Duchess Kate’s bodyguards, or royal protection officers (RPOs), show up in photos often enough. I’ve never paid that much attention to them, because when she’s out doing a rare public event, the RPOs are pretty good at giving her some space. They open the car door for her, give her space to move, and they’re often seen securing Kate’s perimeter. There are stories about the kind of excessive protection Kate gets when she’s just, like, going shopping or spending time at her parents’ house, but there definitely doesn’t seem to be a lot of internal drama between the Cambridges and their security staff. Here’s one reason why: apparently, Prince Charles insisted that Kate needed at least one female bodyguard at her side at all times. Because Charles worried that Kate, like Diana, might get “too close” to a male RPO.
Ever since her marriage to Prince William the Duchess of Cambridge has had a female bodyguard by her side, while the rest of the Royal Family are protected by men. Now I learn that this arrangement was at the specific suggestion of her father-in-law Prince Charles.
“From the start, when Kate became engaged, it was Charles who made the women-only stipulation, saying he didn’t want her compromised in any way,” says a former member of S014, the Scotland Yard unit responsible for royal protection. In using the term “compromised” Charles may have had in mind his late wife Diana, who became close to her bodyguard Barry Mannakee. She was later to claim that he was murdered for having an affair with her.
On a video filmed later by her former voice coach, Diana confessed her love for the married detective and claimed that he was “bumped off” by the security services as a result. Mannakee was removed from his duties on the insistence of Charles. Eight months later he died in a motorcycle accident.
Of their relationship the Princess said: “I was only happy when he was around. I should never have played with fire and I got burnt.” So to avoid such pitfalls Kate has women guarding her. Her main protection officer is Emma Probert, who was assigned to her after her engagement to William in 2010. The year before Sgt Probert, 43, had suffered personal tragedy when her husband died in a skiing accident. Emma found love again with Inspector Colin Childs, part of the team guarding the Queen. After divorcing his wife, Colin married Emma and the couple now have a baby.
Kate is said to be particularly fond of Emma, who used to be an air hostess (like Carole Middleton). When Sgt Probert has time off her place is taken by petite blonde Karen Llewellyn, who like Emma carries a Glock pistol at all times. There is also another female guard who looks after Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
The choice of policewomen does not surprise Ken Wharfe, Diana’s former bodyguard, who says: “I’ve heard that Prince Charles is more involved in who is being appointed. And if he asks for more women he will get more women. The trouble with Diana was she got on better with men. She did have a woman once but she didn’t last long. You have to have a good chemistry with the person you’re looking after.”
I think it makes good sense to have female royal protected by female RPOs. It should be said, though, that Kate doesn’t ONLY have female RPOs. She likely has one female on her team at all times, and the rest are men. There are a lot of photos of male bodyguards protecting Kate when she’s out, that’s what I’m saying, but it’s good that she’s got some loyal women she trusts too. Basically, I think this story might say something more about Charles. Charles didn’t want his new daughter-in-law to cheat on William with a bodyguard. Even before the wedding, Charles worried that Kate would be “compromised” if she had an attractive male bodyguard.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I’d be worried a bit too if my daughter-in-law was a former yacht girl.
I’ve wondered if Pippa has had special arrangements with Middle Eastern men. (~ “yacht girl”). I wouldn’t have suspected Kate doing that. There’s no way she’d have been allowed to marry PW. Diana was a “yacht girl” later in life. (Using this term as a way to explain special arrangement with Middle East men.).
Anyone know about Pippa?
What? What proof do you have that Diana was a yacht girl?
This is gross. What is the reasoning behind all this -that all women are “money-hungry sluts” (ugh) or something?
Has the Red Pill invaded Celebitchy?
The Middletons are only interested in British Aristocracy. They’d never jeopardise that by becoming friendly with Middle Eastern gentlemen.
That said, their game isn’t the same as the implication of dalliances with Middle Eastern gentlemen in the manner of all those Dubai girls.
Being flirty on a yacht is not the same thing as being a yacht girl.
Diana having a summer fling with Fayed is not the same thing as being a yacht girl.
Perhaps you need to find out more about what being a yacht girl actually means.
Slut shame much? This is ridiculous.
I’m saying LAK they are much too bland and proper and aiming at a certain husband to be In Cannes or Dubai “serving in yachts” a la Lohan, Reid, Dicaprio in Cannes, Grace Kelly situation
but also wasn’t Pippa’s Trip to USA a few years back rumored to be sponsored by Andre Balasz (sp?)
And William’s hunting trips to Spain are sponsered by the Duke of Westminster. It doesn’t mean he’s sleeping with him.
I’m certainly not saying that it’s credible but I’ve read before the allegation that Diana participated in “yacht girl” type activities. I don’t think it was an article, rather likely a comment on a blog or from a message board.
QQ: exactly.
And Pippa’s trip with Andre Balsaks (sp) still surprises me. I thought that was a break away into the jet set, but as you point out, too bland, proper to really commit.
I think the safe ‘Middle Eastern’ gentleman for these types of women is the Aga Khan and by extension his male line because he’s not too Eastern. And he is properly embedded with the establishment without anyone making assumptions about any connections.
LAKKKKKK You brought Up Persian Royals YAASS you are correct!! and so Much YES!! the men in that family have always been such Sexy Baes! OR Like Jemimah’s Ex!!, That is on the cusp of what is acceptable for them
What’s the sp in Andre Balasz (sp)? Please?
Pumpkin, you put (sp) after a word to indicate that you might have spelt the word wrong, or you’re not sure of the spelling.
Ah-haah… So THAT’S what a “yacht girl” is…I had wondered, but am not buying it in respect of the Middleton women. I’m not a fan of any of them, but don’t believe Mrs M would ever have jeopardised the chance of her girl becoming Queen to the King of England. No way.
However, now that Catherine is safely married to the future king, Pippa is another matter entirely. She’s young, carefree, single, has no steady, reliable, high-paying job…
She’s got loaded parents, her own house/apt in a nice rea of London for sure and still a sh!tload of money she got for that silly book cause it wasn;t that long ago. Doesn’t really fit the profile of a yacht girl, which is a cash-strapped, drug and booze-addicted has been who’d rather suck c0ck than go without her Prada bags.
Basi you’ve posted that comment on purpose. Diana had relationships/flings on her terms…she was never a “yacht girl” the way you’re trying to insinuate.
I’ve heard of that rumour that her mother pimped her and Pippa like Kris Jenner did with hers.
Carole Middleton is ambitious, but no way was she pimping her daughters as companions to the wealthy. Her ambitions are much higher, and whatever you think of her or her methods, she has achieved them through Kate.
have you ever noticed how Kate flirts with men she appears to find attractive when she’s on outings? Ben Ainsle, PR. Harry, a few men at the Olympics.
Not that I ever think she would be DUMB enough to cheat and destroy all her hard years of climbing….still she does like being flirty. I wonder if it’s just to let William know other men find her attractive?
I wonder if it’s William who requested the women bodyguards and not Charles, but the press maybe can’t or don’t want to say it’s William who requested them? Also if Charles or the Palace requested them, IMO it’s because they report back to him or the Palace about things she does.
The yacht girl work story was that her mum perhaps thought it good for Kate to work around wealthy people for connections, etc,the yacht job was yet another vehicle to making connections with powerful or wealthy , but where the story got a bit tacky was that Kate always wore her shorts Extra short , extremely much shorter than the other girls and the yacht male owners would Ask her to go get drinks more than the other girls , therefore having to climb up and down steps and stand in a certain area while they the men sat and watched, looking up her short shorts.
some say Kate was Unaware of their ogling,some others say allegedly she knew they oggled her legs and she wore her shorts Extra short.
It sounds tacky of the men though, she was afterall a young lady, doing a job at that point and the good thing is before William, Kate actually took a job! 🙂
Suze
I wish there was a like button for your comment.
Ysoh
I’m married and I flirt. I’m not dead after all. Sometimes we don’t realise that conversation tiptoes into flirting territory. It would never go past that though. Still, everyone flirts. So, that shouldn’t be a mark against her unless she’s looking for time to spend with a guy and without William.
Suze
Yes.
India I can’t appreciate your attempts to slut shame but one must actually have a clear understanding of the term yacht girl as well as even a rudimentary grasp of Kate and Williams history to even go in that direction. You are deficient on both counts I’m afraid.
Imo
It’s those types of posts why i’m almost exclusively a poster here.
And I do know that name from elsewhere. The negative tone left me to throw up my hands from trying to explain facts.
FLORC
Exactly!
There were posters on a Kylie Jenner thread counting down the days until Kris sold her to a Middle Eastern billionaire. I just died a little inside.
That’s way harsh. There is no evidence she was ever at the beck and call of anyone other than William. She was practically a free hooker to William, even during their 2007 break up, but there haven’t been any whispers of other guys. Mind, she seems to love male attention in general. Harry, Ben Ainslie, etc. But Will has gotten quite cold with her, at least in public.
Free hooker. Lol. Mary Mitchell, a Chicago columnist commenting on a case involving a prostitute who was held at gunpoint & forced to service her client (he didn’t have the money to pay her), disagreed with that action being referred to as rape. She said it makes a mockery of rape. She reasoned that if anything it’s a theft of services. Your free hooker comment made me think of that.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/952556/charges-send-mixed-messages-prostitution
I get that you were commenting a news story, but I must clarify that I don’t believe William has ever forced himself on Kate against her wishes. Katie Nichol, of all people has said that Will would call Kate after he’d gotten home from drinking, she’d come running with her overnight bag, and be seen leaving early. Even during the 07 breakup. Free hooker.
RedS: I didn’t read anymore into your comments than what you had originally written. I also had a good grasp of the back stories you were likely referencing. No harm. No foul. My mind just connected two bits of information. No more. No less.
Red Snapper
I don’t even know how to tell you how offensive and sexist your comments are.
Whatever really took place, when the RPOs call you The Mattress, it isn’t a compliment.
Kate enjoyed having sex with her boyfriend. There is nothing wrong with that!
We’re judging her for that?
William was repeatedly disrespectful to Kate so people turn on Kate and judge her?
All these comments re- Middleton as The Mattress make me wonder re- pre-nup? Does anyone know the extent of a pre-nup if any? I don’t recall reading about a pre-nup Middleton was forced to sign?
Everyone should read the linked Chicago SunTimes article. That reporter’s internalized misogyny shows the dangers of the points of view being expressed here today.
“I don’t have one iota of sympathy for [the rapist’s] plight. But I’m grateful he isn’t being accused of snatching an innocent woman off the street.”
“It’s tough to see this unidentified prostitute as a victim. And because this incident is being charged as a criminal sexual assault — when it’s actually more like theft of services — it minimizes the act of rape.”
——
Now, no one here is saying something that awful. But the point remains that there are so many valid criticisms of Kate and yet she’s getting attacked because she is a woman who didn’t use her sexual agency in a societally approved way. That reporter is in a loathsome class of her own but all this starts somewhere.
It would seem there is no pre-nup between Kate and William. I’m really surprised by that considering William had a front row seat re- divorce of his parents.
She did nothing for a decade except wait for the phone to ring. No work. No charity work. Just vacations, shopping, exercising, and waiting for the phone to ring while other people supported her. On the other end of the line was someone who treated her poorly, frequently dropped her to pursue other options, but gave her the societal position she so desperately craved.
I find that abhorrent in a human – ladies, gentlemen, or those of you who have yet to make up your minds.
“….when the RPOs call you the mattress it’s not a compliment”
And when adult males slut shame the girlfriend of their employer it is not an indictment of morals or character. Disgusting, sexist and highly inappropriate.
And I agree with you on all those points, notasugarhere.
But why are we judging her for sleeping with William, rather than that she stayed in a relationship with William. Why are we using sexually based insults? It’s dehumanizing.
Natalie, if Daniel Westling of Sweden had acted like this during their lengthy courtship, I’d criticize his behavior too. My criticism is of the overall behavior of both of them during this. You think that when a woman allows herself to be used for sex by a man who treats her disrespectfully, we shouldn’t consider that as part of the discussion about their overall behavior? That doesn’t make sense.
Imo, they’re allowed to look at the behavior of both involved and be repulsed by both W&K. They’re shaming both of them. If William had a problem with what they called her, he would have made them call her something else. But he was known to refer to her as “Sex Waiting” himself.
Natalie
William cheated and mistreated Kate. He sucks. He’s awful.
Kate used her body as a way to hold his interest. Even if she maybe didn’t want him she made herself available. Putting her life on hold to be there if he requested her even after being mistreated. That is not the trait of a role model and a hall mark of low self worth. I won’t mock that, but I will attack those traits if people think that’s an action to be defended and praised.
As long as all partners are free and consenting, I don’t think anyone should be judged for their sexual choices. Society has a horrible track record when it comes to that. What we’ll end up with is entirely based on whatever stage of sexual morals each poster is currently at and it will be a waste of time because sexual morals and freedoms keep evolving.
If William wants some play, he isn’t forced to be dependent on Kate. Their relationship is dysfunctional and William is disrespectful but I don’t think Kate was used in that sense, but rather for emotional support. I don’t think William likes being single. For her part, Kate is obsessed with William -she absolutely wanted to be with him pretty much consistently. Her whole life is about him -that’s degrading -not that she slept with him.
—
No one is praising Kate, but I think it’s wrong to hold her up for judgement for her sexual choices. Having sex does not degrade a person, even if it is in the context of a dysfunctional relationship.
Kate is not responsible for William being attracted to her. She can do anything but it doesn’t matter if William doesn’t choose to go along with it.
Nota
Everything Natalie said.
If she didn’t say yes, he would have gone elsewhere. She wanted the status, so she used what he wanted to get what she wanted. We’re not supposed to discuss that? She did everything she could, including changing her appearance and behavior, to keep him interested in her sexually. But you think she isn’t responsible for William being attracted to her?
There is rumored to be a lot of emotional support from Carole, and also I think from Jecca. Jecca’s is the voice that gets him to do something.
Let’s pretend there was no sex at all. That he treated her this poorly just for “emotional support”, and she still embraced all of it because it gave her exactly what she wanted. Power, status, free clothes and cheap car leases. She did nothing for a decade but cater to a disrespectful man because ultimately it got her the high-status, moneyed life she and her family wanted. How does that change the argument that he used her disrespectfully and she let him (because she was using him too)?
I think that removing sexuality from the equation and calling it off limits means you’re not looking at it holistically. By setting it aside, you make it The Other, which contributes to the problem.
Sigh….you see all that is happening here. Duchess, if you do not write an elevated story, someone will write it for you. How can you be the Duchess of Wherever and commenters on a blog are telling tales of you being a “yacht girl”. So now she is at the conversation level of Phoebe Price and Paris Hilton. That Duchess needs to take control of her life and do something about her image.
Duchess, get off your butt and leave your lazy husband at home and find some work to do. Loose talk like this comes because she does absolutely nothing that is valued by the public. Yesterday: bangs and fringes; today: Charles picks her bodyguards so she won’t have a man on the side; tomorrow: Duchess spotted selling fish at the market?
Natalie/Imo/Nota
Yes to nearly all Natalie said with this exception.
Yes they are both consenting adults and both used eachother. That doesn’t change the fact Kate used more than her emotional support to keep William around. He strayed if she wasn’t willing at his request he’d find another who was.
I think it highlights Kate’s low self esteem. To not be able to walk away rely on herself. To love herself without living for someone that doesn’t live for her.
And Nota’s comment.
I think you’ve nailed a lot of the dynamic.
The thing in Kate that really makes me pity her. If William left her and her parents passed on could she make it in the world? Would she always need for others to pay her way in life? To feel that way is just scary imo.
Saywhatwhen
Pheobe Price? Isn’t that the teenage girl who was bullied and took her own life?
NaSH is right, ….The rumours were Carole was the Emotional support for William and Kate was the physical support. Kate on her own wasn’t enough, which is why she went ballistic when he confided deeply in Jecca (and NOT Kate) over the feelings he had over losing his mother on one anniversary of her tragic passing. Kate had a fit that he was discussing these personal deep feeling to Jecca and not her at the time, This was during the dating years.
Without Carole in the equation emotionally, the relationship may have faltered.
I believe that, always will.
I can see all PoV’s expressed. At the end of the day they are both enablers – they enable each other negatively as it get them what they each want out of the relationship. Is that healthy no – but it’s how it has developed and will end in tears.
Many on here have said that without Carole the relationship would never have lasted this long or made it to marriage and children. Carole is and always has been the draw for him and she created a rather dysfunctional dynamic.
But is it really her sexual choices that are being questioned versus her overall decisions re: how the relationship looks to have publically played out–with her allowing him carte blanche to her (physically/emotionally) & with him only granting access to himself not in a reciprocal fashion but when he needed those things?
I know but with her its difficult to separate them as her body was all she really had to keep him interested and coming back. Kate has never struck me as being emotionally mature enough to deal with his baggage which is why he turned to Carole and Jecca – they gave Willy what he really needed, emotional stability. Kate was his gopher, going to his classes for him and taking notes, making herself available to him etc.. Am sure she tried to be there emotionally but she has very little life experience so how could she really support him in any meaningful way.
I would have had more respect for her if she was another Cleopatra and Anne Boleyn. Granted Cleopatra first used her body to snare Cesar but she kept him interested with her intellect, whit and charm – she played both him and Marc Anthony like a violin. As for Anne while her body was off limits she, like Cleo, used her wit, intellect and charm to get Henry to move mountains to be with her.
Saywhichone
Because giving people what they want or expect guarantees they will not invent their own narrative? Because doing good works and being productive will guarantee that strangers won’t gleefully dish about you online? Is that why stories about the queen generate about 50ish comments and those mostly about her hats and dresses? Is that why there are no Sophie or Anne stories? Is that why Angelina Jolie stories *never* bring out the conspiracy loonies?
William did treat her disrespectfully. You’ll get no argument from me on that. And she absolutely manipulated him emotionally to get him to like her to the point of altering her appearance to dress like Jecca. But trying to have great sex with your boyfriend is not a judgeable offense.
And the thing is if William was going just for sexual gratification -he could get that on demand. It’s not like William chased after Isabella Calthorpe because Kate wasn’t putting out enough.
Kate came with near total secrecy (except for the odd staged pap snap) , a willingness to do whatever William wanted, and most importantly (as all of you have mentioned in your comments) Carole Middleton. None of that has anything to do with sex. And considering how obsessive Kate has always been about William, there is no reason to think she was closing her eyes and thinking of tiaras or something. I don’t see any reason to think she wasn’t attracted to him and enthusiastic about sleeping with him. They are codependent: they will be terrible to each other but still want to be together.
And I want to repeat what I wrote earlier: Having sex does not degrade a person, even if it is in the context of a dysfunctional relationship. To me, it’s not a judgeable action.
@Natalie – i think you’ll find that most people who’ve replied to this thread agree with most or some of what you are saying.
I don’t think anyone is shaming/judging her because she liked to have sex with him – she’s always been infatuated with him, we get that. The issue is that it seems that’s what’s defined her role in the relationship – he gets his emotional needs satisfied elsewhere (Carole, the rest of the Middleton family, Jecca and whoever else) and Kate satisfies his physical ones. He has surrounded himself with different people who play different roles in his life that satisfy his different needs, emotional or otherwise.
They are both effed up people and god help us if/when they ascend the throne.
@ Natalie: What Betti said. I don’t think anyone particularly cares if Kate enjoys sex, enjoys sex with William or even about the frequency or duration of her sex life and sexuality as a standalone category. However, when her sex life/sexuality is placed within the context of the decade long relationship with William, who was often indifferent & disrespectful to her, it is then that people begin to question & judge her morals, ethics, purpose, aim & values. It is within that context that his morals, ethics & values are also called into question. So, on the one head, I get what Betti is saying but on the other hand I still think it’s perhaps more about her decision to continue to debase herself in a hundred million ways to keep him. For me, using his sexual needs & her ability to satisfy those needs & to be discreet about them was just one out of the hundred million.
@ Betti – in reading over one of your comments (too lazy to slide up to find it), it stroke me that you could have been talking about Charles & Diana & surrounding themselves with other people who could/would support them emotionally.
William is very much like his father. I wonder if that pisses him off to know that.
Imo
To be fair the Queen threads generate so little because the conversation gets directed to how adorable she looks with lots of long live the Queen or the Queen should lay off of Kate.
That woman is crafty as hell and while her work ethic is good she reminds me of my late grandmother. Long lost sister of the Queen.
And what Dena said.
Though I doubt William is self aware enough to realise he is his father’s son.
She wasn’t a yacht girl, rather the opposite.
I’ll work shame Kate all day long, but I draw the line at making up a past for her. There’s no evidence that she’s been anything but utterly devoted to William for years.
Point of interest: the original yacht girl was Grace Kelly.
Well, Grace had quite the racy past. She could make Kate blush. Or almost anyone, really.
And you are making Kate to be some virginal girl who was never with anyone but William. She isn’t.
Is there evidence suggesting she’s been with anyone SINCE William?
@kay
You can either be a virgin or a “slutty slut”? Only two choices?
Kay: you are implying that Kate was a *Scarlett woman.
She’s flirty yes, she may have kissed a boy or two, mooned the boys at school – as did many other girls, and occasionally continues to moon us all, but Scarlett woman she is not.
* I strongly object to any woman being branded a Scarlett woman even if they are a yacht girl or lady of the night, and I apologise for using that term, but @Kay is painting Kate in that corner.
She was a Yacht girl, before she got with William. It’s in several of the early stories introducing Kate to the public, about Kate. Still at least she was working a job before she got entrenched with making chasing William her main goal. So kudos to that.
Having a job on a yacht and being a ‘yacht girl’ is not the same thing! Google is your friend.
Kay
You seem to be putting words in Suze’s mouth.
LAK
Everything you said x1000.
I had to look ‘yacht girl’ up
http://ladyclever.com/uncategorized/the-love-boat-a-tale-of-yacht-girls-and-the-cannes-film-festival/
Had I any pearls at this point I would clutch them.
Not really.
Totally agree with suze, Ma Middleton always had the highest ambitions for her daughters. Feeling slightly sorry for Pippa who can’t quite seem to pull those ambitions off.
Nah FLORC: Phoebe Price of DLISTED fame.
A teenage girl wore shorts! Oh, the horrors!
A teenage girl wore shorts on the yacht. The horror. She must be a yacht girl!!!!
The press and her friends who worked with her at the job, called her a Yacht girl.
Is working on a yacht supposed to be a bad job? I am just wondering why it upsets? Just curious really.
notsugarhere is right the press did report that Kate was being called The Mattress at one point.
That was bad. Yikes.
Also according to James Whitaker in his very first reporting done on Kate, he implied the Palace made inquiries around about Kate, when William first started up with her and word from his Palace source was that
Kate was too easy with her wares! …(and that was a exact quote he gave)
Women live in a misogynistic society. The burden is not on Kate to avoid being called names by William’s RPOs or avoid having her sexual agency referred to as ‘wares.’ A woman’s body and her sexuality are not commodities.
No women should have to feel ashamed of her sexuality and play hard-to-get to receive basic respect.
Evermore: a yacht girl is not the same thing as working on a yacht. I’m going to presume that early reports simply used lazy shorthand to describe Kate’s job as a crew member on a yacht.
BTW: yacht owners like to hire attractive crew members, but that doesn’t mean the crew members are sexually available to the guests. In that sense, Kate’s crew uniform makes sense.
However, in plain english, a yacht girl is a prostitute whose target is men with yachts under the disguise of partying/vacationing on said yacht. This activity is infamous at various exotic locations and world class during the cannes film festival where even established celebrities are known yacht girls.
Someone upthread has posted a very good link to an article on the subject.
And to go with those shorts, I wager she was wearing not only short sleeves, but SHORT SHORT sleeves — far shorter than anyone else’s sleeves. Not only was she indecent enough to go up and down stairs whilst wearing said shorts, she would also brazenly lift her arms, which she fully realized were quite exposed, giving everyone just the view of her most private …. (Whisper) “arm parts.” The people on the yacht would go so far as to recline on chairs and ask her to hand them things. It was so obvious why they were doing this and, of course, she always cheerfully obliged.
Head shake.
oh never mind.
I will say that before he dated her..,
William was said to have inquired to a friend At the time,who knew Kate , if He wanted sex with Kate would she be cool about it and also keep it quiet, the friend supposedly sent word back…. It’s ok, she’s cool about it, she won’t talk.
IMO William is a Jerk. I have always seen him as he wanted what was easy, if Kate had been work and a challenge for him he would have headed for the Hills. IMO Kate just made it easy for him in numerous ways because she wanted the Golden Title.
Also I lost respect for Kate when she made herself just Waity Katey and not much more in her twenties.
IMO the issue is that both of them are horribly lacking emotionally and in self esteeem. I don’t have respect for her or him.
“Too easy with her wares” … First of all, that’s just gross. Second of all, if they think Kate was “too easy,” they will positively get the vapors if Prince Harry ever wants to date me and they check my background. 😉
@ysohawt1, when one considers Diana was just a few years older than Kate when she died and all that she had accomplished by then – Kate and William should hide their heads in shame at the Nothingness they have accomplished. And popping out two babies is NOT an accomplishment. Raising them yourself is, but they arent even doing that.
I take exception to calling her a yacht girl. She may be lazy and boring but this she is not.
“Compromised”? Is this the 18th century? Well, considering what Kate and Will named their kids…
(There’s nothing wrong with the names George and Charlotte in a vacuum. However, George and Charlotte in the English royal family = callback to the Regency period, which was NOT a good time for the royal family. Prince George, later George IV, was about as selfish and self-absorbed as Will seems to be, though.)
This!
Charles was thought to want to use the name George when he becomes King and be sympathetic to George III. I wonder if that influenced William, as in a possible tribute to his father or maybe he took the name away from Charles
George is one of Charles’s given names, so he can still call himself George when he is King. Having a row of same name Kings isn’t a problem, so if William was trying to shaft Charles, he failed. Again.
Charles was also said to be considering the name George in honor of his grandfather.
IMO Charles is a more questionable regnant name than George and have wondered what QEII/her advisors were thinking when it was decided to make Charles the heir’s first name.
ETA:
Of course Charles isn’t King yet, maybe he’ll be crowned Philip I or George VII.
Wait, there’s only one female RPO in the whole force? That’s kind of ridiculous.
I agree. Not only does it smack of tokenism but doesn’t it defeat the whole purpose?
No. The article is poorly worded since we have photographic evidence of female RPOs guarding other royals.
I took the article to mean that she always has a female guard out of each shift of 3 that guard her at all times.
In the past, the female guards have often been mistaken to be her friends or in the case of t blonde guard, a family friend.
The royals tend to have the same guards for many years which is why they become familiar, but I always feel bad for B whenever I see Emma beside Kate because she guarded her for many years, and then lost her when Andrew gave up RPOs for his daughters only for Emma to re-surface next to Kate.
Apparently the dark hard RPO used to be assigned to the York sisters and got moved over to Kate when the engagement was announced.
EDIT: You mention this. Soz.
They have security but it is paid privately by Andrew. The debate about what “privately” means continues, but officially the taxpayers aren’t paying for their security anymore.
LAK
Why didn’t Andrew hire her back on his own dime? Does Charles get first pick? Also, didn’t one of the Yorks lose a bodyguard in an accident? Skiing, maybe?
IMO: she’s contracted member of the police force, not a private bodyguard.
Andrew uses private bodyguards or ex-RPOs for his daughters.
The ski accident bodyguard was one of Charles’s guards.
Ah, thanks! Were they close to Charles’ guard? I could be misremembering but I thought I read that he taught them how to ski perhaps? I’m not exactly sure but I know for sure that they were devastated when they found out about his death. Is it like one big happy bodyguard family? I think it’s interesting.
IMO: it’s possible since Fergie used to go skiing with Charles and Diana and all kids together. The bodyguards for all of them were with the families for years – the injured bodyguard had been with the family for a decade at least, so bonds would have formed across families, especially the kids, since they all holiday-ed together.
Thanks, LAK. That was the missing link – makes sense now.
That female bodyguard shown who guards Kate is allegedly a homewrecker. Her current husband allegedly divorced his wife for her.
Charles worried about someone cheating😂😂😂😂😂
Shouldnt he then be more worried about Camilla or himself? They did cheat on Diana before and during her marriage to Charles.
But then again – if you have low standards and morals yourself you do think others are the same.
Exactly, this.
Kate won’t cheat – doesn’t have it in her, plus she’s still obsessed with Willy and only has crazy eyes for him. Thou that may change in time.
Willy, however……. We all know he has no probs with cheating on her. Its only a matter of time before he bores of family life.
You hit the nail on the head, unfortunately.
it does not mean she does not have it in her, she just wont risk her sweet spot that she worked all her life for and sacrificed other things.
Infidelity is horrible and I find it ignoble but it takes creativity, a good memory and flair to cope with all that lying. I don’t think Kate has any of those qualities tbh.
Cheating is an ethical issue, not a circumstantial one.
Imo
It can be circumstances. Rational and moral thought goes out the window in certain states of mind.
Still, doubt she would ever compromise her position. Her life has appeared to be built around William for well over a decade. I’m not sure she could function without him or her mother. They are equally important.
FLORC
Circumstances provide the context within which your character is tested. If I’m not a cheater I will not be a cheater – even if I’ve had a fight with my spouse, too much wine and an interested guy offers me a shoulder to cry on.
Imo
I guess i’m speaking more to chemical overloads. Where morals become something you’re just incapable of. It’s an extreme, absolutely and not practical, but i’m just mentioning it.
I’m thinking back to someone who was waking up from an operation. They were groggy and taking a while to become lucid.. In that time they kept going after a male nurse. Hot male nurse for certain, but very aggressive for someone having just been through what they were. I’m certain they weren’t fully aware of much and forgot they were married, but they just went on instinct.
Again, Very much the extreme, but that is where I was coming from.
“The only difference between many marriages and a couple separating due to an affair is opportunity.”
-Anonymous
Bluhare wins!
Likely why social media gets blamed so often in divorce filings as a cause.
It makes it easy.
I tend to wonder. With William away so often and Kate with little to fill her time the eye and mind could wander on both their ends.
Really. Of all the nerve, this faithless, sexist jerk trying to control who other people will or will not cheat with when he made no effort whatsoever to control his own philandering. How insulting to Kate and how revealing of his true mind – everyone is just as ready to betray their spouse as he was. Only I don’t see him insisting that William not go on hunting weekends with old girlfriends in order to insure he isn’t “compromised in any way.” Charles is such a douche. I don’t believe Diana would have gotten close to anyone else if he had given two cents about her.
bet anything it’s William who wanted the female bodyguards for Kate. JMO
GNAT
This story rings false. And the foundation of information suggesting this is a far reaching stretch in Blind Item territory.
I’m starting to question if these articles lately aren’t the same as BIs. Meaning people write in fanfiction of sorts hoping it gets printed. Or taking bits of truths and twisting them into complete fabrications that seem plausible if you don’t think about them.
Word.
He needs to mind his own damn business.
Maya , I thought the same thing. Haha. Oh Charles , projecting much? This story is pretty much in the same territory as not hiring a hot nanny thing. Funny. If you want a female bodyguard that’s awesome but hiring her so Kate doesn’t cheat is a bit sad.
Or Charles knows his son and suspected KM would be alone a lot of the time.
I thought something similar to that, what does Charles know or suspect of that relationship and the people in it?
Meanwhile does anyone have a picture of Kate’s male personal trainer?
lol about Charles needing to be worried about himself and Camilla… The idea of Camilla having an affair with Kate is quite intriguing. A romance for the ages, for sure.
I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. She looks haggard as hell, has all the personality of a dead fish, and comes with an overbearing mother. I don’t think she’s exactly beating any men away with a stick these days.
I think your comment is sad because you believe that men cheat because of qualities that a woman does or does not have. Men cheat, just as women cheat, because of deficiencies in ethics morality etc.
Thanks, IMO, and you’ve gotten to the root of my problem with this story. Saying Charles is worried that Kate will be “compromised”… As if the poor flower has no willpower and just won’t be able to resist giving up her virtue to the first man she sees on a regular basis. My frustration is for the attitude about women inherent in this story, not at Kate. Like you said, people cheat by their own free will due to questionable moral choices, whether they be men or women. A woman isn’t some delicate thing that has to be protected from being “compromised.”
Uh, I said nothing at all about men cheating. The article is about the possibility of Kate, a woman, cheating.
*waves at Shambles*
Glad you popped in!
a
b
c
Have you SEEN Arnold’s side piece (the one he fathered a son with?)
Looks have nothing at all to do with this discussion.
Also says a lot about what they think of Waity-K–sorry Catherine.
After her and William pop out enough heirs I see them getting bored with each other. Especially since they don’t have any serious interests or careers.
Disagree. IF this report is even true, it says much more about Charles, than it does Kate.
It says more about the UK press trying to always create drama and using Charles as the bad guy in this case.
There were stories after the engagement that a bodyguard with similar hair coloring was chosen also to use as a deflection at times for Kate to leave a place. Sending brunette bodyguard out one door , in a car with face hidden, while Kate left in another car out a back way and it did work on a few occasions. There are photos where photogs put up pictures and got the bodyguard or even Rebecca Kate’s brunette assistant instead.
Rebecca dresses similar even if she likes Kate’s style on her own, she is sometimes used as a decoy, even though she doesn’t look like her, in the face, it has worked for a few minutes, while Kate has left a shop etc.
This story is all BS.
I know if I were in her position and got attention, kindness and protection from a man all the time and then had to go home to a moody and work-shy man-child, I’d definitely start to reconsider my choices.
Cheaters are gonna cheat, and if you’ve made up your mind not to cheat, then its not gonna happen. Funny-Charles and Diana were BOTH cheaters.
But didn’t Diana cheat after realizing that there is no hope with Charles, he is amazingly devoted to Camilla.
Do you blame Diana for cheating? Charles was involved with Camilla from the absolute beginning of their marriage. He was cold and distant to her and unfaithful and never a true husband to her. After she had her children, duty done, I don’t blame her for looking for affection, decent sex and some warmth and validation after being rejected from the start by that jug-eared weenie.
This!
!!!
Ha! The best thing that jug-eared weenie did was father Harry IMO. Other than that, he has been pretty much useless (and besides being a tampon for Camilla, which apparently, he is very very good at).
Men cheat, just as women cheat, because of deficiencies in ethics morality etc.
From Imo above.
Also it is possible to try to understand why someone does something and also not approve of it.
What I don’t understand is Diana’s cheating with married men. Most of the time she was going after, even harassing, married men. If she knew the pain caused by “the other woman” why did she willingly become the other woman so many times?
Yep and she was the reason Will Carling’s (England rugby player) marriage ended. They were strongly suspected of having an affair as she chased after him.
Notasugarhere, I think it might have been some “Well I AM being cheated on so why should I care” line of thought. I’ve seen it in the wild.
Are you unaware of the fact that these men told Diana that they were in desperately unhappy relationships that had become a marriage in name only? That is almost always a red flag that the man is lying to have his cake an eat it too – but Diana believed these men were just waiting for the right time to divorce and marry her.
That doesn’t make it right – infedility is reprehensible but an emotionally devastated and insecure woman with a cheating husband of her own may not always make the best decisions.
imo, were you there in bed with them? I doubt it.
She had relationships, frequently with married men. Whatever was written to attempt to justify her behavior, it is a choice she made.
You’re thinking as if Diana was an emotionally healthy woman. She was not. She was needy, isolated & desperate for love & attention.
And getting them to leave their families would make her feel loved and wanted and important and what have you.
edit
Notasugar
Sarcasm aside, I read. A lot.
Red Snapper
I have no idea what you are actually referring to.
Imo, whatever you read, however much you read, you still have no more proof of what you think that anyone else.
You call others out if we ascribe psychological motivations to people. If we see something different in behavior than what you like. if we mention sources that you don’t personally think are “credible”. Yet here you are claiming you know what Diana BELIEVED and that whatever you read wasn’t a bunch of PR written for a specific purpose.
You weren’t in bed with them. You don’t know what they said. You don’t know what Diana believed.
Nota
What you said was that you don’t understand Diana’s decisions. What Imo offered was a referenced reason/explanation. Perhaps what you meant was that you have no desire to entertain any reasons/explanations.
Tammy, I’m referring back to multiple posts where imo has called out other posters for the same behavior she herself is doing here.
imo’s post about Diana appeared to be an excuse for Diana’s behavior not an explanation. It doesn’t change the fact that Diana chose to have relationships with married men.
Imo
I think you’re treading all over your statement in a convo with me upthread.
If you aren’t a cheater or what to have no part in facilitating you won’t.
Diana must have known somewhere in her he’s sttill married and she’s sleeping with him. That’s very wrong, but she did it and continued. And called their house number not stepping aside leading to an eventual divorce.
Nota is right here. Diana did choose to sleep with married men. There’s no excusing that and there’s no justifyable explanation.
This is slightly off topic but in respect of morality, It might also be worth pointing out that the British aristocracy are notorious for bonking widely among their own circle. At that level of society infidelity is not necessarily a deal breaker. Charles at one point apparently said “Every Prince of Wales has had a mistress and I shall be no different” or words to that effect so in his set it seems such behaviour is widely accepted. An example is the way Charles’s friends helped him meet up with Camilla Parker Bowles when he was still married. Meanwhile Andrew Parker Bowles knew all about his wife’s affair and turned a blind eye to it. I doubt if Charles’s friends ever questioned the morality of their actions – or his. He also lost interest totally in Diana after Harry was born and when she looked elsewhere for validation, I doubt that Charles would have cared. I also doubt that Diana would have cared the men she pursued were married – for all of the above. I think it was Sixer who said that they are all basically bloody swingers and she’s right, they are, they incline towards chandeliers in ways most of us can’t possibly imagine.
Perhaps it doesn’t register that I clearly said that Diana’s reasons do not nake it right and infidelity is reprehensible. What are failed excuses for us seem like rational justifications to someone determined to self soothe.
Frisbee
Did you know Andrew P-B was/is bonking Anne?
Smh
Agree, Frisbee.
@ Imo no I didn’t but can’t say I’m terribly surprised
@ bluhare *waves* thanks for the Ben Wishaw link yesterday, his voice is so lovely and he’s so unpretentious in his reading he makes me go all shivery!
Also generally speaking let’s not forget Andrew’s alleged sexcapades with underage girls or Phil’s rumoured infidelities with a varied assortment of aristo’s. I just can’t be doing with that level of malarkey.
Imo, please look at your own quote above. I’m with FLORC. You’re talking out of both sides of your mouth on this one: “Men cheat, just as women cheat, because of deficiencies in ethics morality etc.”. You said that upthread. Therefore by your own statement, Diana was deficient in ethics and morality because she cheated. Yet you argue Charles was a crappy husband so she made bad decisions. So was she morally and ethically deficient or not?
You’re registering just fine with me.
@frisbee and bluhare, just wanted to chime in about Ben Whishaw’s voice. It’s one of the most lovely human sounds in the world! 🙂 His voice was the best thing about Cloud Atlas.
“bumped off” these royals really do make people ‘disappear’ quite sinister if you think about how much they are put on a pedestal.
I think it is terribly presumptious to say Charles didn’t want Kate to cheat with a male bodyguard. It is more likely that Charles wanted to minimize if possible future gossip and innuendo.
This too. As I typed that it just occurred to me that that doesn’t knock-out the possibility of a same-sex relationship.
I was going to say the same thing.
I agree.
Or book deals. I totally agree with you.
Project much Charles?
I thought that Diana had cheated. With a bodyguard and a tennis instructor (Kate is not the only one with time in her hands).
Both Diana and Charles were unfaithful to each other, as the marriage was doomed from the start. They were never really in love, as Charles had been in love with Camilla years before he was paired and married off to Diana. I think asking who cheated on who is beside the point now, as there was no love lost.
In terms of cheating, people often have emotional affairs with their co-workers. It doesn’t necessarily have to be physical. Given Diana’s situation & background that could have also happened.
For the record, I think Kate is too much into William (at this point) for that type of concern. Although some photos have caught her being flirtatious, I think if cheating were to happen with these two it will come much later down the line. In terms of emotional cheating, unlike Diana, Kate has Carole and likely Rebecca. She can pour her heart out to them. She doesn’t seem like the same type of femme fatale as was Diana.
Well that’s no fun. Although part of me is secretly hoping that she’ll bang Jason the American PR Guy. 😛
#poorjason.
I should probably shut up before I get him fired. 😛
Nah. If his own ineptitude doesn’t get him fired then his ongoing frustrations with dealing with the man-child and lazykins will do it.
Why is the fact That he’s American constantly being brought up as if it’s some sort of accusation? Being a U.S. Citizen is not a crime in and of itself, despite what many would like to think.
It’s an ongoing joke since an unnamed source with a stick up their butt criticised one of Jason’s press releases by saying he was clearly not English and therefore doesn’t know the form. The unnamed source was trying to insult Jason by invoking the stereotype of Americans, but ended up invoking the stereotype of British people.
It is not supposed to be taken seriously or even to be read as an insult to Americans.
Some criticize Beatrice and Eugenie for working in the US. Do they have visas? Are they here legally?
W&K are future heads of state for the UK. They hire an Italian housekeeper, a Spanish nanny, and an American PR person. Are we not allowed to question that, given the unemployment levels in the UK?
They couldn’t find a UK citizen with the skills? They had to hire a high-profile American who did PR for a massive Scottish bank disaster? It does shows how desperately wrong their PR has gone, and showcases William’s obsession with not trusting anyone trained to work with royals. He doesn’t seem to realize the problems start with him, no matter what staff they hire.
So…. Women don’t cheat with other women?
Now, there’s a story. I don’t think Kate will write it, but it would be something.
I doubt there’s any truth to this story – does Charles personally direct the royal RPO force? I see him, at night, hunched over his work force management tool, rearranging schedules. Nah.
I doubt he even had a word with anyone. Waaaay back in the day when Diana’s relationship with her body guard was in full force, no one particularly cared. I think Charles was relieved she had things to keep her occupied.
Kate’s issues have nothing to with infidelity, for heavens sake. She seems completely locked up tight in her relationship with Wills. Even Charles must realize that.
Work force management tool? His back garden life sized spreadsheet populated by little people wearing identifying signs. He sits in a lifeguard chair withdraw a bullhorn.
I agree, Suze.
And for what it’s worth, I don’t care who or what their sex partners are. Just do your jobs.
Charles leaking more garbage about his children and daughter-in-law #classy
What’s the evidence that points to Charles & his camp leaking this?
Especially since it is clearly not true. She has lots of male body guards and fewer female ones. Photos prove it.
Seriously, that second photo where she is coming out of the car wearing the light blue coaat – wtf??? Seriously, she looks so strained and tense, it looks like she is saying something to someone with her teeth clenched.
Wills life motivation seems to be to NOT be his dad. Look how he latched on to Kate’s family and contrast with how Charles, like a classic abuser, worked to issolate Diana. Or how Diana was expected to at all times be in performance mode for the public even as she was in the midst of a nervous breakdown and how Kate just does as she pleases. I just don’t see Will cheating or atleast not having a long term mistress. On the other hand a lot of people still end up like their shitty fathers despite best efforts, I’ll give you that.
How did he work to isolate her? Classic abuser? I’ve never looked at it through that lens.
He didn’t. She just had complicated relationship with her family.
I’ve always read Charles as more than just a selfish jerk which I think is how some see him. I saw him as a manipulative and psychologically abusive man where Diana was concerned. A man in his mid 30s picked a 19 year old girl knowing 1) he didn’t want her 2) he wouldn’t be faithful to her 3) he just needed her to be a pliable pretty doll for the camera and a walking uterus 4) that in early 1980s Britain once married to the Queens heir there would be no getting out and 5) she would be surrounded by people whose loyalty lay with him. That he took her into this world under false pretenses is awful but what’s worse is that once there he abandoned her. In his 30s he knew how hard it was to live under the glare which is why he had Camilla and their pseudo Dominant/submissive dynamic going in the background. A mummy-lover to soothe the pain and shag along the way. It didn’t occur to him that Diana would need his emotional support to withstand the pressure? Then, and this is where I really recognise abuse, when she expressed dissatisfaction, he dismissed her. When she began to crack under the pressure, as most would, now she was crazy. He was pissed that his “malleable uterus/doll” wasnt playing ball but God forbid he should find some empathy in him. Even when she confronts his mistress, he finds no shame and he actually railed on HER for embarrassing HIM. Again just to reiterate, all this is happening on his turf, this isn’t your average marriage where leaving is a straight forward option. I think Dianas building her own profile was pure brilliance. Once she was seen as more than just the wife/mother, the tables turned. Walking away became easier because she could state her own case to the public. Any muckraking they could do, she could herself too. And fear of being “dispensed with” diminished because she was so public and motives were in the public dormain (Ala Katie Holmes). I would love to see Charles expression the day it dawned on him that the “doll/uterus” had finally figured out how the game is played. Or better still, the day he learnt that the media could no longer be controlled with a call to the media owners. Di refused to be the silent victim she was intended to be from day 1, and for that he is still sullying her name in death as we have learnt from revelations about his PR plan. No wonder his kid doesn’t want him around his young family.
Tessa: even Diana would disagree with this assessment of their relationship, but to paraphrase those nutty fanblogs, haters gonna hate.
Every part of this comment is … wrong. You have described the exact opposite of what is generally agreed to be true.
William was known to cheat on Kate during their “courtship” and Kate knew and would wait for him to return to her. If William was cheating now, Kate would follow SOP and keep her mouth closed and accept it.
@OMia: Or scream that she has HG and needs to go to the hospital.
Remember Kate advised Chelsy to ignore the other women and cheating, since Kates take on William or dating Princes,was it’s what they do……….
Generally female bodyguards are great, not even from a feminist pov but from a security pov. you will blend in a lot easier because people dont assume you are with a bodyguard which obviously attracts attention, less attention = way less threat.
That’s exactly what I was thinking, plus it’s badass that she has female bodyguards, or at least she should have more. I give props to women who are equally as tough as men and are not afraid to show it
Agreed. And perhaps someone thought DK would appreciate a female bodyguard? Or perhaps she even requested some of these women? This article seems completely made up.
Ronda, At this point, Kate is a global celeb so blending in seems impossible unless she were to go incognito.
A couch potato looking petite blond was guarding Kate for awhile. Apparently Scotland Yard does not require that RPOs pass any physical fitness tests.
AS IF Kate would jeopardize her position to cheat with someone who isn’t rich and aristo. This girl is not after sex and romance, she wanted the lifestyle of a princess and she got it after working half her life for it. If she ever cheats on William (which I doubt) it would be for someone more rich and powerful than him.
Kate would have very strict instructions from Mummy to not mess this marriage up. She won’t be having an affair with anyone ever. The Middletons would have learned what happened during the Diana & Fergie years to those who did the wrong thing by the Royals…they want to stay in the inner circle not be cut off. If William is unfaithful Kate will be expected to put up with it…she wouldn’t get away with it though.
The growly face she’s pulling in that 2nd photograph i think is the real Kate that’s behind the fakeness.
Yes, I’ve read many comments pertaining to Kate as submissive to William. I don’t believe that to be the case. I think they have power struggles hence the reports of arguing. And I believe at the end of the day, Kate pretty much gets her way. Not all the time, but much of the time.
I think she was submissive during the early GF years at least up until the 2007 breakup. Once she got the ring/promise of marriage the dynamic changed and she started asserting herself. And as you said the arguments and power struggle started. If you look at her family dynamics – she’s top dog and the one that gets what she wants and most of their parents attentions.
I used to think she was submissive to him but am beginning to change that opinion – i think she’s very high maintenance and he lets her do what she wants for an easy life.
I think she’s submissive as a means to an end. Those types of women are scary because they are sneakily compliant outwardly. They appear very submissive, appear to give the man what he wants and all the while controlling him such that she gets what she wants. Always.
I’m with you LAK. She gives him what he wants (most of the time), because it gets her what she wants. When he strays too far, she yanks him back. I don’t think she’s unhappy, trapped, or struggling to break free. She has exactly what she waited for all those years.
LAK
Don’t we all know those types? Ugh. I live in WASP capital. We’re infested.
She looks so much like Pippa in that photo.
Firstly, I don’t believe Mannakee was “bumped off.” Diana was known for the drama and that was one of her embellished stories.
If there are more female RPOs then it’s merely following the sign of the times ie- there are more females in many occupations around the world now.
I don’t believe there are concerns with Kate cheating on William and if there are and it follows a long history of cheating behaviour with many of the Royals, then the Royal family values are proven again as such a sham against the British public despite the good example set by HM.
I think Diana was interested in many men throughout her marriage, but the one man she was not interested in was Charles. The marriage was doomed from the start.
Yeah, during the interview just prior to the wedding, Diana stated concerns she would argue with Charles and the comment was ignored.
I don’t believe Diana and Mannakee had a full on affair. I think they perhaps shared a few kisses and hugs and that’s all. In any event, if the story of Charles informing Diana of Mannakee’s death just prior to an appearance at Cannes is true, then that’s really nasty, very spiteful behaviour from Charles.
I think we’re looking at the word “compromised” wrong. I don’t think Charles is worried about Kate cheating. She’s in it for the long haul and he knows it. But he knows strong relationships and familiarity grow between people and their RPOs. It would take nothing at all for pictures to be taken of Kate and a dude smiling and having “intense” conversations and suddenly on the cover of the DM “Kate Gets Extra Friendly With Bodyguard Just Like Diana” and she wouldn’t be able to take the criticism and William would always be wondering about it.
This is just another instance of treating Kate with kid gloves. I’m beginning to think she really is as fragile as people say, William too for that matter. It’s like I keep saying, Charles and Carole are one in the same. They enable this young couple by keeping all unsavory details out of the way. But how will they ever learn to cope when no one is around to help them? Or will that day never come?
Yeah, that’s the way I read it too. The old-fashioned idea, where a lady would have her reputation compromised if she was ever alone with a male. Nothing would have to actually happen, the mere idea of being alone with a man would be enough to compromise a lady’s honour.
I don’t think Charles thinks Kate will cheat, he’s just worried about protecting her reputation.
This story doesn’t make sense and doesn’t hold up to the photo evidence. There are pictures of her out walking the dog with one male protection officer. She has more male RPOs than female, she doesn’t have an all-female protection team. I would think having a female body guard would be for things like shopping (often mistake for “a friend” by the press) or places a male body guard would be too obvious.
The Royal family should stop hiring attractive bodyguards when they themsleves are such unattractive people! Diana was surrounded by hot Protection Officers and she was married to a big-eared, eyes-too-close-together toff, who was in love with another woman anyway. Who can blame her for straying?! I’m glad I’m not rich and famous enough to have Protection Officers because DAYUM.
I never thought Ken Wharfe was hot.
but in comparison to Charles…
yeah chaine you have a point there
Point out the hot RPO’s! I wish they would hire them from the same company as Brit Brit – now there is someone who has hot bodyguards.
The body guard’s gender didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Diana.
so….Emma the RPO is Married, has a Baby and a Job? A real Job? My goodness, how very peasant-y. Must make for interesting conversation.
Emma is also allegedly a homewrecker, who is married to a man who divorced his wife for her! She lost her first husband tragically , very sad it was, but began to depend on this work collegue after the tragedy, she and work collegue fell in love allegedly and he divorced his then wife, for her.
I’ve heard the rumour that Pippa was pimped out by Carole to a very wealthy middle eastern gentleman with the hope that it would develop into more than a one-time dalliance. Apparently she tried her best but he got what he wanted and moved on.
My 2 cents. Kate has female body guards. She always has mixed in with Males. This has been noted numerous times in articles talking about Kate shopping with a friend or going to lunch with a friend. These were her female body guards working. Protecting her while she shopped and ate. Now this story comes up? Weird. I can’t tell if it’s suppose to reflect poorly on Kate or Charles. What is the angle here?
Is the stage being set for a Kate cheating on William story? Or a Charles suspicous of his daughter in laws actions/motives? And If William is around Kate and the children when he’s technically not working Kate would have no time to cheat. I seriously doubt William spends his downtime with Kate. Sad.
I don’t know if it’s specifically targeting one of the royals, it just seems generically sexist to me. I’m worried that old male journo legit thinks it’s news that females can be bodyguards. It’s subtle, but it’s incredibly pervasive:
– For starters, the whole premise is that we need a reason to have female bodyguards. (Male bodyguards would not be news.)
– That reason is (apparently) that a woman would potentially be “compromised” be associating with men. A female chaperone will uphold her honour.
– Female bodyguard 1 (Emma) is: a woman who lost her husband in a skiing trip 6 years ago (which is a personal tragedy, but irrelevant to her job). She then had an affair with a man guarding the Queen (it’s heavily implied that he was still married to someone else at the time). She used to be an air hostess. She doesn’t get a title/rank even though her husband is referred to as “Inspector”. She has a baby, and a Glock. She apparently has no qualifications at all worth mentioning. (Seriously!? The description boils down to gun-carrying-mother, ex-flight-attendant, ex-other-woman!)
– Female bodyguard 2 (Karen) is blonde and petite. She apparently also has no rank/qualifications worth mentioning. She carries a gun too!
– Female bodyguard 3 doesn’t even have a name, but that’s okay … she only looks after the kids. (*eyeroll*)
Ha! I just love the side-eye the man is giving in the second photo…!!
Kate lacks friends. Especially female friends. So maybe Charles or Jason or whoever thought it’s best to buy her some? Yes it sounds bad, but bodyguards stay for years and often befriend the clients. And contact with strong women can only be good for Kate…
To be honest it looks better when Kate is seen shopping with another woman…even when it’s a bodyguard. She already is known as ‘anti-social’ in the press.
Does anyone seriously think this woman has the brains/energy/ability to cheat on her husband?? She is way too lazy for that!! But how sad that they don’t trust her – that has to stink.
I don’t think Charles is the mastermind of this. If he can’t control W&K, then how is he going to control even Kate with female RPOs?
I think this story makes him look bad. How does he not know this? Of course he does, so I doubt his side leaked this unless he wants to make it look like Kate has cheater tendencies or not smart and strong enough to control her emotional needs and will lean her head on some male RPO’s shoulder. Carole wouldn’t allow that.
If anything, all you need is Carole to stop any unwanted attention from Kate to some untitled, ‘lowly’ employee.
I don’t think that any of the royals or Middletons are behind the story. It looks to me like an enterprising reporter wanted to rehash Diana’s affaire de cœur with Barry Mannakee, one of her RPOs, and the story about Charles wanting Kate to have a female RPO is an excuse to revive that story.
aaa
I think a while back. KP 1st round of renovations area there was a story about female bodyguards and Kate. That they were also acting as her friends of sorts. To confide in. Or something like that.
And you’re right. This story sounds like it’s to stir the pot.
This may be a bit OT, but I do not understand why she doesn’t embrace any charities and try to make a difference instead of very half-hearted efforts. At her age, I am doubtful she will ever change. She strikes me as the type who has only has interest in her core family and cannot show any true compassion for others outside that insular world.
Maybe I’m just projecting, because my mother’s sister has been that way (and she is now in her 80s with no change whatsoever). My mother passed away this weekend, and I waited until today to inform her (she would have made the services all about HER instead of my mother). As I predicted, she uttered not one word of compassion for my mother’s very long health struggles with a crippling disease. Not one single word; only started talking about herself. People don’t change, and when they show you who they are, believe them.
Anyone who thinks Bill and Kate are going to suddenly become less self absorbed are kidding themselves, IMO.
I doubt she’ll change either. Based on countless comments on this site, it seems like the bar is set so low for her – all she has to do is show up at an engagement in nice clothes and she is praised. Seriously. It’s painfully obvious that she is there in body but her heart and soul are elsewhere. Unlike Diana, Kate is stiff and forced and never radiates true compassion, empathy and interest in people. Unlike other (living) royals – Harry, Anne, Sophie to name a few – she doesn’t even do the bare minimum. Those 3 don’t just attach their name to something, but they roll up their sleeves and do meaningful work. And no, attending tennis games, galas and openings doesn’t count as work.
She may force herself to be more visible and feign interest in a particular cause or charity, but unless she has a lobotomy, it’s highly unlikely she will involve into an engaged, enthusiastic, contributing member of the royal family. And no, shopping (and thereby contributing to the economy) is not what I mean.
Diana got criticized for getting more attention than Charles and being too involved in her charities. I can see why Kate would be reluctant to get more involved and/or the royal family would want someone who’s not the type to do more.
Debbie, somehow I doubt that Kate’s reluctance has anything to do with not wanting too much attention. It’s a combination of lack of work ethic, laziness and passion.
I’d prefer people calling me driven to calling me lazy. And should a seperation approach it will only help Kate to look like she was an asset vs. a leech.
And yes Diana got mocked, but that’s almost entirely forgotten. She’s not remembered for working too much. She’s remembered for caring.
@ Christin
I’m sorry to hear about your mother. My condolences to you and your family.
Thank you. I don’t know why Kate just reminds me of the person IRL I think will change, but won’t.
Those who have cheated *cough* Charles *cough* are more likely to worry about other people cheating.
Debbie Do
So are those who have been cheated on. They become hyper aware of any and all temptations. Also, Kate appeared to hold close to William as much as she could fearing he’d find someone else. Now is that because she thought he’d cheat because she cheated? By your logic it’s high odds she’d have to have cheated to act this way.
I rather imagine it has more to do with the fact that in the 1980s, and even into the early 1990s, there was probably exactly ONE female in the Royal Protection Service. I’d hope there’d be a number of them now. And, big surprise, one of them is assigned to Kate.
I have a limited tolerance for pearl-clutchers and slut-shamers alike, so I didn’t read all the above comments, but PLEASE TELL ME SOMEONE mentioned the fact that Princess Anne married her bodyguard, and the family seems to love him, even Phillip, who hates everyone.
From what I remember, neither Mark Philips nor Timothy Laurence were ever Anne’s bodyguards. There were rumors of a an affair with her body guard Peter Cross.
I don’t think Philip hates everybody, just the people whom he thinks damage the monarchy (ie. Fergie). As he’s 94, I expect him to act like a grumpy old man sometimes.
Kate Middleton pushes all my buttons. I’m not a fan of her, of inherited wealth generally, or of royalty specifically in any jurisdiction no matter how benign they may seem. But this quote from Natalie is a gem and should be sung from the rooftops: “Having sex does not degrade a person, even if it is in the context of a dysfunctional relationship.”