 30!!
Heck even 26yr old Fergie, whatever her faults, wasn’t this sheltered and lacking in life experience. Ditto Sophie, Autumn or Mike.
Minnfinn: it was Sixer who diagnosed Hyacinth Boo-Kay syndrome, but i’m happy to accept that diagnosis and to carry it forward.
Sorry, late reply.
When I say anxiety disorder, I don’t mean that she’s shy or timid. Kate seems to avoid in-depth relationships with anyone besides her immediate family or William. Besides the Middletons and family, Kate spends most of her time with people who work for her, or provide some kind of service -shop keepers, a cooking class, physical trainers etc. Those contexts have limited interaction and are relatively private. She also tries to over-control her image with pr stunts.
Kate reminds me of stories I’ve heard of actors, who in small doses can put on a show of incredible confidence while privately being extremely controlling and insecure. During the Olympics, we got to see footage of her on a daily basis which meant the novelty of seeing her wore off and it became really clear how much of her behavior is an act. I think we all remember that bizarre footage of her staring lovingly at her own image on a monitor and genuinely preening.
But again, it’s not just public duties, she’s isolated from her peers, people who don’t provide her some kind of service -people who aren’t there to mainly focus on her. Diana disliked Charles’ friends so she made her own. All the royals have social lives and friends despite being in the public eye. Kate has chosen to isolate herself from everyone. That combination of isolation and desire for control signifies something deeper.
Natalie
It could signify something deeper or nothing at all and we’re all armchair diagnosing on assumption.
IMO Kate appears to be an introvert. She’s content in her world and has no desire to branch out. Not from a fear, but just not caring to. And those bodylanguage twitches? Meh. I play with my hair oftenw ithout realizing. It means i’m bored or daydreaming. Not nervous. Kate gives off the same glazed over look I tend to do.
Regarding control. It’s her world. Kind of all she has. Working out, kids, shopping. She doesn’t have enough to spread herself thin so she spreads herself thick?
1 thing is clear. After a decade of conforming to stay in Wills good graces she’s very much not the girl she once was. She’s regressed and that’s sad.
Natalie, I think you may be on to something. She does not appear to have healthy and normal attachments to adults. Her attachment to her mother appears to be way too dependent, and with Wm her bond seems to flip between anxious and avoidant.
Wikipedia’s list of the 4 main ways adults form attachments with other adults might give clues to what’s going on with Kate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_in_adults
The have very little in common it would seem, won’t be surprised if William doesn’t end up being the first in line to throne in history not to have mistresses. Keeping up that family tradition seems likely.
Yes, Neonscream, concerning consorts, yet they are expected to be demonstrating family values…while still hiding behind archaic notions of royal entitlement. So sad for them to be mixed up in double standards.
He was unfaithful before they got married – his philandering ways are documented. Kate turned a blind eye and will continue to do so – she has what she wanted. While he’s probably being faithful now that will change in a few years when he bored of family life, which he will.
They are Documented? In what? Some gossip rag? I highly doubt he flaunted cheating in front of Kate. Or for that matter cheated at all.
@Betti I agree, he will get bored. Despite many good men who are husbands & fathers out there, I’m 36 yrs old & most of my friends are guys & they all pretty much tell me the same thing: they settled down not cause they wanted to, but bc that was what society expected of them at their age. Thus, they entered into a boring, home life revolving around weekend trips to Home Depot & Bed, Bath & Beyond & they desperately miss their single, free selves.
I will also note(before everyone begins the backlash,) that a majority of my female married, mom friends also feel pretty guilty missing their former single, childless selves. It’s probably why, despite an engagement & an unexpected pregnancy I’m STILL not married, nor chosen to become a mother…I just hear too many “woes my married, parent life” stories.
Ski bunny: are you the only person in this world who has never heard about William and his roving eye?
This isn’t tabloid rumour, though there were some kiss and tells that were quickly swept under the rug.
….but i’m sure you are still skeptical so I suggest you pick up some authorised biographies.
You’ll find several passages calling him out right. Including the damning 2 reasons he apparently gave for not proposing for so long…
1. He wassnt sure he could be faithful to one woman (this after he’d been with Kate after 4yrs)
2. His constant cheating was a test for her.
Not to mention the fact that both he cheated on his then GF with Kate and that’s how their story began as opposed to the sanitised BS PR version.
ski bunny
Documented in a wide variety of publications over years and in photos. It’s no secret Kate went after William while he was in a commited relationship. And several of his exs have all stated privately and publicly he had a wandering eye and they could not overlook it. As well as the students at the Uni all appearing in agreement William was not faithful.
Reportedly their last break up was with Kate angry about an article where it showed William acting single with some girls. She said to sum it made her look/feel cheap and he yelled something like he is a prince and can do what he wants. Then he famously stood ontop of a pub table and announced he’s free from his clingy gf. I think some of this was leaked by the Midd side to paint Kate as the wronged woman who’s better off without the cheating prince. That PR campaign was genius too.
These are no secrets and Kate was reported to suspect him stepping out on her with Jecca. It’s by her biographer noting she demanded William take her to see Jecca and not go alone like he had done.
You may not want to think it true, but it’s all been known for some time.
He didn’t know if he could be faithful to one woman? How’s that statement proof? what authorized biography are you referring to that states he cheated?
Sky Bunny: let’s see, all his circle talk about his roving eye, all his ex-GFs dump him for cheating, a passage in an authorised deals with this aspect of his character by saying he said that he doubted his own fidelity and that all the cheating whilst he was with Kate was a form of a test and you think he isn’t a cheater?
Not to mention the named and pictured kiss and tell girls – google is your friend since those stories are still up.
Not to mention the timeline of his official girlfriends as he moved from one to the next.
We are not talking the National Enquirer here. Not even the sun newspaper.
So you believe idle gossip basically because it supports your point of view? I’ve read those DOCUMENTED statements. They prove nothing.
If you’re so sure all the stories and his own statement prove nothing, Ski bunny, make your point. Or is your point that you don’t know?
Ski bunny: I see you prescribe to the Clinton school of redefinition of things.
Clearly there is no point in posting proof, cliff notes version or full chapter and verse.
I think that there is no proof that he cheated. There is no proof that he did not cheat.
The ladies here believe that he did cheat. I do not. I believe that he did not cheat. And also that he will never cheat.
Stating that there is “documentation” that William cheated is incorrect. The biographies that are being alluded to here do NOT state that William cheated. I know because I have read all of the ones written about Kate and William. There is factual proof that he was seeing Carly before Kate and she confirmed that fact. But no woman has ever gone on record stating that they had an affair with William. None of his friends have ever said that he cheated. Saying that Kate was the “last woman standing” is also speculation. As for William stating that he was not sure that he could be faithful to Kate : coming from a man in his early 20s shows that he is introspective and aware of the pitfalls of his position. I remember my husband and I discussing things like this when we were in our early twenties, a decade ago. It does *not* mean that either of us intended to be unfaithful towards each other, but when you are young and are in the throes of passionate young love (very often your first true love) it is healthy to try and understand what exactly that love is about. So no I do not believe that William ever stated that he cheated or that he intended to cheat.
William’s friends went on record stating that he had always only had eyes for Kate. People interviewed at St Andrews who were their peers said the same thing. From the first year he was taken with Kate and people knew that sooner or later it would become something more intimate – there are youtube videos of two young ladies who say this. As early as 2006 the very trusted photographer Arthur of Sun (who is close with William) went on record stating that William *told him personally* that William is very much in love with Kate and wants to marry her. The interaction between Kate and William shows tender attention from William towards her. Repeatedly.
This narrative of Kate being inferior, desperate and someone who should be pitied has been constructed here and some other gossip sites. I feel that it is unwarranted because I think it is the opposite of truth. There can be some reasonable suspicion that Kate did chase him to St Andrews and wanted to land him, but there is no proof that William did not want her. IMO he is very much in love with her.
I have to say: I come on this site because the whole business of royalty infuriates me and I like to be cognizant of the numerous ways the BRF is duping their country. I don’t particularly find the whole conversation bashing their relationship to be interesting or remotely related to reality. To me it seems to be the product of the imagination of people. And I will refrain from concluding on the intent behind constructing this parallel narrative.
Are you all familiar with something called “Confirmation Bias”? That someone will deny proof that contradicts their belief. The stronger the denial or refusal to view from another angle the greater the emotional connection/charge/passionate they are about it.
I think we all do this to a degree, but it varies on how emotionally invested we are.
To refuse facts and then call them not facts at all is textbook Confirmation Bias.
You will always prefer to read/hear what confirms your existing beliefs and it will give off a small or larger endorphine high. Higher being peak emotional investment. When hearing reading what directly contradicts your beliefs it resticts this high and you remain closed off to the possibility what you believe so purely is wrong. That’s why we can get depressed or upset when finding out we’ve been lied to or be proven wrong in a debate.
Just thought this applied well here.
Oh yes FLORC. Confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance both apply very well here. Echo chamber that it is.
Maia, I started following W & K during their engagement. For a long time I was skeptical about gossip claiming Wm cheated. I eventually googled the topic and a few articles convinced me he had definitely cheated. I recall that one plausible source said that a drunk Wm defied regulations and brought a girl back to his barracks for the night while he was at Sandringham. And I’m certain you can still find a photo of seemingly drunk Wm appearing to have his hand on the breast of a Brazilian named Ana Ferreira with his other arm around another random woman. Now I’m not saying that hand on a breast means carnal knowledge cheating followed that snapshot, but that there are enough credible sources and at least one photo for me to conclude he cheated.
And to your point that no woman has ever said she and Wm cheated on Kate, that does not constitute proof that he did not cheat.
Maia
I was thinking of also adding in Cognitive Dissonance, but thought i’d keep it short.
If nothing else we should all be open to viewing another side of things. Even if you think it’s pure lies and fabrications. If your position is true seeing another side should do no harm to your opinions. When some are so against that I begin to wonder if their thoughts are only supported by nothing solid contradicting it. Never letting doubt in. This applies to all debated topics imo.
Maia, there are also people who were at St. Andrews at the same time who do not say that about William. His ex-girlfriend the actress would probably be one of them. You said it yourself, “William’s friends”. Or two random “young ladies” who were being interviewed by a reporter so Of Course they told the reporter what people wanted to hear. Or another woman from that set, interviewed as part of a formal documentary, who talked about William’s behavior around other women and Middleton’s response.
This is an entitled manchild who stomped into a reporter’s office and demanded that she write nice things about Kate Middleton. I wish I could remember the fellow’s name, one of the set, who had some not-so-nice things to say about W&K. Soon after he seems to have been told to straighten up, because he immediately took it all back. They toe the line and tell the version William wants told – or they’re out the door.
Andrea, I do understand why Will wanted to play the field before settling down. I don’t understand how Kate could feel okay about devoting her youth to the chance of being princess, but I really don’t understand anything about her. I honestly don’t care if he plays around as long as she’s on board. My understanding is that she has that privilege too now that she’s provided the spare.
I take umbrage at that, Maia. I think plenty of disparate opinions are stated here, and I resent your inference that we’re all lemmings. If I find I’m getting defensive about something I ask myself why, and there’s usually a reason. I don’t care enough about these two on a personal level to give a damn either way actually.
I do remember the story about the woman in the barracks and I think that I was inclined to wave that off as a classic Ross-Rachel “we were on a break” type scenario. First that was a one-off scenario and second, we don’t know what happened – chick might have popped in for coffee. FWIW I don’t think W ever had any moves. In any case not to excuse anything but I do think that couples who have been together since they are young (and I know this from personal experience) can go through an event like this that shakes things up but ultimately solidifies the relationship. I was in a similar relationship around the time Will and Kate were doing their antics, so I do sort of identify with some of the stuff that went on (I was the one who broke it off and drifted a bit). After they got back together, though, it seems that they have been quite solid, which is also the case with my own experience.
I am in no way a fan of theirs, as you know. So I am not at all inclined to be suffering from any bias. It’s just that on this particular issue so far I don’t see what you guys are seeing. Things may change of course .. I always keep an open mind about that. If you do find the videos from St Andrews sources do post them – many of us would like to see them for ourselves.
Nota
You’re thinking of a female journalist at the Daily Mail. The publication and NOT the online mess. She wrote her account in hilarious detail of 2 men requesting the journalist wrte more of Kate’s better qualities. That she does work and should be portrayed as a hard worker. And the journalist laughed into her coffee. That’s what I remember of it.
The tone of it all came off as imposing and the journalist was not having it so she documented everything and published it. Ha!
Maia
There were several occasion now tough to find or only got mentioned in passing to protect the heir. A girl here and a girl there linked with kissing or sleep overs. Ultimately many refused to tell their stories. Smart too because they would only be the tramp 1 night stand that seduced the prince from his long time love. And that would ruin their lives. Especially from a moment that might have felt like an error in judgement.
It was Amanda Platell if I remember correctly. And she retaliated in an elegantly snarky manner through the sarcastic use of hyperbole so sugary that you’d get instant cavities.
She fullfilled the royal request but in such a ludicrous manner that anyone with any kind of higher reading comprehension and critical think skills would be able to read between the lines. Furthermore, she framed the whole story with a description of the visit from Will’s people, which certainly put him in a very bad light.
In 2007 William was seeing a woman called Rosie and he finally broke-up with Kate officially because he thought Rosie was The One. Fast forward a few years and Williams very loyal friend William Van Cutsem (the gay one) marries Rosie. Van Cutsem now has a respectable marriage and Rosie is ensconced within PW’s tight-knit circle in Norfolk. Van Cutsem has avoided shaming his aristocratic parents (Prince Charles’ close friends) and also has the cache of being the future Kings most loyal friend. This is evidenced by the fact that William and Rosie Van Cutsem are now godparents to Prince George. William Van Cutsems father Hugh was a close confidante to Prince Charles when he was younger. Hugh was such a good friend, in fact, that he provided a ‘safe-house’ for Charles to use when entertaining women who were not his wife.
Can I also just add that theirs was the wedding where Catherine (despite being heavily pregnant) wore a floaty mini-dress – some say this was a tactic to upstage the bride but I am not sure about that. She was allegedly sending the bride a message when she paused in front of photographers and laughed as the wind caught her dress.
They met at university in their early 20s and didn’t get married until 10 years later. Please. No one who is that much in love waits 10 years to do that, especially knowing you can’t shack up and have kids out of wed lock in the BRF.
William may like Kate more than Charles was into Diana, but Kate waited for a reason. She let him get things out of his system, but I won’t be surprised when the cheating stories come out again once the kids get older.
Definitely not in favor of a monarchy and certainly no fan of these two, but:
she wants him to spend free time with her and their young children?!
GASP AND HORROR.
Right? He’s not a frat boy. He’s a 33 year old man with 2 children. Most people stop partying as much under those circumstances. I have to say, the British press is really nasty and sexist. The old ball and chain stops husband from having any fun…he’s whipped…
How gauche, spending time with your family. /s
But, she’s preventing him from having ANY social life at all due to the kids! And, at 33 he’s still very much young & probably wants(and if not needs) to get away from the house for a bit. I have no problem with him going out at his age. Does anyone here, his age, partake in Happy Hour after work? That’s going out to a bar.
That being said, a lot of these weddings they’re missing out on are of close friends they invited to their wedding. And, 1 of them they asked to be godparents to George & missed that couples’ child’s baptism. That’s just rude & bad manners.
I read the article too, it claimed Kate made him turn down a funeral for his former nanny’s child(?) Someone he was reputedly pretty close to…sorry, but Kate’s being a complete shrew & this is the classic, text book way to sew resentment in a marriage.
Andrea S. – yes, I can see what you mean, IF this is all true. I certainly want my husband to socialize with his friends without me sometimes. I think it’s good for us both, as well as my time with my friends. But how do we know SHE is making the decision? I mean, I don’t know that she isn’t, either, but it just seems like the same old story – mean wife keeps husband on short leash and no fun allowed! It’s exhausting to try to figure out a truth we will probably never know. But, you made some good points, and if she is indeed somehow preventing him from going out to events that are important to him, I think she’s making a mistake, too.
These British media outlets are run by such an old-school bunch of tired-ass misogynists sometimes I just cannot. Remember the froth they worked themselves into when Duchess of C had the audacity to snap her OWN photo of her son and post it on social media…and now THIS!? WHY GOD WHYYYYYYY!?!?!?
Nobody cared that she took some out-of-focus snaps of the kids. The “froth” was that the Palace lied. They said they were going to release the photos at a certain time and then they deliberately released it early, catching the press off guard. Yanking more press chains because that is William’s favorite hobby.
After all the furor over the warning to the paps, this Daily Fail take-down is kinda a wet noodle. I mean, Kate doesn’t attend weddings and keeps a tight leash on William? Gossipy, but hardly juicy. Do better DM!
He knocked part of his tooth out! At a wedding! OMG… he must be messy. I don’t blame her for keeping him on a short leash. But yeah, his friends were bitchy to her for years, so whatever.
He led the charge of being nasty to her and about her. Or do you think it nice for a man to tell his friends, “I have sex waiting” as his excuse for leaving a party?
@NOTA where was this story?! I do get the vibe she’s way more into him than he is into her, but didn’t know there was hard evidence to back this theory up?? Where can one find said evidence?
Thanx 🙂
Not to speak for Nota.
Many of these stories were “sanitized” as LAK put it above. You can find the links with a brief backing of the story, but then cloick and it’s a 404 link not found. Many links were gone come the engagement. It’s mostly down to screen capts and memories for some tthings. I do remember that line and thought it smug of William. To support though it’s known his security called Kate code name “mattress” because she would go to William when he wanted her and sneak out early in the morning. She was only around when he went to bed so… mattress. So that supports the frame of mind. Along with how William did not ask his friends to not mock Kate’s family or how clingy she was to him. He was fine with these nicknames given to her.
Regaarding vibe Kate was more into William than vice versa. Lookk no further than James Whitaker. Highly respected Royal insider. He’s not to be doubted though now passed. He made note Kate loved William and William loved Kate, but not in the same way. As a friend, but not in love. She though was infatuated.
Gosh we have lots of new people on here demanding bibliographies and links today, don’t we? Thanks for stepping in while I was away FLORC.
Some of the forums have saved the text of those articles, to preserve them from the whitewashing. The problem is, it is the forums on the far side of one end of the spectrum. Not a place most of us spend time.
@FLORC: Oh God, they really coded her “mattress”? How humiliating. Either she really really really wanted to be a princess or she has a very poor self esteem to have allowed herself to be treated this way.
Ha, nas!
Nota
No problem! As you’ve done thankfully for me so many times!
That opens to a bigger point. And why watching things unfold is almost the only way to get news. Things get whiped clean. Links not found, instagram/twitter counts erased. If not for several blogs out there saving these things it would be gone completely except from memory. When I see something I think i’ll need to remember i’ve taken to screen capping it as a result.
Crumpet
That’s been a point of discussion. Kate allowing herself to be treated so poorly. Also why I was a fan when they split. That it was her waking up and being stronger. Especially with the stories of how William carried on a celebrated after the break up. I speculate if Kate is only 1 of those people that went to a Uni because it was expected she do and to get her MRS as my theas would say.
And then some only apire to be taken care of. And Kate achieved that. Just with the wrong funds and living off of her parents and father in law.
Mental illness. Boom!
My take?
She’s not that fussed about him. She just wanted to be a princess because she’s got Hyacinth Bucket Syndrome (my new favourite Cambridge snark). I doubt she gives a toss where he goes or what he does.
He’s not that fussed about her. He had to get a wife and nobody else in his social circle would take him. One, because their easy life would get a microscope on it so no thanks. Two, he’s more than a bit of a wanker.
You sent me down a Hyacinth Bucket rabbit hole yesterday and it was pure joy.
I don’t think she cares what he does either. The broken tooth is the story. The man is apparently a Drinker.
I agree. The rest of the story is just standard Fail misogyny so that they can hint that Normal Bill is going to have a very red nose from all the alcoholic broken veins by the time he’s in his 40s.
(Wasn’tgonnacomment, wasn’tgonnacomment) but REALLY. Now have a mental picture of Normal Bill jiving around his palatial grace and favour drawing room while p*ssed out of his brains to Amy Whinehouse “I Don’t Wanna Go to Rehab No, No, NO!” I’m rather enjoying it as well – at least more than the DM ‘take-down’ which – thus far – is deeply disappointing and woefully predictable. These people work for a British Tabloid for Gawdsake – don’t they have ANY imagination?
Ha. I wonder if the EAAA has automatic drugs/alcohol tests. Presumably so. Perhaps that’s why he can only work half a week. Snigger.
@ Sixer ooh that sounds right – that and the fact that he’s a LOT more than a bit of a wanker – snort
This isn’t the first time his drinking has made public.
He was sent home early at Harry’s Sandhurst passing out ball. It says something about his levels of alcohol if he can be that drunk at a ball of hard drinking military types.
He was also very horribly drunk at his 30th birthday party. Really annoyed the other patrons of the restaurant they had booked.
Never forgetting the pap photos of him falling out of clubs drunk as a skunk.
Also, you know, as I keep saying around here. We have to remember that nigh-on swinging is part of this set’s DNA. So it’s entirely likely that they have separate social lives. They’re like the Bloomsbury Group, only minus the talent. Normal Bill is just being Normal.
Can anybody think of a single thing they add to the country? Cos I can’t.
Didn’t Normal Bill ever learn the cardinal drinking rule? Never be the drunkest dude at a party.
But that probably doesn’t apply to this set.
I’m not British so I’m not sure what they add. Entertainment value? Continuity of statesmanship, maybe? There’s time for Normal Bill to straighten up and fly right before he takes over Betty’s position. There was George VI – he had a bit of a drinking problem, too, and he steered the ship through WWII.
Somethin’ tells me that as the pressure mounts for him to act more like the coming King, there’s going to be a BIG story coming out when the self-medicating crosses the line. Something bigger than a broken tooth.
Bucket is pronounced “Bouquet”, right? Don’t want to say it like an ignorant ‘Murican.
@ Sixer – Bloomsbury group without the talent AND the looks. Ok so looks shouldn’t be important but I’ll make an exception in Normal Bill’s case and he does look to me like he’s developing some very alcoholic looking jowls. I agree, it strikes me as a typically ‘aristocratic’ morally bankrupt marriage i.e don’t look, don’t tell. Cathy has produced the ‘heir and the spare’ and it wouldn’t surprise me if Normal Bill’s already gone the way of his father and totally lost interest.
@ Nutballs: yeah that’s right and that’s the joke, a perfectly serviceable if comical name pronounced in a ridiculously snobbish way. I worked with a Hyacinth Bucket once – needless to say it wasn’t a good mix!
I suppose Remembrance Day is moving. Other than that, I can’t think of a single thing they bring. My crazy pal enjoys the State Opening of Parliament because she thinks it symbolises their pointlessness. It’s an expensive symbol if you ask me!
Bouquet – yes!
Frisbee – yep. No talent. No looks. Swinging is all they got!
Let’s not forget the Tanna snaps of the first public snog between W&K, conveniently timed to take attention off of the Uncle Gary sting. William stumbled drunk to the car, fell against it, kissed her, then got behind the wheel of the car.
Gary is such scum. And drunk driving should never be overlooked like that.
Hyacinth Bucket Syndrome! Priceless – I’m going to steal this one, Sixer.
My mother suffers from this syndrome as well – it is exhausting for the relatives who just want to chill out and have a laid back evening with friends.
Hyacinth Bucket Syndrome! Priceless – I’m going to steal this one, Sixer.
My mother suffers from this syndrome as well – it is exhausting for the relatives who just want to chill out and have a laid back evening with friends.
I like the sound of Hyacinth Bucket Syndrome! 🙂 Can Sixer or someone please explain what it means? I am guessing it’s something to do social climbing? Correct me if I am wrong.
There was a popular sitcom in the UK starring Patricia Routledge called Keeping Up Appearances. Routledge played a social climbing snob called Hyacinth Bucket, who insisted her surname was pronounced Bouquet.
Sadly, I’m old enough to remember it!
It’s got its own wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Keeping_Up_Appearances_characters#Hyacinth_Bucket
Grace: Hyacinth Bucket is a comedy creation from a TV show called keeping up appearances. Episodes are up on youtube.
It’s about a woman who married up and is forever simultaneously rubbing everybody’s noses in that fact, and trying to rub shoulders with members of the upper classes.
To extent that she pronounces her name ‘bouquet’ rather than ‘bucket’ because apparently that’s much classier.
It’s a very funny show. Watch an episode. You’ll understand the reference much better than I can explain it.
Grace, if you want to watch it, reruns are still showing on PBS in the US. There are also some episodes and clips on YouTube.
Thanks, you all lovely ladies. I’ve heard great things about the show before but never watched it. Heading to Youtube now.
It’s got it’s own youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/KUAOfficial
Sixer, I’m still waiting for Inside No 9 and Fortitude to get added to Netflix, since I’m too cheap to pay to watch episodes on Amazon Video. This series will help me pass the time.
I don’t pay per view/episode anything either!
The show is on Netflix. I find it hilarious at times.
Her sister Rose is Sooo Gary!
I agree Sixer, and what a way to put it. Hyacinth Bucket Syndrome starring the Wisteria Sisters. She wanted The Prince, The Status, and the shopping budget. He wanted a wife who would let him do what he wanted. Friends who got married because it was convenient.
He does what he wants. She shops, exercises, tans, goes to the salon, exercises, plays with a kid, plays tennis, shops, redecorates, exercises, goes on vacation. Other than those pesky royal duties, this is what they wanted.
Precisely.
I think you got it about right. I do think she was once quite in love with him, but now that he’s lost his looks she probably all ‘meh’.
I love Hyacinth.
What an absolutely ridiculous story! This couple has a toddler and an infant, have just moved house, and the husband has a new job – of course their social life is curtailed! And why wouldn’t William want to be at home with his wife and children during his free time? I’d be questioning the relationship and his character if he was out carousing with his buddies. His behaviour is nothing less than I would expect of a happily married man who wants to enjoy his family.
Puleeze! They have a huge staff and do nothing all day.
So if you had staff, you wouldn’t spend any time with your children? Honestly, the remarks on here…
Goodnames, I read PHD’s post as not that they don’t want to see their kids but their staff enables them to have it all. Undoubtedly they have enough staff to give them the option to not curtail their social life plus still spend more time with their kids than any of the 99% with one or two parents working outside the home 40 hour weeks.
Their staff frees up several hours of week for each of them if they choose to take full advantage of their help. As one of Charles’ staff said the royals ‘don’t have to lift a finger’ if they don’t want to.
Add up the weekly time middle class parents spend just for grocery shopping, meal prep and cleanup, paying bills, chauffeuring kids, supervising homework, laundry and keeping the house minimally clean.
And with two under two, imagine how the quality of your life and energy level improves exponentially if you took full advantage of your staff and you got 8 or more hours of uninterrupted sleep every night and you worked out 3 or more times per week!!!
Also, having a staff frees up a lot of mental energy. All the time you spend planning and worrying about bills, shopping, what to make for dinner, how you are going to get from work to pick up Johnny at the hockey rink in the forty minutes you have allotted – all that, poof. Gone. It’s done for you.
You can focus your energies on cheering Johnny on at hockey, instead.
Yes, MinnFinn, I see what you’re saying, and am sorry if I misunderstood. We just get so many comments on here that the children are being raised by the nannies and Will and Kate have almost no contact with them, when I think the pictures show a very different story, that I assumed this was another one. I’m still not positive it wasn’t because of the tone. Just because you have staff doesn’t mean you “do nothing all day.”
Goodnames, Goodpoint.
The pictures show you what they want you to see. Example: George playing at polo with Kate. They left out the one where one of the other children pulled George off the horsepath just before the horses went through and Kate was sitting nearby clueless.
@Deedee
I could not ask for a more loving, wise supportive mother than the one I was blessed with. When I was two, she was gardening in our backyard and I was playing in the sandbox. She needed to go to the front yard, and told me to come with her. I got up, and she assumed I following her. Instead, I walked into our next door neighbor’s driveway, just as he was backing the car out of the driveway, and was run over by his car. I nearly had a serious head injury and my ear was severed from my head (they sewed it back on). When the hospital called my father and he asked if I was going to live they said “we don’t know.” I’m just saying that accidents happen in a split second. Even the best mother in the world can take her eye off a child that age for a few seconds and something awful can happen. I don’t think you can fake what I see in the pictures of George and Kate – they love each other and have a close bond.
GNAT, in this case, KM was sitting on a hill 5 yards away from him. He was on the path where the horses were about to come through. She didn’t move, just sat watching him. Autumn Phillips ended up running across part of the grass to grab him. KM sat there, watching, then watched Autumn walk over and hand PGTips to her. Didn’t even bother to get up off the ground and get her own kid.
Reminds me of the first photos of him at polo. He’s crawling around, tugging at her skinny jeans, looking to be picked up. She’s chatting with a couple of men and ignoring him. Split seconds, caught on film forever.
Nota
I’ve waited before picking up kids. You know they’re there and alright and you don’t want to be rude to those talking. You also don’t want the child to think they own your actions. Just my thoughts on it. I saw nothing wrong there.
The running away though… yea not good.
I said on another thread Kate has been cared for her whole life. And now she has endless help. She’s probably not completely set to be so mindful assuming there is always another to take care of things. Or she just drifts off into day dreams very easily and it’s tough to get out of them..?
I don’t think she’s a bad mother. Just a girl who mentally is a bit stunted.
Point with staff. Because she does have so much she should prioritise more for work and less vanity items. But I don’t think she is an absent or bad mom as a result.
People are hard on moms they don’t know and piece together by their pre determined assumptions and bad timing pics. I don’t feel it’s fair. Especially if the child is healthy and doesn’t fear being near a parent.
@notsugar
Hmm, well that sounds inattentive, but she must not have realized the danger. I’m sure you don’t think she would have intentionally let him get run over if she had? But I can see where you would raise your eyebrows at that, certainly. I agree with FLORC that we are awfully hard on mothers as a rule, and I think people see her being lazy at her job and carry that over to her parenting. I certainly don’t know, of course, but their body language looks very loving to me. A foreigner who has never met them. I don’t know how I end up defending this woman all the time. Lol
FLORC, when your two-year-old is in the path of horses, you pay attention. You do not sit day dreaming while someone else saves your kid. It wasn’t bad timing on the photos. She sat there, did nothing. Autumn did.
I’m not saying Kate is/is not a good mom. I am careful not to judge any parent based on accidents/close calls with kids, since kids are fast and accidents happen. My point is you can’t tell good parenting/bad parenting based on photos or even eyewitness accounts of public appearances. What goes on behind closed doors? We may never know. There was a very cute photo of Kate with George on her shoulder at the playdate on the Aussie/NZ tour. All the sugars said that proved what a good hands-on mom Kate was. I have an identical photo of me with a cousin’s baby (the same age as George at the time) cuddling my shoulder and smiling. I had met the little cutie just a few minutes before the photo was taken.
All this talk of photos reminds me that you can tell a lot by looking at photos of children with adults how close their relationship is. Every photo I have seen of Kate with George has shown that they have a close, loving relationship IMO.
Nota
We agree on that. Kate should have been aware enough to at least jump to her feet with that incident. I do think that’s from her emotionally stunted behavior. And from always having another to take care of things. She’s regressed. It’s good she has help. I’ve met these mothers without that help and it’s a sad state.
A term often used for them is vapid or airhead generally to not pay attention to your child running into danger.
And Kate and George are comfortable. Equally so with the nanny. And for that matter Charles. I think George might spend enough time with all to be comfortable with all.
@Deedee, well I have argued on here that you can’t tell certain things by looking at pictures, so I can’t really argue with your point without being a big hypocrite. I do think Kate and George have a loving relationship. I hope that doesn’t make me a sugar. 😉
So this is the approach? Evil Kate reigning in wild partying Bill? Ok – ha! I liked a couple of the DM’s other stories – there was one about the planned trip to Mustique in November that was full of shade about Mike Middleton bailing, Kate taking time off of “royal duties” to squeeze the trip in, Wills scheduling time off of work after putting in a grueling four months, and Pippa tagging along because she essentially does nothing else with her life.
Like LAK said yesterday, look for the good bits embedded deep in the story of the day. This time it’s Wills breaking a tooth at a wedding after what we surmise is a night of hard drinking. There’s the story, folks.
I’ll add the other previously unprinted gems ie stories/theories that have been bandied about for years, but no major media outlet would print.
1. William’s friends really don’t care for Kate.
2. Not only do they not care for her, but also blame her for William’s withdrawal.
3. Kate can’t be bothered with them anymore now that she has the prize.
4. Kate was always present and making an effort before she locked William down.
Frankly, if it wasn’t for the usual ‘normal bill and cathy’ spin of the story that is obscuring the fact that WK have a huge staff to do everything for them, i’d actually feel sorry for the poor new family with their 2 babies, live in nannies, grandma/nanny, 27+ household staff who can move them from one mansion at the snap of a finger.
It doesn’t make her look good, does it? Those points emphasize that she was playing a game, but was In It To Win It. His friends saw through it and are concerned. That doesn’t mean a bunch of drunken frat boys miss their drinking buddy, even if this story reduces it to that. This group of people who befriended and protected William are worried about him because of his choice of wife.
We’ve discussed many times how few friends of her own she appears to have. She gave them up to be part of William’s group. Now she’s backing out of that and wants him out of it too? Mr. and Mrs. Howard Hughes.
@NOTA – u make an interesting point. Those friends are the ones that have always protected him and always will, they are true friends regardless if they are a bit frat boyish. They like the rest of us can see that she is isolating him for her and her family’s agenda, to control him which never works out.
I’ve seen this happen with a member of my own family, who has allowed his wife to isolate him from his friends and family, making her and hers the centre of his world. He isn’t happy and its made him bitter toward everyone. It will backfire on Kate and end in tears for her/her family as he will get to a point where enough is enough and he’ll push back.
PS i don’t think its Kate thats doing the pulling – its Carole. She’s the one that been the draw for William over the years, she mothers him.
LAK, are most of William’s other friends married? I love all but two of my husband’s friends, and the reason I don’t love them is they seem to resent the fact that he’s married. They both happen to be single, and even though I have never had a problem with my husband going to visit them (they both moved away) or even going off for the weekend with them, they just treat me like the third wheel. His friends who have become my dear friends as well made an effort to get to know me and came at the relationship with a positive attitude, as in he likes you so we like you. The other two act like wife = drag/nag/fun killer. So do you think maybe they treat her that way? Or are they married, too?
GNAT: there have been so many weddings in the past 5-/6years that i’m surprised there are still unmarrieds in their circle, even on the periphery.
So sad to hear that these people treat you this way. I wonder why people do that.
Going back to Kate and William’s friends, this behaviour appears to have been apparent before the wedding, except that pre-wedding Kate appeared to put up with them. Post-wedding, she doesn’t have to and does not.
GNAT
They’re just bitter. It’s all too common that happens. That’s why it’s been said you lose 2.5 friends with every new relationship.
Also because people move away or grow.
LAK and FLORC -thanks for the info. So they just never really liked her.
Interesting about losing the friends. He stays in touch with them, which is fine with me, but they are not as close as they once were. I have no idea why they act that way. They are both really old not to be married, not that everyone has to get married, but they are in their 50s, so maybe they just don’t connect well with women or something. I don’t think I did anything to offend them because they really didn’t give me a chance to. Oh well
GNAT
Nothing you should let bother you. Even though it’s very easy to be bothered by these things. Sometimes I find myself actively trying to not let it bother me.
It’s a new factor that they resist maybe? Sometimes friendships last so long because there’s a familiar factor about it. Outside changes are not always easily accepted.
The drunken losing of tooth wedding I believe was the Percy wedding in which (gasp) Chelsy Davey was a bridesmaid and Harry was there! Oh, and Pippa was too, which I understand bc she is very close with brother George Percy… but is it possible that some of these invites Normal Bill’s +1 is Pippa and that is how she scores invites to the social events of the year and also keeps an eye on Normal Bill?
i’ll admit there’s no love lost between kate and some of william’s friends but do you think she declines to go to a lot of weddings because she doesn’t want to take the attention away from the bride? when pippa goes to weddings she gets the cover of the DM, imagine if Kate went too. I would feel so badly for the bride.
However, I’ve heard that some brides wanted Pippa to be at their weddings especially because of the exposure so I’m at a stalemate.
That could be possible, I mean she would get all the attention and let’s be real cause a lot of commotion. while I don’t think she is all that selfless of a person I can see her selfishly not wanting to deal with the headlines of stealing the brides day. Or she could be a perfectly lovely person who knows I can’t get a read on her I don’t think she is all that bad like most people on cb.
This is what I’ve always thought about the “wedding issue” which has come up a few times at the DailyMail. When Melissa Percy and Thomas VonAreYouKiddingMe got married, there was more coverage of Chelsy as the Maid of Honor than the freaking bride – and that’s a royal ex. I think it Kate went to these weddings they become bigger paparazzi targets and a distraction for others who attend. I think that’s part of the reason she doesn’t go.
Kate has attended at least one wedding without any pap photos of her. It was her cousin’s wedding at the hotel owned by the Sultan of Brunei. So she can fly under the pap radar when she wants to.
That explains her habit of showing up to weddings in red lace. Or slashed to the waist sheer backless black. Or miniskirts. Or white or very pale pastels.
When she shows up to weddings, she dresses to get attention. Maybe the brides in that set are tired of it, and they found a way to hint that her attention-grabbing clothing wasn’t welcome.
Until recently that was her MO – dress to get attention. Just look at what she wore the the DJ Floatilla – a bright red outfit that clashed with the decor. It was a tacky attempt to make sure it was HER that was splashed all over the newspapers the next day – she stole TQ’s limelight at her own event.
Its only since she had George that she started toning the outfits down – maybe someone had a word.
Make no mistake she has always LOVED the media attention, still does.
They have a baby–two babies at that. Most of my friends dropped off the face of the planet until their kids were in Kindergarten. I understood their priorities didn’t include hanging out and playing Telestrations anymore and that I’d catch them on the flip side.
Yes, they have two babies. But most of my friends don’t have a staff of about 30, including two nannies and a mother-in-law to take care of the kids and a chauffeur to drive them around anywhere they want to go.
Love how the DM is contradicting itself after years of telling us about the live in nanny (with photos) and grandmama doing all the childcare outside of nannies, but suddenly WK are hands on?!
Carole had to train the new live in nanny whilst parents went off to the Maldives for some sun, and yet people still think these people’s lives are so hands on.
these people have staff so they never have to lift a finger. In all areas of their lives. Whatever they desire.
Let’s not pretend any part of their life is stressful or comparable to regular people’s lives.
It’s amazing that people fall for these things.
Give the DM a break! They had manufacture several WillKate stories on the run, so the speak, to fill space and give vent to their Cambridge anger! Errors will be made…
I know there will be many comments on how managing a household with two children under two is so stressful, and that’s true for most people. It’s just that these two don’t live anything near a normal life. They don’t have do anything they don’t want to do. That frees up a lot of time.
I still think that even with all the help, you are still a changed person when you have kids. No matter how dysfunctionally hands-off and stiff-upper-lippy and entitled and whatever else you might be, you simply cannot bring two young things into the world and not have it alter your life. These two can be accused of a lot of things (and we’re not shy about doing just that on here), but they are still modern people, and not exactly as stiff as the generation before them, so naturally they will want to spend time with the kids.
Yes, children change you. Yes, Kate and Wills are changed. As I commented above, I think Kate is hands on and Wills less so. He is probably a decent dad, but he is not a “normal” dad. As for being modern, well, maybe they are somewhat modern but there is still plenty of old school aristocracy going on in that household.
I actually don’t mind Kate, and I think between she and Evil Carol they are saving the monarchy, so I’m not exactly anti-Middleton. I think they will raise George well.
I have less charitable thoughts about Normal Bill.
Suze, there will be no monarchy if the parents of that child refuse to do the work of the monarchy.
If Carole wants to spend so much time with her grandson and gluing this marriage together that she risks her own marriage, fine. But she needs to kick her daughter’s and SIL’s a$$es out the door and make them work for all of their suppers. They keep this up, there won’t be a monarchy for PGTips and Carole’s ultimate goal will not be achieved.
@Suze – I disagree, i think Wills is more hands on than Kate. George is very very comfortable around him and reacts better to being disciplined by his father where with his mother he seems to just a bit ‘whatever mum’. When we have seen them all out together, George sticks to his father like glue which shows a close relationship.
What is all this ‘Normal Bill’ stuff? Sometimes I read these threads and think ‘did they read the same story I did?’ LOL!
Crumpet: ‘normal Bill’ is a nickname for William because he is so normal, doing normal things like normal people – says his PR!! 🙂
Ah, thank you! That makes sense, hahaha.
I agree, LAK, they don’t live like the rest of us and have a huge staff that does everything for them. I really do wonder what Kate does all day because I don’t believe she cares for her kids full time.
I actually think the story is that Kate doesn’t want Willy out doing PUBLIC things. I’ll bet he is still doing whatever he wants on the down low (hunting parties with ex-GFs, etc.). But I think she doesn’t want anything to happen where she is publicly embarrassed. That seemed to be the story while they were dating and he went wild in the clubs – she told him not to publicly embarrass her. Personally, I don’t think she cares what he does behind her back as long as it doesn’t get out. Didn’t she tell Chelsy that the Wales boys were going to cheat and one just had to deal with it?
You know what? We should stop calling their ‘help’ help. Saying they have help implies the occasional baby sitter, a cleaner, perhaps some gardening. That is what regular people have.
These two have staff. 30+ at the last count. Even if you remove 10 staff and assign them to office duties, that still leaves 20 or more people to help them with their household.
They may not be in uniform, but it’s still Downton Abbey.
And let’s not forget that Mama Carole is the one managing the staff, not these two dolts.
“Help” is such a misnomer when it comes to the royals. It’s a staff.
(See LAK)
They could go all day or days without seeing their children if they wished. Or even making a decision, as Carole seems to be doing that for them.
The way they likely live is completely incomparable to most anyone else. They are time rich, no doubt (versus those who work and juggle life without multiple full-time staff running things).
@LAK, exactly!!! Staff, staff, STAFF!!!!!
Carole is training Norland nannies? What is the world coming to. I guess i missed the memo about Carole being mother of the universe.
Same situation is true of most young couples when they have kids. Priorities change, people stay home with their kids more.
I feel like this is kind of a non story.
I agree. He’s not 23 anymore, and he has small children. time to be a husband and father, not a frat boy.
JMO but this article seemed more like a way of showing cracks than solidity to me, along with showing just how much of a user Kate is.
Kate no longer needs his friends or to pretend to like them; they were a way to get closer to William and keep tabs on him – thus it’s no surprise she doesn’t attend their weddings, etc.
And as far as not letting William out of her sight… they rarely seem to be within a mile of each other and when they are forced together, William seems beyond annoyed with her. Just check his clenched jaw when they do events they do together. It must be torture to be married to someone who can’t seem to tie her own shoes without her mother’s help – though I doubt it’s easy being married to a paranoid man-child either. LOL
One last thing: note that on his days off, he’s been seen with friends – not Kate. It’s rather laughable to me that people think Kate is suddenly wearing the pants in this marriage; no way is William suddenly allowing himself to be kept on a leash. This is, after all, the same man who abandoned his wife & newborn son to go on a hunt with his ex. If he’s staying at home more – BIG if – then it’s because he wants to, not because Kate has suddenly grown a backbone. But I honestly doubt he is.
William’s friends have always sounded snooty. I’m having a hard time thinking anybody would like them.
I don’t think Kate is interesting, but on the friends issue I can see why she’d be dismissive of them.
IDK. Maybe it’s my dislike of her talking but I’ve always found Kate far snobbier than any of them. (And that really says a lot.) IMO, it really speaks volumes about her as a person that she doesn’t have friends beyond her mother and sister*.
* Anyone the press called her “friend” when speaking of rumored godparents, etc., was actually William’s friend first. Kinda sad.
I think it’s possible she might be snobby (I’ve heard those stories too), but I remember stories from way back where her friends talked badly about her because she wasn’t of the same class as them. It wasn’t like they referenced actual personality traits they found annoying in her — they just didn’t like her because she wasn’t one of them. So I figure if people aren’t going to like a person just because, I can see why she wouldn’t feel the obligation to like them back. That’s more what I mean. I certainly wouldn’t like people who don’t want me around.
William’s do sound absolutely horrid – and no very interesting either.
It goes both ways, though. Would Kate have ever bothered with them if they weren’t well-connected? If you can sense you’re being used, wouldn’t you push back? William’s friends and Kate all sound unpleasant.
Natalie, you hit on a really good point. Was she trying to be friends with them, or was she trying to use them? Remember, her mother only asked aristocrat parents of girls at the school to befriend “shy” Kate. She didn’t contact any other middle class parents and beg them to befriend her. They’ve always wanted to be friendly with “the right people”. I can see how that would cause resentment from the people who felt they were being used for their titles.
William allowed his friends to treat her however they wanted. He mocked her lack of brains and called her “sex waiting” when with his friends. If you were one of his friends, and you saw him treating her that disrespectfully, would you treat her any better? He didn’t respect her, so why should they?
Kate is very snooty herself: see her attitude in America during the royal visit: https://twitter.com/RoyallyKate/status/542305613401702402/photo/1
I don’t think Kate was being snooty. I think if you’re a guest of honour, you shouldn’t be subjected to being ordered around. The command to keep wrapping was inappropriate and sounded rude. However, I think I’d give it a pass if someone had said it to a group of children seated at their own table.
I have no idea if she was using them or not, but I don’t think she’s under any obligation to like them. They weren’t under any obligation to like her either, so she can certainly return the feeling. Why bother going out of your way to kiss up to people who don’t like you?
Ultimately, William chose to marry her so I assume he was willing to put her above his friends. His friends can whine all they want, but he married her more than willingly — she’s the wife so she gets priority now. That’s how life is — the person you marry and the children you have with them get precedence. They need to deal with it. If he doesn’t like his choice of wife, I feel that’s on him. No one put a gun to his head to marry her.
“That’s how life is — the person you marry and the children you have with them get precedence. ” That is how many people see it, but that doesn’t mean that’s how William sees it. Or how she sees it.
Their relationship was built on him doing what he wanted and him breaking up with her whenever she became clingy and controlling. She chose to participate in the relationship with those rules. Her spending so much time at her parents house post-marriage and post-babies follows that same pattern. That was how their relationship functioned, with lots of time apart serving to keep them “together”.
I don’t know how their relationship actually functions or has functioned — my point is that I don’t think William (or Kate) owe his friends anything regardless of how dysfunctional or functional the reality of their relationship may be. His friends sound whiny to me in this instance. And if he’s privately whining about being married to Kate, I can’t feel bad for him. He picked her after having ample time to try another route. She may have used strategies or tactics or whatever else to maintain a relationship with him, but a female’s “persuasiveness” can only go so far — he still gets to make the final call. And the final call resulted in a marriage and 2 kids.
I do think Kate is uber-boring, but William got a lot of room to pick Kate’s uber-boringness. Not that I think he’s all that interesting either — where did George get his personality from?
PGTips is quite Spencer.
I’m looking forward to official photos released when Charlotte reaches six months to see if she’s more Windsor. Or perhaps she’ll resemble her mother most of all?
About Kate not getting along with William’s friends, I don’t know if it’s just snobbery because Pippa is genuinely friends with that crowd. I think there’s something specific to Kate that kept her from becoming friends with William’s crowd.
I think there is an underlying theme in this article beginning to show the cracks in the marriage. This starts paving the way for them to lead separate lives. Kate has won the prize, title, and done the expected in providing the heirs. She doesn’t have to pretend to like his friends or do any work at all. Permanent vacation!!
Exactly! 😀 Only a matter of time before they can’t hide it. I won’t be shocked to learn she’s living back at Middleton Manor full-time (again).
They will be a royal couple without friends. No king and no queen can rule without friends / allies / partners for charity projects. This will end up to be a catastrophe.
Even the Queen honours those who contribute to art / charity / … whatever. She socialises with them. Even the Queen has interests (horses, dogs, art … ).
But William and Kate? They have nearly as much help for daily chores as the Queen but not even half her interests. And the Queen keeps up her interests despite doing some work and having a family.
See I disagree, I don’t think Kate looks bad in this at all. I think William and his friends look like spoiled entitled children in this. Kate has given birth to two children in two years, yes she has help, but wanting to skip social events to spend time as a family is not a horrible request it’s normal. It’s responsible, it is what you do when you’re an adult. getting mad that your husband who is in his THIRTIES goes to a wedding gets so drunk that he gets a tooth knocked out is reasonable, getting so drunk you lose a tooth is not ok. Whining about having to spend time with your kids and wife over a stag party or ski trip- childish.
This just makes Kate look like someone trying to build a family and move forward and William trying to stay with his childish loser snobby friends. It sounds like these people stayed stagnant and Kate has grown up I can see not being able to deal with them. I know that at 33 I can’t deal with my college friends that still act like they are 23. We are to old for it time to be adults.
I guess it depends on how you look at it and if you actually believe that she’s suddenly “wearing the pants” in the marriage. I personally don’t believe she is. He could very well be staying away because he wants to – or, more likely to me, he could be off doing God-knows-what elsewhere with other friends rather than going to stags and what-not with these ones. Him suddenly staying at home and playing happy family with Kate just doesn’t seem likely to me.
JMO though 😀
I really don’t think this story was about Kate at all. Despite the frequent mentions of Kate, it actually laid out a horrid image of William.
And oddly, I kept playing the Affleck divorce in my head as I read this. Groundwork for Kate is/was too controlling/kept him away from his friends/no fun Kate etc which is straight out of Ben Affleck’s PR attack on Jen Garner.
That said, if any of what is written in this article is true, it doesn’t bode well for Kate because her controlling him was one of the often given reasons for their multiple break ups.
LAK
Was thinking the same. It paints an awful picture of William.
William might be puerile and not quite grown up yet. That isn’t nice.
But Kate? She puts up with such a husband. She reigns him in. He will come to dislike this. … It is not a marriage of two equals and it will come apart rather sooner than later. Afflecks and Garners marriage did come apart despite Jen’s rather skillfull attempts at mending things.
If he drinks a lot, I think that explains a lot about why his face has changed so much.
This feels like a warning shot far over the bow. Enough to signal to Kennsington Palace,”Hey, you wanna tango? You wanna control all pictures? Fine, but don’t forget there is freedom of press, and all those little unflattering and verifiable stories, which we’ve gathered over the years about your family, but chose not to run, can be printed at any time. Watch yourselves W&K.”
Now, granted. In a way, this story makes the DM seem petty, because of course William is home now more with his family. But I think that was the point. The first warning lob was one that almost made the Cambridges look “good” (i.e., they’re responsible young parents who spend time with their children.”) So, no threat of lawsuit, and it signals that the paper is willing to scratch some back too, et cetera. HOWEVER, at the same time it acted as a potent “watch yourselves, KP kids — and that includes you too, Jason” reminder.
Yes, I think these first stories were carefully calibrated. They fall under the genius “make them look good while really lobbing insults in their direction” label. And the story is directed at the Cambridge staff, not at the general public. We are just noise in the background.
That makes sense, but really, should a “news” outlet behave that way? Print things they know aren’t true with the threat of worse if you don’t cooperate?
It’s all just puerile and pathetic, GNAT. But don’t underestimate the deep well of spite the British press is capable of, particularly if they are feeling resentful that the Johnny Foreigner press can do what it likes while they’re expected to tug their forelocks. It takes them right back to how ludicrous they were made to look in the days of David and Wallis – worse, if anything, cos internet.
I’ve been saying for ages that Normal Bill is building up for a press ducking. They are starting to make more and more feints. At some point, the latest dig will turn out to be not a feint, but a full-on broadside. And it won’t be pretty.
Don’t think we’re there yet, though.
The Daily Mail seems to be the opposite of a news outlet. I view them as entertainment media similar to Entertainment Tonight the tv show. They have gossip with some truths that the reader will have to tease out on their own by verifying against other reputable news sources. I would not expect a serious news outlet to behave that way though.
The Daily Mail is just our version of Fox News. We still have balance rules for the TV, else they’d have their own channel by now.
Oh yeah, FOX news…I get it now.
@ ladyg, I think you’re right about this. We’ll probably be seeing more articles like this, too.
Speaking of the Daily Fail/Fox News, did you see that the illustrious Dr Pheel is teaming up with the DF to launch a televised version of the same? Bring on the four horseman, now!
people saying kate’s just being a dedicated mom for turning down invites. she’s out shopping when william’s with his friends. if i had free time from kids and work i’d want to catch up with friends rather than just go shopping all the time.
@hhh
I think that she went shopping purposefully to show a middle-fingered salute to those whose invite she turned down. She could have done her shopping some other day but she chose to do it that day.
My theory on that is it was the middle finger to Lady Melissa Percy’s mother. Months before the wedding the mother told reporters that she hoped that the focus was on her daughter although William and Kate were invited. I think Kate’s going shopping that day was a response to that.
Maybe William’s favourite song is Dancing Queen and he just got carried away busting a few moves and chipped his tooth? We don’t know it’s a drinking problem.
I note the pink coat worn by Kate. It seems to have photographed darker or she has a few of the pink coats in different tones. The one she wore in NY seemed to be lighter pink. Again, it depends on the lighting or if the images were distorted.
As for William being henpecked by Kate, I’m not sure I buy it. William likes his freedom.
It’s pretty tough to chip a tooth by accident unless your hands are either tied or you are impaired, because the face/head is instinctively protected by the body very well. Doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.
Well yes, but perhaps the real story is William was punched by one of his aristo buddies during a drunken brawl over mistresses. Now there’s a story for the DM for sure!
And as a side note; yes, it may indeed be easy for William to break/chip a tooth. I mean, he doesn’t so much as smile but rather, bares his teeth like a wild animal. Perhaps matters became a little too wild.
The media’s problem is they always create a story, whether there is one or not, so you never know what to believe. Seems they are down on royal family so if this is the worst thing they can come up with, then there’s not much there to talk about. In today’s world, there is a much greater need for these people to be private for security reasons I would imagine. Can’t even imagine being born into that life.
You have to look at the bigger picture. It’s very rare that the big, important things bring create changes or are remembered in history. It’s usually a drip feed of trivial that shapes a perception or something inconsequential that creates change.
Eg Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of a bus which kickstarted the civil rights movement. Not the big speechifying, protests and whatnot going on with important people.
Al Capone was convicted on tax evasion not the fact that he was a known murderer and whatnot.
Elizabeth 1 is better known as Gloriana due to a drip feed of trivia rather than any single important thing she did.
Henry 8 is known for his 6wives principally before all the other important things he did.
Etc and so forth.
I think Cathy doesn’t want to spend time with Bill’s friends because she’s basically a pretty vapid and none-too intelligent girl who has forever stagnated at the age of 21 and she knows it. She probably doesn’t have a clue about current events, politics, whatever, and can only talk about her trips and kids. Bill’s set may be wankers but I bet they have razor-sharp senses of humour and can discourse reasonably well about current events. Talking to Cathy must be like trying to elicit a conversation out of a blank wall.
I have mixed feelings about this—on the one hand, Kate seems unliked by his friends and vice versa. She seems mostly in it for her main goal—him and the family and has zero interest in social obligations. If I were friends with him, I’d call her a bore too. I personally never want children because they do take top priority and sometimes change people into social recluses, but I don’t think this is the case here, she simply doesn’t like these people.
However, I think he likes to party a lot which can be draining on anyone. Reining him in never ever works (see Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Garner). I would be surprised if they lasted long term.
Imaginary Prince H: Project Withdrawal From Public Eye of Mr & Mrs Magpie, now underway. Yes, the press have it, a nice job, yes, believable, yes. Still, though, I — yes, Ma’am. Yes, I know you didn’t mean it about the grease, just an old German expression, yes, Ma’am. Oh, yes, my warriors are good. Oh, yes, quite, she’s fine. What? I say! — yes I always wear one, yes, Ma’am. Goodbye, Ma’am.
ImaginaryRominaCressida2: Is being okay, the poor old grandmother? You sound to being so sad, most kind sir of a thousand fire-like head curls and war-thighs of Zeus power.
IPH: No worries my sweet lamb of all labor, I am required to serve the crown for the good of the future of Britain, in addition to my own charities, but it, well, this still feels like something my father ought to be doing, you see, though I don’t like to complain, I understand he’s quite busy with biscuit and talking to his oaks and chaining old Cam to her dog brushing chair. Onward, let’s see those splendid boots you’ve cobbled for orphans!
SOMEWHERE IN ONE OF SEVERAL RESIDENCES
ImaginaryDuchessK: Oi! Mister His Junior Nibs! An’ where do you think yer goin’ on this fine day with that croc valise, you shedding tosser! Hand over that case! What’s in it this time? Another priceless Edwardian ball gag fer one of yer fancy pony-ridin’ little friends? Them’s MY jewels now, ain’t they? I read the press, they’re mine! Ain’t they!
ImaginaryPrinceW: I say, Old Thing, what a pile of cobblers! I’m just off into town for the night, wot, there’s a big bachelor do, eh, old Fuff Beaveringbox-Gremhacker, y’know, ah, you didn’t know old Fuff that well, I suppose. Well he’s the chap who calls you “DickyClanger” and “LiverTea” eh, har! Har, wot? Good old Fuff, wot! So –
iDK: Oi! I never! Oi! Me ‘ead! Yer barkin’ mad if you think yer skeetering one boot out o’ this pile again, what wiv me havin’ two under three, and just the four beastly nannies now that the good dogs body prisoner one’s bolted off somewhere, bloody hell! Bloody hell! See me ruddy sapphire! See it! It means, I own your fine high bum don’ I, and yer mewlin’ future King o’ the dog’s bollocks too! Abandonin’ me and the tots to have another big knees up wiv yer mates, and on me online shoppin’ night, wiv only the nannies and staff to mind the brats as they sleep! Not bloomin’ likely! You need to show me more respec’, even yer hateful brother called me, and said so! Hand over!
IPW: I shan’t! I shan’t! Crusty dragons! I’ve ordered my heli, and I’m taking my valise, and journeying into town! Everyone’s sayin’ they missed me for yonks, and I am quite going! They all love me and I shall have fun! Here I go!
iDK: That’s it, I’m callin’ me mum now, ain’t I?! “ere’s me mobile, innit? I’m callin’ e’er, ain’t I? Mister Toff Nose Bluepiss’d! Who d’you think you are! Like me mum said, you’re second in line to the dirty old chair but yer only number six on me own family tree, ain’t yer! Bloody — I’ll – an’ you know me Pip’s comin’ over to start her new job as the Royal Bleedin’ Photo-taker tonight too after all that work we did wiv puttin’ Uncle Gar’s boys in that car boot wiv a camera — you don’t even care about me sister’s future! Wait — oi, I know! – you just don’t want the peasants seein’ you ‘ave even less ‘air than when we brung nasty messy little Carolie Charlotte ‘ome to this ‘ol muddy dump with no good tennis courts! An’ you wiv yer missin’ whiskey tooth as well! You’re just trying to hurt me poor sister’s chance at success! That’s it!
iPW: I say! I say! What rubbish! Accuse me of — well, I that’s quite it, eh! I’m quite brassed off now, wot! I can – banish you too! I can banish anyone! I can banish your mum and – anyone! If I can’t go to Fuff’s party, I am going to set about banishing everyone! Right now! I’ll banish your whole town, because I so please! And I’ll tell Auntie Beeb quite why, won’t I? Hitting the old banishing button right now, aren’t I! And – and—you cannot shop online tonight nor see any of your friends this week, if you have any! And I’m going to Fuff’s party and then I may just go to Spain too!
iDK: Oi! Mummy, I’m so gutted, ain’t I, you won’t believe what he’s about now – he’s gone time to give the photo box to the nice man at the Mail —
iPW: No! Hang up, fine, I say, truce, fine! Don’t get a hump, old Thing! I’ll stay home tonight, right, old Fuff’s a tosser anyway, still owes me ten thousand from Pimlico, don’t he, eh, wot? Let’s have a nice hot bean tea then, wot? Wot, ho, and go and sit on the practice throne eh, wot, and order yourself some new wedges and button coats, fall’s almost here, brrr, McQueen, wot? Stella, ho, and all that!! I’ve just a call or two to make, back in a jiff, eh, order that bean toast, wot!
Wow, did you just write a play?
Yes, She just outdid herself… Again!
I’m not scared anymore I’ve got Tena pads, “kind sir a thousand fire-like head curls and war-thighs of Zeus power” will keep me giggling all week – again – thank you.
Brava!
“war-thighs of Zeus power”. IM DONE FOR. A highlight of royal threads for me. Wot!
“Let’s…go and sit on the practice throne….”. Bwahahaha! Another priceless installment in the saga of “Gilded Losers”. Priceless!
“all that work we did wiv puttin’ Uncle Gar’s boys in that car boot wiv a camera”
Omg LOL!!
“See me ruddy sapphire! See it! It means, I own your fine high bum don’ I, and yer mewlin’ future King o’ the dog’s bollocks too!” ROTFL!!! All of it! Bravo!!
I imagine this all in hand puppets. Gloriously crude handpuppets!
“Gloriously crude HANDPUPPETS”!!!!
ahhhhhhhhhhh yessssss….. *swoons with joy at the very idea*
I was seeing it in old Spitting Image ones myself.
Spitting Image!! Love love love.
LOL! “I’ll banish your whole town”…and with the flick of a button, Bucklebury and the entire Middleton estate was gone! Thanks, Liberty! I had fun imaging that ending. Where’s little Katie gonna run off to now?!
You guys really think “waity Katie” has any control here? Over the Firm?? Over William?? Read your history and rethink it. These opinions, articles, and comments are mysogony at its finest.
Calling the future king a drunk in thinly-veiled language is misogyny?
Calling her the naggy wife who is stopping the future king from seeing his friends is an attack on Kate. Yes they are attacking William too by saying he drinks too much. But the trope of the nag wife is very prevalent here.
Kate is given all the rope she needs. What she does with it is her choosing. I think “the firm” understands this and is fine leaving her to her actions. If she crashes their hands are clean. Even adding they offered her mansions, light work loads, and training courses to ease her in. Kate is in full control here.
Even 1 time she blamed BP for restricting her BP shot back with a full denial that was supported by facts.
You’re right, FLORC. The firm is actually playing the game perfectly. 🙂
Rather like Daniel Giersch.
Who is BP?
BP = Buckingham Palace
AH!! Seriously, I am busy scribbling notes here so I can better keep up next time we discuss the Royals. Sheesh!
Many thanks!
Crumpet
Haha! I was right there in your spot before.
Some others… KP Kensington Palace
AH Anmer Hall / CH Clarence House / PHG Prince Hot Ginge 😀 Oh! And LAK might make reference to ELF. Harry’s super hot assistant.
Hope that helps!
ELF…..le sigh. When is Harry back again? I need an ELF fix. Preferably in uniform.
Waity has all kinds of power now.
She’s the mother of PGTips. And if there’s a divorce someday (I’d be extremely surprised) she would do a lot better than Diana.
I doubt it. Diana had the public on her side, she worked hard, and endeared herself. Kate Middleton doesn’t have any of that. Plus, William doesn’t support his wife, The Duchy does. None of the homes they live in belong to William, so she cannot claim any of them in a settlement.
In a divorce settlement, they’d draw on William’s salary. She’d end up with either a grace-and-favor small space in Kensington (smaller than Diana’s space) OR a small country home (much smaller than Anmer). She wouldn’t get a 17 million pound payout like Diana.
I should have specified. I meant the dating scene for Kate post divorce. She would not present a security problem or privacy issues. Diana often complained post Charles “who would have me?”
Completely agree. I am no fan of the royals and resent my hard earned taxes paying for them but instead of a sensible discourse on their lack of merit, we slam the woman as the nagging wife…well done ladies.
Does this mean they went to a wedding instead of the VJ memorial events like the rest of the senior BRF did?
I wonder if one of the reasons why Kate attended this wedding was to have an excuse for not going to the memorial events, like what happened with the 7/7 events?
There is no excuse for constantly missing these events. They are once-in-a-lifetime historic anniversaries. A wedding takes a few hours, and if the times conflict, you do your duty to your country first.
But.. but..
It would break Kate to show up to work (months) after she’s had a baby.
And as you know, as long as there’s other BRF members doing royal duties, then there’s no need for William to be inconvenienced.
She can spend 8 hours away from both kids at Wimbledon, but watching a commemoration service for an hour is too much. What was I thinking?
Yes, and apparently, Twitter pegs William and Kate outside Norfolk Tuesday thru Friday (spotted on trains, minibreak?) without the kids. So, no work, no kids, no royal duties.
They must be imagining seeing W&K away from their kids, because as their supporters know, they are spending every second of the day doing the most important things they can do, which is to bond with their kids by being with them 24/7.
It may have given her the perfect excuse, but she didn’t actually attend the wedding, either.
Eh, I think most people do this when they have children. He’s an adult and a married father of two, he should be home, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about and it sounds like this “friend” needs to grow up and let it go.
Regarding the first photo in this article. Support the baby’s head properly you nit!
Just one of many reasons I don’t believe this vapid, self-absorbed, *stupid* creature is a “hands-on” mother.
@Hmmm – if there was a comment like button i would hit it like the lord of dragonflies. 😉
I agree with Betti!
Same.
@notasugarhere Man would I ever hate to get on your bad side.
notasugarhere
It got worse with bouncing the baby in the supportless way she did at the Christening.
I’ll forever cringe at anyone who doesn’t support an infants head when holding. When holding/lifting it’s paramount the child’s head and back are evenly supported. Weeks an dweeks later they can start to support their own, but with added force of bounce while not supporting head it increases risk of injury. The motions might appear more passive, but can deliver the same results as shaking them. I’m hyper aware to this issue though. Many others would not give it a 2nd look.
Jesus I don’t have children (yet) and my siblings just one and two years younger than me and I don’t have cousins nor did I ever babysit. But even I know that one must support the head. Must support the head.
It makes me wonder if that is not a weirdly angled photo, and are we really seeing what we think we are seeing? Because every other pic I have seen of her with one of the babies she is holding it correctly.
Oh well. We mothers can’t be perfectly perfect every single time the camera clicks. 😀
And in other angle-shots from that day, it shows her not supporting the head properly.
Long time lurker, first time commenter. The Cambridges get a pass from me on this one. They had a baby this summer. And honestly though, if every move you make at a private event eventually gets leaked to the press, you start to feel like you can never let your hair down except in the privacy of your own home.
Sometimes I wonder if Will is waiting for Granny to kick off, and then will announce he’s removing himself from the line of succession. Since the wedding, it seems like Harry is the one preparing for a life of public service, whereas The Cambridges keep withdrawing from the public sphere and only seem interested in spending time with each other or close family. Do they have a plan, or are they really this tone deaf to how their behavior resonates with the public?
Hi!
As usual this is a warning shot and not very direct. They make it sound about Kate, but it’s really a small attack at William. He;s the one attempting restricting their freedoms time and time again. Warning shot.
Marissa,
I’ve thought the same thing – especially since William in an interview called kingship a “burden”. I think it was a comment in connection with his grandmother but I do find the choice of word illuminating.
What is this, 1890? They have a newborn. Settle down, socialites.
mkyarwood
I get your point, but Geez Louise, can’t the British Royals, in terms of work, find the middle line with Middleton? 😉
I mean, they overworked Diana (and later she complained about it, but she kept working quite a bit until the early 90s) and now they’ve done a one-eighty ie- very little work from the Cambridges.
They have a nanny and a housekeeper and a cook and a personal assistant and and and plenty of staff.
Regarding Catherine – could she be very shy at heart? I was a very shy child (still am in many ways at the age of 60) with a dynamo of a Mother, much like Carole. As a child, it was easier to let my Mother take the lead so I never really learned how to take the lead myself. I have always been uncomfortable in crowds and it takes a pure force of will to participate in many instances. Diana (Shy Di) was overwhelmed at first, even with help, and was chastised for publicly falling asleep from time to time when she was pregnant and when her boys were young. If Catherine is nursing Charlotte, it takes a great deal from you physically. Right now, she might be relying on William being close at hand. Having also had 2 children under the age of 2, maybe I’m more willing to cut Catherine some slack.
If she was shy then she wouldn’t walk down a catwalk wearing not a lot, flash her ass to the world on a semi regular basis and happily pose for the paps when she was a gf. Girl ain’t shy, she’s calculated and follows where he leads.
She doesn’t come across as shy to me. I think she simply might be kind of boring. Ditto for William.
I find the comparison to Diana not very balanced, we have to remember Diana was under 20 yrs old when she was dropped into royal life. Kate has had way more time clocked on the royal watch before she had kids and with her relationship than Diana was afforded.
Could we be seeing the beginning of a replay of history though? If I remember correctly, wasn’t the start of cracks in the fairy tale Wales marriage dealing with the living apart, not having the same friends – Charles had a close circle of friends that Diana had zero in common with and withdrew. These same friends were the media leaks that Diana was unstable, unintelligent, nothing in common with Charles and his friends..
I doubt that she is nursing or pumping. She stayed at Wimbledon for 6 hours. How would she go for that long without pumping?
Thread jacking onto something more newsworthy – Pistorius is due out of prison on parole on Friday. Prosecution is appealing, good luck to them. He should rot in hell.
No!
And Yes to the hell rot.
Well, he’ll never has his life back. Always hated and mocked. No sponsors coming in. He should still be in jail though.
Maybe he and Lance Armstrong can do a reality survival like show?
Cricket
Like we dump them on an island where they can only be left with their thoughts haunting them and have all the crew and cameras leave? I’d approve of that.
So glad the DM has finally taken a new tack and used rarely-employed misogyny for their story about a woman. #sarcasmfont
Of course he’s “not allowed” to do things by Kate. This explains everything. YAWN. It’s not like William’s friends haven’t condescended to Kate since day 1. Now she’s the evil duchess halting their partying with the duke.
Some Americans seem to have an odd habit of giving nicknames to strangers that are removed from their culture
I saw someone here call William Bill and call Charles Chuck. Chuck is such an American name, it’s painful to read. Bill isn’t as bad but he has never gone by that….. why do it?
William had several nicknames when he was a child. “Wills” because he was stubborn and willful (his parents gave him that). Wombat was another. He was also called Billy the Basher, because he wasn’t exactly nice to the other kids.
Some call him “Bill Middleton” now because he keeps saying he wants to be normal and he doesn’t want to be royal. Fine, go be Bill Middleton but leave all the palaces at the door when you walk away.
Eh? Get on with you, Sarah. It’s not specific to Americans.
I’m British and I call everyone by silly names. I’m childish: it amuses me. For heavens sakes, you can’t get much more British than Private Eye and they call Mrs Windsor (see? There I go being irreverent with the nicknames) Brenda and have done for years. I’ve always referred to Charles as Chuck. I doubt Tom Hiddleston has ever called himself Puddletom, but that’s who he is in my house.
In Sixerland, Prince Charles = Chuck, but Charlton Heston = Chuck the Rifle. (Chuck the Rifle has nothing on Gregory Peckory. Jus’ sayin’).
Sixer, you crack me up. 🙂
My sister and I give weird nicknames to minor actors whose names we can’t remember but who always pop up in countless movies and tv shows.
Love it, Sixer. Keep it up!
Future king and queen with no interests and no passions and no friends and no sense of duty and no idea how ordinary people live. Seems like they will be the couple of all-around deficits.
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
ALL kings and rulers have to have friends / allies. If they don’t they won’t last.
If Kate really reigns in William then I hope that this dysfunctional couple won’t make it onto the throne. William should be like an adult and not need any reigning-in.
Prince William does exactly want he wants when he wants to do it. Only the Queen can force his hand. When she wouldn’t make his wife a princess because Camilla uses Duchess, it gave him the excuse he needed to blow the monarchy off. When he is King, heads are gonna roll.
The Queen had no need to ‘make’ her a princess because Kate automatically became a Princess of Great Britain the moment she married William. In the British system of precedence Duke and Duchess trumps prince/princess except for the Prince/Princess of Wales and Princess Royal (Anne) titles. By giving William the title Duke of Cambridge she actually elevated Kate above a mere princess of the realm (aka Beatrice and Eugenie) so I’m not sure what your point is.
Middleton ranks below Beatrice and Eugenie IF she’s unaccompanied by William. Beatrice and Eugenie outrank her solo. Her husband gives her the status, so when he’s not there, the status fall away.
STOP PRESS…… Kate has a job lined up, she and William are scheduled to attend the State Banquet for the Chinese president in October, tiara and all.
… Followed by a trip to Mustique in November, because they’ll likely need a(nother) jolly good rest by then.
Kate did not attend the weekend wedding alongside William; whomever wrote this article wrote it ahead of time and guessed what the reaction was as, despite their name being on the seating plan (they were to be seated at the top table), she pulled out at too late a stage for them to amend it.
William attended alongside Pippa and stayed the night, and the following day.
Of course Kate didn’t attend – because she’s sunning herself somewhere far, far away. It doesn’t look at all strange if William is choppering in anywhere given his “job”, but they’d have a tricky job explaining what was up if she choppered in somewhere with him too.
He’s probably back at the sunny spot with her now … or elsewhere …
These two are so flakey fake – nothing is ever as it seems.
I think it is most peculiar that William attended the Daisy and Bear wedding with Pippa even though Kate was confirmed to attend. Why would she drop out like that? Trouble in paradise ? Big fight?