As we discussed on Friday, Duchess Kate and Prince William made a big appearance in London on behalf of the British Olympic team. Kate and William are ambassadors for the London Olympics, so I’m hoping that means we’ll be seeing more of them throughout the summer at official functions rather than on extended holidays. Many of you tweeted me about Kate’s up-do on Friday, and many of the tweets followed the same pattern, which was: “OMG, Kate listened to us! She wore her hair up! You need to convince her to cut down on vacations, wear less eye makeup and bring her button problem under control.” Baby steps, y’all. Her hair is her security blanket, and I think it was very brave of her (“brave” being a relative term, and “brave” in her own mind) to step out of her sausage curl comfort zone. But yes. Please, Kate. Ease up on the eye makeup. And the buttons. And stop taking so many vacations.
Anyhoodle. This story is a week old, but I thought I would dust it off because it is interesting (to me). The UK’s Now Magazine (like, a really budget tabloid) has a story in which Carole Middleton is allegedly telling people that Kate and William may try for a baby very, very soon. As opposed to next year, when Kate currently has “baby-making” scheduled in-between several holidays.
Speculation over when the Duchess of Cambridge will get pregnant has been rife ever since her wedding day last year. But Now can reveal that Kate Middleton, 30, and Prince William, 29, are about to start trying for a baby after her mum Carole Middleton let the news slip to a pal last week.
‘Carole said Kate isn’t pregnant yet but wants to start trying soon,’ reveals our insider. ‘Carole smiles when she’s asked about a Royal baby and is clearly looking forward to being a grandmother.’
Royal commentators have previously insisted the couple wouldn’t try for a baby until 2013 because of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the London Olympics and a host of other engagements this year. But now it sounds like it could be sooner.
Our source says: ‘Carole said Kate can’t believe how perfect her first year of marriage has been. A pregnancy would be the icing on the cake for them.’
[From Now Magazine]
A few weeks ago we debated Carole Middleton’s role in her daughter’s ascension to royalty, and whether Carole is some kind of royal-whispering Svengali. I know what I’m about to say sounds anti-feminist and very, very dated, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that Carole Middleton was encouraging her daughter to get pregnant sooner than later to solidify her (Kate’s) position within the royal family. Do you know what I’m trying to say? It seems like motherly advice, especially when that mother is Carole Middleton and she bankrolled and manipulated her daughter’s way into the highest echelon of UK society. Carole wants Kate to have a baby because Carole has her eye on Kate’s position within the royal family, and she wants Kate to lock this thing down with a (baby) bow on top.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
wow, Kate is really flat chested right now, she used to have some breasts if I remember correctly.
Exactly what I thought when I saw the pictures! What a shame! Nothing wrong with not having much cleavage, but she had a “fuller” body before and is way too thin now.
I’ve lost a lot of weight recently due to illness and the first thing I do every morning is look down and mourn the loss of my chest. I can see my feet now. They’re not pretty!
Boobs are, usually, much prettier than feet. But I have to say I’m envious; I can never get my boobs to shrink no matter how much weight I lose. Even at the point where I can clearly see my sternum outlined through my skin. Makes a bitch out of jogging.
She looks so lovely…love the color on her!
She should start eating if she wants to have a baby. We all know that’s not her natural figure. Bitch is starving herself to look like that; a fact which baffles me exceedingly.
Starving herself? It appears that way, doesn’t it — she’s easily lost 25-30 lbs since the engagement and looks emaciated.
When she was in Canada last year on the tour and was offered food, there were a couple of instances where she was seen “pretending” to eat — playing hockey with her utensils or simply refusing what was on offer. Wonder what goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling? Ugh.
Mom’s ‘advice’ is not only sexist but bad considering. Having the ‘heir and the spare’ won’t exactly lock it down for her. The pattern in the last couple of Windsor marriages is that once the babies are popped out the wife becomes irrelevant and competition.
I do think they have genuine affection and love for each other but there are no guarantees.
Agree. She does not need a baby to “lock it down.” He married her, so it’s signed, sealed, delivered at this point. Now I do think it would cause people – including the royal fam – to have more respect for her. Increasing her amount of respect by “proving” herself will be important, especially the first few (3-5) years. Just MHO.
I adore her but she needs a bacon sarnie or two…or three hundred. Oh…right…tabloid magazine story, yeah, got nothing. Wouldn’t be surprised if Carole had said it, but would be equally not surprised if it were a load of twaddle.
Uuurgh, cover your man arms Waity.
None of this is surprising to me- it’s her duty to create an heir. As for her being so thin, a friend of mine is super skinny and it took her over 6 months to get pregnant. So who know how long it will take for Kate.
Their baby will be beautiful. I think Kate’s figure will benefit from having a baby. Give her a more curvaceous shape
In that close-up pic of her profile, she looks like Britney Spears.
I was thinking the same thing! Wonder if she’s medicated too?
zzzzzzzzzz
Didn’t Britain change the gender rule of ascension? I hope Kate & Will’s first is a tall ginger GIRL named Diana, with the middle name of a great queen like Elizabeth or Victoria.
Yes, I’m American. And I’ll always root for Di’s boys. Can’t help it.
You know Victoria wasn’t that great a Queen. It’s amazing what was achieved inspite of her. 40 years of her reign she sulked in the countryside and generally refused to participate in government because she was either mourning Albert and or sulking because Albert, having died, wasn’t given the honours she deemed worthy of him.
Now Elizabeth I, That was a great Queen.
You are so right. Elizabeth the I of England (not great Britain) was the bomb of monarchs and persons. Her religious philosophy was so ahead of her times.
If you truly consider Carol Middleton to be that manipulative,I am kind of meh on that subject, then she is no better than Kris Jenner. I adore Will & Kate and honestly for the most part like Catherine’s style. (I know, I know) Her Mom has always seemed a little too involved. Oh a better note Pippa seems to be out of the lime light for the last few… oh crap, I jinxed it.
Gawd, woman! You did jinx it! I was really enjoying not seeing her walk to the coffee shop every day. 😉
I don’t believe for one second that they haven’t been trying from day one. I think all the talk about waiting until after the Queen’s jubilee is a cover to give her some breathing space to get pregnant.
Would not be surprised at all to hear she has fertility issues (not only weight related). It happens. I think the royal family knew about it too. That is why they prepared this careful cover story about the queens jubilee. To give the doctors a couple of years.
NFW I believe that a 30 yr old woman is being told to “wait” a year or two before she conceives by the royal family when she absolutely MUST produce an heir.
I can see why you have your PhD in gossip. Excellent analysis.
Ya know, I was kinda thinking the same thing for a while. People are all “they just got married, let them have a bit of a breather, they have PLENTY of time to start a family!” And it just doesn’t make sense.
Kate is 30, if she became pregnant now she would not deliver until she was 31. Add two years between pregnancies (which is still the recommended time to take off between kids, isn’t it?) and she won’t give birth to the “spare” until she’s 34. That’s if she gets pregnant now. Push that back a year or two and the likelihood of Kate having problems conceiving is just going to go up exponentially.
My mother had my younger brothers with my stepfather when she was in her mid-to-late thirties and she had SO MANY complications with both of them it was nuts. Granted, Kate has all the best doctors from the world over available to her. But still, science can only fix so much when it comes to mother nature.
ITA…I get annoyed when people are like “relax, they’re newlyweds..let them ease into married life, take a breather, blah blah.” I have never seen two more coddled adults than these two. At this rate, Kate won’t be working til she’s 40. They’ve been together 10+ years for God’ sake! It’s not like she’s about to discover that William leaves the toilet seat up.
Agreed. Maybe they’re not ‘trying’, but i don’t believe for a SECOND that she’s on any Birth Control. The look on her face after her wedding was that of a woman who just threw her pills out the window, for good!
Seriously though, can you imagine how careful they had to be before marriage? ugh.
You’re right. It’s actually kind of amazing they pulled it off. 10 years is a long time not to have an “accident.” It’s also a long time to be on birth control. They say it’s perfectly healthy to be on BC, but I’ve also heard that it can take a bit longer for your fertility to reset after such a long period of time.
Birth control? That’s a waste of money when your body is too thin to produce estrogen and have a menstrual cycle.
You are absolutely 100% right. Kate is pushing 30 and prime fertility time was 10 years ago — like DIana got pregnant in about 5 minutes. Waiting is not an option this time! Can’t tell you how many women I’ve known with fertility issues in their early thirties, and her weight loss makes it even dicier.
Agreed also they need breathing space to avoid the kind of intolerable pressure that drove that poor infertile Japanese princess into a breakdown.
I agree with Bluhare..you earned that Phd lol. I never really thought of it this way but it seems very likely! It is a good cover since they have the Olympics and the Jubilee but I doubt they told her she had to wait. If that was the case could you imagine the pressure that the press would put on her as soon as the first of the year rolls around. I bet they’ll quietly conceive in the last couple months of the year.
I, too, bow down before your amazing gossip analysis.
Along with other responders: I also wonder if she has had a miscarriage somewhere along the way. Because it would be dumb for them to put off having children. In the meantime, using birth control doesn’t necessarily suggest it will be harder to get pregnant. I used birth control for 20 years and then produced one child for each cycle where we tried in my late 30s. Kate is awfully slender, but she still seems healthy and vibrant and energetic, and I think chances are they will manage to have kids just fine. Googling the odds at age 30 shows figures like a 75% chance of getting pregnant over the course of a year.
You honestly believe that the royal family would let William marry a woman with fertility issues???
Girl is fertile. She’ll conceive on the Queens timetable or be nicely handed her papers.
How on earth could they be sure a future wife was fertile? Sure, they can do some basic testing to be sure she is ovulating, etc., but many fertility issues can’t exactly be ‘screened for’.
I just remember with Diana they were very open that not only did they have her examined to make sure she was a virgin (obviously they didn’t do that for Kate) but they had her examined to make sure she was able to carry.
Now the fertility testing is much more sophisticated. There is a whole slew of testing that can be done nowadays. OF COURSE they had her examined before the wedding was announced. It’s possible that she could fail to conceive due to mental pressure but if there were a medical problem she wouldn’t have been sanctioned. And yes I do believe if she doesn’t conceive Wil would be forced to divorce especially since Harry isn’t going to settle down anytime soon.
Doesn’t it also have some significance for Carole if Kate has that baby sooner than later? I mean, the kind of gets her some legitimacy, too. Yes her daughter married into royalty, but a child would mean that hers is mixed with royal blood. But, the flip-side is that Kate’s main job is to have that kid, look at poor Charlene… (not that the two are remotely the same, just an example)
On the eye make-up, isn’t that like a stage make-up thing? I mean, from afar I think she looks fine. Up close, yes, it’s heavy but aren’t all celeb event photos that way? I just wish she’d change it up every now & then.
Isn’t it really hard for zoo animals to mate in captivity? I’m not comparing Kate and Will to zoo animals (well…yes I am), but I wouldn’t be surprised if the unrelenting spotlight is making it rather difficult for them, particularly Kate.
After seeing photos of Kate at the Polo match, I have to agree with many comments that she is just way too thin to conceive (coincidence?). Her body has the look of an exercise addict. It would be quite another story if she were naturally that thin, in which case her fertility would be unaffected, but we all know she has lost a lot of weight. She seriously has ZERO body fat.
ITA — especially with the points you’ve made concerning her weight problems.
I’ve seen comments from people here and elsewhere that take issue with anyone who makes negative remarks about Kate’s weight — “my friend/mother/sister/aunt tilly is very thin too and she had 10 kids no problem”. Sure, there are people who are naturally thin (some even skeletal) but are otherwise healthy. Thing with Kate (as you pointed out too) is she LOST a significant amount of weight and didn’t always look like this. She used to be slim, athletic and healthy looking.
With Diana’s history of eating disorders, this is clearly the proverbial elephant in the room for the royal family. Or are they just willfully blind? In any event, I hope someone gets her some help.
Yea, judging from before/after pics, I bet she has lost 30 pounds.
I agree with you. I know she signed up for it, but I bet the reality is a bit different than she imagined. After all, it’s been 15 years (is it really that long?) since Diana died and was dissected daily, and she was the last royal to get that kind of coverage.
Even so, I imagine the stress must be awful. Everyone is waiting for them to announce she’s pregnant, and is her stomach closes up due to stress like mine does, I can see why she hasn’t put weight back on. That being said, I think she probably like the way she photographs thin. Most women in the public eye do.
me too…I was even a little surprised. I didn’t expect Kate and William to become huge stars just because they got married.
I’m not surprised that Waity thinks her first year of marriage has been perfect. She hasn’t had to do anything of any consequence, and her bored, boring husband has not insisted. Let’s see how long it takes for her to get “with child”.
I have no idea why, really, but I was on a website with a whole host of William/Kate photos and I was quite surprised at how she looks at him with such love in a lot of them. Say what you want about her, she loves her man, no doubt about it.
@bluhare – you are so right. Every picture/video of them shows her looking at him with puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear reciprocated. He either doesn’t engage (recent polo pics) or simply has bland game face or he looks bored, irritated. If we were to photo assumption their relationship, we would say that she’s waaaay into him and him, not so much. As a woman and an incurable romantic, it makes me pity her.
In his defense, he is Charles’ son, and how many of us would have GUESSED that Charles would ‘want to be Camilla’s tampon’, etc? Charles is publicly pretty stoic as the heir is supposed to be.
Andy & Harry, free of the burden of becoming King, are allowed to have public emotions & desires. Hopefully Willy’s stoicism with Kate is just his training.
I’m sentimental though.
LAK: I hope William is just uncomfortable showing affection in public. I mean, look who he’s descended from. 🙂
I’m close to the Canadian border in the US and when they were in Canada there was wall to wall coverage and he did look really sweet toward her a few times. I hope it wasn’t just for show.
ahoyhoy: Just read your comment and you must have a great mind because I just echoed you. 🙂
@Bluhare – there are loads of pap pics of William in unguarded moments showing affections to every one but Kate. The Wedding/Canada pics were the first time in a very long time that he was openly affectionate either by looks or expression. May be he was caught up in wedding fever and forgot himself. or the honeymoon [ if you can call it that after 10yrs dating], is over.
This weekend at the Polo gives a perfect example of what i am talking about. pics posted showed him affectionate, animatedly engaged with every one but kate, including her own lady in waiting. I can’t believe they failed to find one picture that shows him engaged with her.
That said, every marriage is different, and different solutions to making it work, so i hope they are both happy and we are merely photo assumptioning.
LAK: If you are right, I feel really sorry for her, both for being stuck with that and having a low enough self image to think that it’s OK.
He just feels “familiar” with her, I don’t think he’s that much in love… More like “I’m used to this girl, she’s been my doormat for more than 10 years” or something. Even worse, he often looks kind of bored
I always get the vibe that William is very, VERY wary of publicity and the press, so he has a sort of public mask/persona. But I also get a strong vibe that he really cares for Waity. He has a more guarded game face (and really, how many guys go about doing the dewey-eyed-look thing, really?). But his body language towards her is very close and protective. He is often looking away from her even as he is speaking to her and leaning into her, I think he just has a very watchful mien. It is like he is guarding her and on watch.
oh Now? british fanfic. I remember Diana….that was REAL gossip, not this crap.
Dear William,
Can you for once look at Kate as if you’re in love with her?
Just once, please?
That will be one beautiful and much loved baby!
loved by Carole!
What is it with these women who wait? Fertility begins to decline at AGE 25–not 35, like you’ve been told. If they want any kind of a family, they better get busy now. The average women in good health needs 6 months to get pregnant and even then there’s no guarantee. Miscarriages happen–and they happen frequently. That’s just nature’s way.
So all you babes out there who think you can “wait” until you are in your mid-30s to “start trying” better get you some knowledge about how it really works.
And being thin isn’t really a big factor in fertility. there are numerous cases of bulimics and anorexics getting pregnant and having healthy babies. Weird, but true. Even if you are so thin that you’ve stopped menstruating, it’s not a barrier to pregnancy. Happens all the time.
I have absolutely nothing to base this on, I’ll say it straight out. But I really think she was pregnant and miscarried early. Late last year there were clothes that were a bit more poufy and she declined the peanut stuff (although I readily concede she might not like peanuts). But something whispered to me (you know, The Voices) that she really could be pregnant and wasn’t going to announce until they were sure it had taken. If she was, I feel for her.
Wow, I hadn’t thought of that, but you could be right about it.
What a shame that they can’t just do what’s right for them, but I guess she knew what was expected of her when she signed on to this gig.
I love her so much.
She is boring and stupid……Faberge Eggs and all. Duchess Door Mat. Have at it Willy……JESUS, what have you done?
He’s married someone who does what he says. As someone who’s probably always got his way, and as someone who had a drama queen for a mother, I bet it’s a nice relief.
I hope she knows what she’s got herself into, though. After 10 years, you’d think she would.
I like Kate personally but I agree she was pegged as the perfect royal bride because she presents such a boring, non-controversial figure. She really doesn’t do anything that could attract scandal, controversy or even much interest really. She understands that her job is to stay in the background and not outshine any of the royals. Just hope she’s happy with that kind of life ’cause it sounds really boring, shallow to me.
She does outshine the Royals (it is said to their great concern.). Kate is on the front pages more than the Queen in her Jubilee year. Kate may appear doormatty and mouselike but she has a VERY embarrassing family eg Uncle Gary at Maison Bang Bang, Pippa and
‘gungate’, beyond the pale Carole and not to forget James, his frocks and really tacky, sexual innuendo cakes.
Try StiringTroubleInternationally.com for astute reporting.
It would be good press for Kate. And, give her an excuse to continue to not work (she’s pregnant, give her a break; she’s busy raising the kid, give her a break; etc.).
But I don’t think it will solidify her position. If Charles can dump the hugely popular Diana after two kids together, then William can easily dump Kate after having kids (and I don’t doubt the palace holds that over Kate’s head all the time to keep her in line). So I don’t think it will solidify anything, but it IS good for the couple’s public image.
I think I said this in another post awhile back, but it is not anti-feminist to encourage a woman to do the job she trained ten years for, i.e. contributing to the royal lineage.
The chance of Kate’s mother revealing her daughter’s baby plans is next to nil. All of the Middletons are very protective of Kate and very, very discrete. They have never leaked a story in the past decade or so, so why start now?
The thing is, the publication can get away with it because it’s a pretty good guess the couple will start having children soon. William has already said they wanted to settle a bit and then have kids.
It has often been reported that being discrete was part of the clever master plan to ensnare poor Willie.
Saying that, there have been many viscous comments about Carole eg Council house Carole,
mamma snake eyes and worse. I am sure the poor woman had not factored that in to the plan, nor the working class relatives being discovered and interviewed on TV
I think that dress looks great on her and congrats for her putting her hair up for once.. the color of the dress is awesome and it’s even a little sexy…
I love these two, I think they are taking their time with the kid thing so she can figure out her duties and he can work more first..