We’ve spent a lot of time arguing about whether we should even discuss the shift we’ve seen in the Duchess of Cambridge since Meghan Markle came to town. But can we discuss the shift in Prince William? Because he’s shifted too. I would argue – as many would – that William’s shift is the result of several things, not just his brother marrying an American who knows how to do this. William ran out of excuses and his grandfather has retired and now William actually has to put in some real hours doing royal events and such. And so there’s been a… softening, almost. A sudden maturity. William just doesn’t seem so bratty these days. And maybe he’s starting to thaw a bit more on his father too. Notice the quotes in this People Magazine article:
As a new dad of three, Prince William has his hands full at home at Kensington Palace — and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“[William] is a very good father,” a family friend tells PEOPLE. “As his own father has been. [Charles] has been a very good father to those boys and they’re very, very fond of him.”
As their family grows, William and his wife, Kate Middleton, have shown a united front, and they have the support of their family behind them — as evident by everyone who gathered to celebrate Prince Louis’ royal christening. Of course, the absence of William’s mother, Princess Diana, continues to be felt even 21 years after her death at age 36.
“[William] can do all the things that he thinks are important for family life and make sure that his children have that loving, caring, fun home that his mother was trying to create,” says a royal source. William said he talks to his children about the grandmother they never go to meet, and he and Kate have filled their home with photos of her. “At all these landmark moments, [William’s] mother is missing, and it’s sad,” the source continues. “But they are creating their own legacy now.”
Shortly after Meghan and Harry’s wedding, the Daily Mail published a fascinating piece about how Meghan immediately took to Charles and Charles took to her too. Meghan thinks Charles is amazing, and she’s encouraged Harry to spend more time with Charles. The Daily Mail noted at the time that William has noticed this and he began treating his father with more deference and respect as well. It honestly feels like – in the past year – William and Harry were finally able to let go of some long-lingering grudges about their childhoods and their father’s mistakes. And we’ve gotten to the point where William is even acknowledging that Charles was a good father. It’s fascinating.
Photos courtesy of WENN, PCN and Kensington Palace.
I don’t know, of course, but I sense that Charles became a better father as the boys grew a little older. Happens a lot with fathers.
The Cambridge Kidz seem happy and well loved, thank goodness.
I have seen that happen with a lot of dads too, they become a lot more engaged when the kids are a bit bigger and less “breakable” baby stage.
The Meghan thing could just be that everyone is happy for Harry, and a bit of that joy is floating around,that or they are looking at Thomas Markle and thinking they could have had thing much worse in the dad department.
I never saw him as a bad dad. He had to step up when Diana died. Maybe he’s always morw reserved but that’s his upbringing. I mean, Phillip as a father probably was a nightmare.
I still think Charles is a bad person, when it comes to women. He did not just cheat on Diana with Camilla, he had a lot of other Mistresses, he was a shitty husband, don’t know if he is still.
I suspect it’s hard to be a super warm, hands on dad when your own family is very reserved and has the world watching them. The expectations are so different for people in the position that Charles has been raised in. There’s a lot of unpacking of your own childhood involved with becoming a parent, I think. And some people have it easier because their families are so warm and comforting – it’s a lot easier to project that warmth and togetherness on your own children. But if you don’t have that experience growing up, it’s harder to just automatically foster it when you’re parenting your own kids. Some people are quick learners of course, but many are not.
@ Milla Lots of other mistresses???????????????
There was Kanga who was friends with Diana. He wasn’t just with Camilla until much later on.
And Diana was home counting diamonds, not! she was sneaking amarried man into Kensington Palace, along with the Rugby player, Hewitt to name a few.
Yes Charles cheated.
I don’t think that Charles had lots of other mistresses after he married but I can believe that it was not only Camilla either.
Re Kanga, my take us that there was something between Charles and Kanga before he married Diana, but Kanga ran her mouth, and although Charles continued to socialize with Kanga and her husband, Kanga’s loose lips ended whatever romantic relationship she and Charles had.
Peg, Diana didn’t start cheating with anyone until it was clear to her that Charles wouldn’t leave Camilla, she didn’t really care about Kanga, but knew that Camilla had Charles’ *heart*. That made the difference. I believe the first she had was James Hewitt, when Harry was about 2. Diana wasn’t cheating out of the gate like Charles was with, yes, the multiple mistresses.
I don’t condone cheating, but I don’t think Diana would have cheated if Camilla wasn’t there. There are certain catalysts for why people behave the way they do and in Diana’s case I’m sure Camilla was the main reason she acted out the way she did.
I also watched that documentary about Kanga and Camilla on Youtube, and if that documentary is to believed, Camilla sounded a little obsessed in the way Diana was. Things worked out for Camilla and and at the grand age of 70 she’s probably mature, but when she was 35- 40 she sounded nuts like the rest of them. Also, Camilla got Charles and got back at her ex-husband, and she now lives a comfortable life like Kate and Meghan, so there’s really no reason for her to be bitter about anything.
I think that Charles was still hung up on Camilla when he married Diana, Diana knew about Charles feelings for Camilla and married him anyway.
I don’t think that Charles and Camilla carried on during the early years of the Wales’ marriage, but I do think that Charles carrying a torch for Camilla was one of the many things that derailed the marriage.
Diana’s first extra-marital relationship happened with one of her protection officers in the mid-eighties, she said that she was “deeply in love” and he was “the greatest love I’ve ever had.” Part of me thinks that Charles and Diana came to embody the values of their set, where having extra-marital relationships was common, but I think that Charles and Diana initial extra-marital relationships were due to them being unhappy in their marriage and the other person providing attention, comfort and other forms of fulfillment.
P.S.
I think that Diana’s relationship with the protection officer was romantic but not necessarily sexual.
Diana told a story about Charles being excited about being a hands-on father, changing diapers etc. Diana and the head nanny would shoo Charles out of the nursery because they thought he was being overly involved. Whatever his other faults, Charles has always seemed comitted to being a good father though I think with generational differences and the issues of his own childood, he has blind spots sometimes.
This speaks volumes when you consider he was greeted as a child by his own mother with a handshake. After an extended out of the country tour at that.
I’ve always thought it strange that Elizabeth who came from a warm, loving family, “Us Four,” was so standoffish, seemingly even in private.
I wish they had explored more of that in The Crown -what it means to be raised as the heir vs the child of the spare who then at ten becomes an heir and has to raise an heir herself while dealing with being a very young monarch, a representation of tradition and stability and a female authority figure, who is partnered with a husband who came from an unstable background and resents the changes from traditional gender roles -all those complex dynamics.
There seems to be a barrier to really looking at Elizabeth that will probably be there until she passes away.
The Windsors are notorious for their treatment of their heirs. William has been lucky because he wasn’t treated like that.
I think Charles was a good father (or at least did the best job he could considering the strange upbringing he had with his own dad, which he probably had to overcome.) And I think both Harry and William do love him. When he dies, I think they will miss him.
In general (with exceptions, of course), I think people tend to normally gravitate towards their mothers. It’s not that they don’t love their fathers — it’s just that there’s something about a mom. As long as the mom isn’t some kind of sociopath or doesn’t flee the kid when the kid is young, I think moms are usually the ones kids idealize a lot. I don’t really think William and Harry are unusual in that regard, even barring her early, tragic death. If she had lived, they might have had conflicts with her regarding her dating and media choices, but I also think there’s a tendency in general among a lot of people to revere a mother a lot, regardless of whatever faults she may have.
Both William and Kate are good parents, but when they’re adults it wouldn’t surprise me if their kids wax poetic about their mom — not because they don’t love their dad, but, you know, there’s just something about a mom!
It is long, long overdue. Maybe William just realizes you can hold on to grudges.
Call me cynical, but I think this is all about the pounds. Charles controls the pot of money that is split between the boys. If Charles is closer to Meghan and Harry, he might be inclined to give them a bigger split. William is just making sure the spicket stays wide open to him and his family. He is competing with his brother for his father’s wallet. And Kate is competing with Meghan in all sorts of areas, even if Meghan is not competing at all.
@maryrose No i don’t think so. If charles becomes king then william has access to duchy of cornwall money and can do as he pleases. Queen is 92 years old and she has not many years left (not saying that i don’t hope she will live for a long time). He has diana’s and queen mother’s money from their will and when the queen goes he will inherit from her to. He doesn’t have to compete for money.
And no kate isn’t competing with meghan in all sort of areas. Just like meghan isn’t competing with her. Why would they? And you have seen kate maybe 5 times since april. So i am baffled how you came to that conclusion… based on what…….
OK, calling you cynical.
I agree @Nono that Will will have access to plenty of money especially given his eventual roles. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t also want his “fair share” of money from Charles. Rich people aren’t immune to petty jealousies. People will fight over the weirdest things when dividing an estate, for example. Will has always been portrayed (between the two of them) as the “good prince” while Harry has been more of a “bad boy” prince. I think Meghan has changed that a bit simply from her presence in Harry’s life (in that it’s harder to make Will the responsible one now compared to Harry.)
I do take media stories with a huge grain of salt but find it a little weird that George was almost 5 before we saw a picture of Charles holding him. We have seen pictures of Charles being affectionate with Camilla’s grandkids for years. And both Will and Kate seem awfully stiff with Charles in public. So far, that’s not what we’ve seen with Harry and Meghan with Charles (and Camilla.)
William has already gotten his fair share from his father and grandmother and will hit the motherlode when he becomes the Duke of Cornwall.
Harry was getting good press even before Meghan, and while his relationship with Meghan elevated his profile, it did not cause Harry to usurp William’s image as the responsible one.
Perhaps William will succumb to petty jealousy if his popularity wanes and Harry’s does not, but they both have popular, yet different, images.
P.S.
If William was prone to petty jealousy, I would think that would have reared its ugly head when Harry became the better looking one.
Maybe @AAA. But Will has also been throwing Harry under the bus for yrs so I’m not sure there isn’t some jealousy. Harry’s profile has been elevated and all of a sudden we see not only Kate portrayed as Mother Earth but Will as Super Dad.
@lizabeth – Harry may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’d have to be pretty dim if random strangers on the internet know that his brother is throwing him under the bus for years, and he doesn’t.
Harry & Will look like they have a pretty close relationship to me, all this evil jealous brother nonsense is just that , nonsense.
I’m sure he knows it MrsBump as it’s obvious to anyone who pays attention to Will. But Harry has been trained his entire life to support Will. Having a close relationship doesn’t preclude periods of jealousy either. And I never said Will was “evil.” The word evil means something a bit beyond petulant, entitled, arrogant, and a bit jealous at least to me.
I can never judge a man like Charles too harshly. He was thrown into the single parent position overnight, that’s not an easy responsibility to carry for anyone.
I commend him & even Camilla for her back-seat step-mother role.
The boys turned out to be overall good men.
and it seemed that he (Charles) was a lonely boy growing up looking for affection while his parents were shouldering heavy responsibilities–at least that’s the narrative we’ve been shown. He didn’t have the best model, nor did it come to him naturally the way it seemed to for Diana, but I think he did his best, especially after her passing.
I think William is maturing, maybe from the experience of fatherhood. He seems to be a good dad.
And I like the idea of Meghan coming into the family and bringing some joy that just spreads everywhere too.
I don’t understand the ongoing narrative about Charles. He and Diana were friends at the end of her life. They had forgiven each other and moved on. They were a bad match but neither one of them are/were terrible people.
This is really difficult and I have sympathy for both William and Charles; William was his mother’s confidant and I’m sure he heard a lot of questionable things about his at her over the years. He’s probably finally at an age where he’s been able to process everything and make peace with the past.
Charles was a good father but a lousy husband. Williams issue’s with his father were, I think, exacerbated when he saw/experienced the Middleton family life – a life that he clearly felt he missed out on hence why he coped an attitude with his father. Being a single parent is really hard and Charles did his best, sure he made mistakes but doesn’t every parent. I’m not a parent but I know my own parents made mistakes raising me and my siblings.
On another note, it could just be that William doesn’t want to be left out in cold with Harry and Chuck’s closeness. As for Meghan, Charles is clearly everything she never had in a father – Thomas Markle showed us his ass and we can see why she took to him.
Agree with all of this.
William had some problems with his dad long before he met Kate. Teen + dad stuff. No biggie. They have different personality mechanisms but love each other. There is no William-Charles feud. They’re alphas who protect their boundaries. No biggie.
I wonder how that type of relationship is exacerbated when it’s two future monarchs! (And would have been worse back in the day when the crown had more power).
Becoming a parent helped me understand some things and how life isn’t as black and white as i thought when i was younger and inexperienced. For a while i held a few grudges on my parents and how they handled their divorce from my personal “daughter perspective”. Then i became a mom and i went through a divorce myself. Boy did i learn quite a bit about the adult side of things! I was able to be more understanding of my parents and realized things can get difficult and complicated really quick. Decisions encompass and impact so much more than just yourself and the present…some decisions are never easy, can be life altering and gut wrenching. I am more chill towards my parents now and understand they’re not perfectly evil or perfectly good. We all try the best we know how, although from a young offspring perspective it may not seem like it. Now i see both sides, the “offspring” and the “parent” sides and i have more empathy for everyone realising some things are only learned when you go through them yourself. Maybe Wills is realizing something similar?
I also am a child of divorce and a parent who recently divorced. I love everything you said. My ex had an affair and it was devastating. I’m two years out now and feeling better. So I don’t want to minimize the pain, but it’s so true that it’s complicated. And people are complicated. And make shitty decisions. And then just try to do their best. I think that’s the deal with most people. Because of that I’ve taken to looking at Charles and Di and Camilla in a new light. In a vacuum cheating is horrible and devastating. But I’ve stopped seeing Diana as the wronged angel and Charles and Camilla as evil. These were a lot of very different personalities in a pressure cooker of a situation. And not the best decisions were made. But as you said, and I’ve realized, at the end of the day, in most cases, people are complicated and flawed and for the most part do their best. I think Charles wasn’t a great husband to Diana and is to Camilla. And I do think he was and is a good dad. He’s so into his kids in demonstrates it in his way. As everyone pointed out his own childhood was not normal. There’s a video of Harry coming back from one of his deployments 10 or so years ago and Charles and William are picking him up. And Charles is very clearly chomping at the bit to get his kid and go home. It’s very cute. I’m sure there were nightmare teenage years but honestly, teenagers are nightmares, and add Diana’s death and their fame. They all kind of came out ok I think.
I love this comment.
I had to learn some truths about my own marriage. Marriage is hard and not because of a lack of love but just life. If the bond dissolves into apathy or resentment then it makes it extremely difficult to carry on without starting to strongly dislike the other person.
All my life I looked at my parents and grandparents as examples of perfect marriages but the fact is I just haven’t been privy to their problems and struggles. They haven’t shared them with me so what I see is from a child view. I kept comparing my husband to my father and grandfather and it wasn’t fair. How could he compete with an incomplete image from an adoring point of view like a child’s?
Hardcore counseling put us back on track but I will admit that looking at my own faults in our separation was not easy. It was easier to blame him for everything and cast myself as a martyr. And I HATE that trait in others yet I did it.
Closeness an intimacy of sharing a life with someone can bring up so many fears and new feelings it can be overwhelming. It did for me anyway.
My husband can be an intense person and his love style is the same. I am a free spirit who likes a very wide berth. Neediness makes me run in the opposite direction which is why loving motherhood still shocks me. So he would do his intense stuff and I would withdraw. It sounds simple but so many things begin to seep into the cracks.
From all of that, I learned to stop judging other people’s marriages and divorces so harshly. Sometimes the breakdown is a slow burn and sometimes someone does something unforgivable. Who really knows what goes down between two people.
I think of Charles and Diana as a complicated bad match that brought out the worst in them. Eventually, apart they learned to be friends. Perhaps now that William has been married for awhile he has more empathy and can see how two decent people don’t always get along swimmingly well and neither is really at fault.
BTW I don’t believe People has any real sources for this story but it makes for good conversation.
Magnoliarose
Just blog already. Gahhh!
Lol jk, I know how great it is to be anonymous and comment in your jammies, er, silk peignoir 😏
@EA
I know. I am a book writah. *rolling at my own self* Someone writes something a thought tsunami happens.
Ha, I wish I was so glam all the time. 15 year old jeans and my husband’s old band T with a hole in it. Uh I mean I am sitting by the pool with some champers with a man slave feeding me peeled grapes in a bikini and uh…sunglasses and…a…um Joan Collins Dynasty sun hat. Yes I am.
She was 19.
Perhaps I am too cynical but I think this has everything to do with Harry and Meghan and very little about William wanting to do more work or realising on his own that Charles is not such a bad guy. William became a parent five years ago and there was no shift in his attitude then.
Don’t forget about meeeeeee.
Yup. I don’t trust these articles suddenly. William is good dad, which I’m sure he is, but this with the over the top Rebecca English, happy,happy,happy George Not Shy ,article, made me think something is up with the Cambridge’s? Not sure what though.
Why the need for hard sell of William the dad suddenly? He is father of three w a newborn, with his University love, he married. He has it all, doesn’t he?
IMO nothing to do with meghan and harry. Children are older, living back in london so much easier to meet up. And DM exaggerate a trow away comment charles made at a reception.
For it to take three kids for him to realize that maybe Charles isn’t such a bad parent which happens to coincide with the public welcome of Meghan by Charles and Camilla…. and with articles claiming that Kate is the matriarch (clearly forgetting about the actual matriarch the Queen) …. sounds like a PR run by Jason to me.
@Nic919 Who says it took william three kids to realize that charles isn’t such a bad parent….. daily mail/richard kay? And did you really think charles/camilla wouldn’t publicly welcome meghan? They are not dumb people so ofcourse they would publicly welcome meghan if they liked her or not. About kate being the matriarch was just a fluff piece not based on reality or truth. And so ridiculous that it’s not a pr run by jason. It’s a pr run by royal journalists who must write their stories to keep their job.
Royal journalists don’t just randomly write articles because they feel like it. There is always a symbiosis and that has existed for centuries. Your comments are fairly new so maybe you haven’t noticed this, but just as there is Sussex spin, there is Cambridge spin and that’s what happening here. It is no coincidence that these articles came out after the news of the trip to Mustique.
@nic919 LOL Are you really saying that? That journalists don’t write random articles because they feel like it. After years of proven false stories they have written about the cambridge’s and the sussex’s.
Just like that mustique story. That didn’t come from royal journalists but from a instagram account who had a friend who saw them. Those so called journalists didn’t know they were on vacation. Then journalists wrote the story up that they were there when they found it on twitter/instagram. They also wrote that pippa and james were there when on the same day the same paper put pictures of pippa in london in another article. I saw mio (journalist) say on gma/tv that kate/william and pippa/james were going on date nights and grandparents were with the children. Pippa is not even in mustique. So he also doesn’t know anthing.
Ofcourse there is spin. But the most spin is from so called royal journalists because they have to write their stories.
Royal journalists don’t randomly write stories because they feel like it but they do write random stories because it is their job to cover royals even when royals aren’t doing much.
Why is there a need to employ spin control because the Cambridges are in Mustique? The Cambridges being in Mustique (assuming they are actually in Mustique) is barely being reported on, and the few stories out there range from neutral to positive.
I think it is spin too. The reasons I don’t know but it is just the usual sunlight and roses with some unicorn level stuff they put out regularly.
I think there is spin in the stories put out about the royals, but I also think that’s the usual order of things anyway. They’re a brand and adapt the same way celebrities and companies do.
I do think royal reporters are capable of randomly writing stories when they feel like it though. Why? Because they’re getting paid. They benefit as much as the royals do. It’s not a one-way street in terms of who benefits. To not produce a story means no financial compensation. They need to fill content like everyone else.
I wouldn’t trust the royal family to tell the whole truth, but I wouldn’t trust a journalist either. Everyone has their own angle, and their own way of benefitting.
I wonder if Meghan’s perspective – coming from her sh*t show father and his children – gave Harry & William a bit of time-to-move-on advice. And maybe they have had a glimpse (that the public has not) as to how bad the Senior Markle/his children actually are. And, not to tamp down on your generosity towards William, I do think he is competitive as h*ll and did not want some new closeness between Harry/Meghan/Camilla/Charles to leave him out in the cold…Many reasons. Hoping, at the end of the day, Meghan’s genuine self elevates all of them…
I don’t agree with you. Not everything has to do with meghan and harry. And you have no idea how close harry/meghan are with charles/camilla. And how do you know meghan is her genuine self (not saying she isn’t). But you don’t know these people. You don’t know their personal relationships.
Relationships between some parents/children are complicated and i think most stories were exaggerated by the daily mail.
It may not be the whole reason William is now closer to his father but I do think seeing how Meghan’s dad didn’t follow through and wasn’t there for her at the wedding made William realize how lucky he is to have Charles as a dad. Charles is no angel, we all know he cheated on Diana and was emotionally unavailable to her but Diana wasn’t a saint either. You often don’t appreciate what you have until you realize other families have more twisted dynamics.
Just last week my uncle passed away and I won’t get into specifics but I had a lot of people comment just how close and supportive my family was. I didn’t think anything about it until people kept mentioning it. And it made me realize my family is a very close unit which isn’t exactly typical.
Clearly M of S is the catalyst.
I could also be that the children are getting older and a lot of men are more at ease when they are older and i think charles is one of them.
They were also living in Norfolk until last year so maybe it was just more difficult to arrange spending time together because charles is so busy with royal engagements and they had two very small children. They are now living in London so it is much easier to meet up.
I also think Daily Mail were trying to create friction and most of those stories were exaggerated because charles made a trow away comment at a reception that he wished he could spend more time with the children. Every one assumed it was william (on this site) who witheld the children but it is more likely that it was a combination of things. Charles busy with royal engagements, children very young, living far apart etc.
And no i think it has nothing to do with meghan/harry. IMO
There’s also been really warm weather in the UK since the wedding, me thinks its thanks to Meghan too. She’s really changed things up in Britain 🙂
@nono – i agree with you, the simplest reasons are generally the real ones
LOL
Meghan has been good for that family.
I think that Charles and Diana were flawed as people and parents but I think that William and Harry loved them when they were children and when they became adults they continued their child-like love Diana. Things became more complicated with Charles and, had Diana lived, I believe that things would have become complicated with her as well, and at the root of it IMO are parental chickens coming home to roost.
I think that there has always been a foundation of respect towards Charles but time was needed to construct a new normal between Charles and his adult sons, and I think (hope) that this new normal consists of both respect and love. Given the personalities involved, especially Charles and William’s, I don’t think that they could have gotten to this place without rough patches.
P.S.
Recently there was a picture of Charles, William and George released when George was an infant. Going by that picture Charles and William look very close, so perhaps some of the stories that we have heard over the years were overblown, or at least, it was not continuous tension and that there were also periods where the heir and his heir got along quite well.
Funny, I thought Charles and William looked like strangers in that picture. I’ll go look again.
Here it is:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2018/07/20/TELEMMGLPICT000169817186_1_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqU9w4aUTcIiEGtjfrKeo-CBMlVhosQlduazEZt9wGbYQ.jpeg?imwidth=1400
It is a very strange photograph. I can see why it isn’t circulated all the time
As my kids have gotten older (bigger kids/bigger issues) I’ve dropped all my resentment and annoyances with my own parents. You realize that they were doing the best that they could.
Most parents try to do the best they can. Some don’t.
Some of this is probably William finally growing up and figuring out that he has a role to fill. He realized he needs to stop faffing about with part-time helicopter jobs, take on his responsibilities and do what he was born to do.
Yes sure, he’s on holiday in Mustique right now and barely did many engagements since the tour.
I think his work schedule will change when forced upon him by the Palace and that is the inky reason he will take in more.
He has been working more this year. The press just doesn’t report on his happenings.
He’s clocked just over 100 engagements this year and its practically August. Meanwhile Charles and Anne will be getting to close to 500. He’s still not working full time hours as a royal yet. And last year his total was lower than the year before. Unless he goes on several tours from now until December he won’t even have half of what father and aunt (not in line for the throne) will get.
I am with Nic.
The younger royals need to be matching or surpassing Charles and Anne. End of. Anything less than 500 hours is shameful.
He definitely needs to step up and do more engagements. That’s part of it. I was also thinking he is going to need his father more, because he hasn’t been learning by doing.
I agree they should be at Charles’s pace at the VERY LEAST but Will IS working more and that’s what we’ve all wanted so I think we should give a little credit for stepping it up finally. He continued engagements after Kate gave birth and he has kept it up while having a newborn. He could’ve taken months and months of paternity leave, not showing his face but he didn’t. He’s doing better at long last.
I would argue that this probably has most to do with the fact that Charles’s team took over the Queen’s at BP. I think that Charles has much more control over the narratives that are allowed to reach the press –i.e. the Queen’s team no longer tolerates petulant articles towards Clarence House, issued by other teams within the family.
This comment makes no sense. If charles’s team toke over the queen’s at BP (according to you) then it isn’t the queen’s team who doesn’t tolerates pelutant articles but charles’s team because they took over according to you. I don’t think charles’s team took over the queen’s at BP. And why would other “teams” within the family release those stories because that also doesn’t make sense.
It was just daily mail exeggarate a trow away comment that charles made at a reception that he wished to see his grandchildren more. That doesn’t mean it was on william. Most likely a combination of things. Like living far apart, charles busy with royal engagements, children very young. Or just that he wanted to see them more then he did because he loves them.
Wasn’t there an article a few years back (maybe 2) about William wanting to stay home and be with the kids more unlike his own Father who worked a lot? Now it’s Charles was such a great father and yada yada.
These fluff pieces about the Cambridges are annoying. There was another one today by Katie Nicholl saying how great of a help Kate has been to Meghan and how much Harry values her opinion.
Cambridge PR is working overtime.
Those stories you are talking about could also be fiction from the daily mail. I mean how much stories did they make up over the years about the cambridges wich turned out to be untrue. Same with harry and meghan.
Everything katie nicholl’s writes i would take with a grain of salt. Doesn’t matter who she writes about cambridge’s or the sussex’s. She writes fluff pieces about both couples. It is probably a load of bull. She has been making up stories for about fifteen years now.
About katie nicholl saying that kate has been a great help to meghan. I would say that is true because harry and meghan said in their engagement interview themselves that kate has been amazing. So katie nicholl didn’t have to make it up because she could take that from their engagement interview.
It’s no cambridge PR. It’s katie nicholl PR. She has to write her pieces to keep her job. Nothing to do with the cambridge’s or the sussex’s.
To be fair – I’m sure Kate WAS a help to Meghan. Marrying into that family means you have some built in support. It’s not like she knew a vast array of people before moving there. Having in-laws that are close in age would take away some of the feelings of loneliness and awkwardness as you transition into a new life. I know most people can’t really stand her, but having all the help you can get when adjusting to the huge change in lifestyle is never a bad thing. And who’s to say he doesn’t respect Kate’s opinion? Do you think he really looks at his sister in-law and says “Shush Kate, you don’t matter.” my goodness. It doesn’t mean that Kate is constantly telling him how things should be and what people should do and bossing him around – I’ve asked my brother in-law for his advice/opinion on things I’m not personally used to doing that he has experience with. He grew up royal while Kate and Meghan did not – is it not at all possible that she might have a perspective different than his own that could be useful?
There’s fluff pieces about every single royal. It’s just how it is. A lot of people eat the fluff pieces up – it’s a nice distraction from more depressing news.
Meghan’s family is really weird. I could kind of see the other royals helping her out a bit in that regard — not necessarily with how to conduct events or how to dress or whatever else, but in terms of rallying around her to let her know she can be supported as a team member when she has to navigate certain media nightmares with the dad and sister alone. Maybe they feel bad for her like the rest of us do. They’re in a different station in life, but they are capable of sympathy.
Of course, all of this is speculation. I have np proof. But I could kind of see Meghan liking Kate more than she otherwise would since her own sister is so horrid. If you had a choice between hanging out with Kate at Waitrose or talking on the phone with Meghan’s sister, which would you choose? I’m pretty sure the answer is clear. In any other situation, I can’t see the royals being well-liked over one’s other family and friends. But in Meghan’s case, I can see why the royal family would seem like the best people she’s ever met. Heck, I can now see why she gets on well with the corgis — they’re easier to deal with than her family!
I think perhaps parenthood has changed William and opened his eyes a bit. Since I have had kids I have been more forgiving of the mistakes my parents made when I was a child. I realize that parenting is hard and we are all flawed. As my first son has gotten older my parents have spent more time with him and I have seen them soften and they have definitely changed. I wonder if having grandchildren has made Charles a different person.
Is it time for a renovation on their home? Seems like they’re buttering Charles up for something big
People mature and perspectives often change when an individual becomes a parent. I am sure William has always been a good father. The pictures of him taking George to school on his first day were lovely. Even Diana acknowledged that Charles was a good father.
I’m not sure why this is all coming out now in the press after baby number 3. I, personally, think it is just a bit of spin because of all the positive Harry and Meghan stories. I am always very cynical about fluff stories related to the Cambridges. Whiny Willy has stepped up the royal duties by his and Kate’s standards but he has a long way to go to catch up with his father and his other older relatives.
So you only have problems with the cambridge fluff pieces but not with the sussex fluff pieces. I have seen plenty of both. Nothing to do with the cambridge’s or the sussex’s. Those so called royal correspondents have almost no inside sources and make it up as they go along. They have to write their stories. And calling him whiny willy is based on what? Not on fluff pieces but based on hate/critical filled pieces. Have you also got a problem with those. About doing more engagements… i have no idea because i have no idea about their strategies behind the scenes. If they (queen/charles) wanted him to work more he would……
Now that’s not true. Philip tried to retire and give his patronages to William and the other young royals years ago, and he was having none of it. He turned down Charles when Charles tried to get him to take over the Prince’s Trust. The royals set their own schedules. For example, Anne works because she likes it and is naturally hardworking, not because the Queen wants her to work herself into the ground.
William’s petulance and reluctance to take on more Royal tasks has been widely reported over the years. He and Harry get away with it because the public still view them as Diana’s little boys. Harry has been as lazy as William but may improve now he has married. Time will tell.
There are not many people who would dispute the fact that William and Kate are loving, caring parents but the timing of such stories are a bit suspicious. And we have seen more of George and Charlotte this summer than in previous years. Go figure…..
@Tina Who said that he tried to give his patronages to william? Daily Mail? Because he has retired and has still not given his patronages to william or harry. So that was never the plan. In other words that story was made up in the daily mail.
According to the daily mail he and harry turned down the prince’s trust but was that ever the plan or was that another made up story by the daily mail/richard kay……..because they now say that charles planned to make organisation of the prince’s trust so that they can run themselves. Even if they make their own schedules the queen and charles are ok with the schedules of william/harry because if they wanted them to work more they woud make them work more.
@margo Those stories came from daily mail/richard kay about reluctance and petulance. So i take those stories with a grain of salt. And yes i think they get away with more because of diana and the past.
Nothing suspicious about the timing of those stories coming out now they just had their third child and his christening was a short time ago. So ofcourse journalists are now heavily focusing on the parents stuff.
You have seen more of the children because their baby brother was just born. So they were at the hospital and christening. They are at trooping each year. They were at RAF 100 inside buckingham palace but were pictured (george is crazy about airplanes). George had just his birthday. And they were at Polo (kate has been with george three times in five years). The children are older so they can take them with them because it is easier now.
@nono is the BBC good enough for you? It comes from Newsround and the main BBC site in 2016. Just google it. William is a lazy fecker. (Sorry, I have spent the evening at the theatre, watching lovely Aidan Turner and it has rubbed off on me).
Last year William & Kate moved to London permanently & it also coincided with Philip’s retirement. This is the main reason why there has been a change in their workload.
As for the relationship with Charles the story seems to change depending on what media outlet you read. I don’t think the relationship with Charles was ever as frosty as some people try to make out. Are people forgetting that W&K made Camilla’s granddaughter their flower girl at their wedding, and Louis’ middle name is also Charles? Just because they’re not photographed out in public together people are just projecting. How many times has Michael Middleton been photographed with his grandkids, or Pippa or James for that matter? Hardly ever but I suspect there are many family gatherings that take place behind closed doors that we aren’t privy to.
They all seem content-Kate and William, Harry and Meghan, Charles and Camilla and The Queen and Prince Phillip. Good for them.
I am liking the less timid Kate way more. It seemed for the longest time she walked on eggshells around a husband who refused to even touch her in public. It’s sort of sad she has learned to live without it, but she seems so much more confident these days. Now if we could only get her off her butt and hustling, she just might become a champion of the people.
I think it’s funny how hard the Cambridges are pushing themselves to look like they’re so connected with the windsors especially when we know they’re not. After Louis was born we got more stories of how Charles never got to see the kids and how William only cares about his dad when he wants money and now all of a sudden everything’s happy as Larry. And stories of how Kate’s the great matriarch of the Windsor clan. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Charles was always a loving and attentive father to the boys- to the point where Diana had to drag him out of their nursery and thought that he sort to much time with them. This was all erased in the war if the wales of course and while he mightn’t have been the best husband he was always a great dad.
You write “we know they are not connected to the windsors”. How would YOU know that…….. Based on what? Daily mail stories. I find it funny you believe negative stories about william but positive stories like this you dismiss. How many stories weren’t true over the years about the cambridge’s and the sussex’s positive and negative. I think you want to believe the negative stories and not believe the positive stories based on your own projection of them. Nothing to do with the cambridge’s or the sussex’s and the so called royal journalists know that. So they write what gets the most clicks.
About charles being a great dad. I believe that but just like all parents he makes mistakes but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love them. Just like children make mistakes. Nobody is perfect and relationships are complicated.
The main story that came out after Louis’ birth that commented on the relationship between William and Charles was a story written by Richard Kay for the Daily Mail and it came out during that vacuum between Louis’ birth and when we found out Louis name. And then we found out Louis name and boom, come to find out that the newest Cambridge is named after Charles himself and one of Charles’ favorite relatives. Furthermore Charlotte is a female variation of Charles as well.
Like has already been pointed out in this thread, sometimes royal journalists have to write stories to justify their existence, and I think that the story by Richard Kay is an example of that. JSYK I am not disputing that there are/were tensions between William and Charles, rather I think that story was more rehash than real-time.
P.S.
I tend to think that the Cambridges like the name Louis more than they actually named their third child after Louis Mountbatten, but who knows.
How do we really know the Cambridges aren’t connected to the Windsors? We don’t, we’re all just speculating. People can be very different in private, too: we only see their public faces. And we also read stories from journalists who have to regularly churn out something, anything, about the BRF.
Yeah I mean I don’t really believe these spin stories. They make for fun talk but beyond that they are just PR.
Yea Williams doing more but still not enough. And I saw a headline online today about something “incredible” that Kate did for George a day after Louis was born…..she took him to school…. So there’s something going on, IMHO I think someone’s trying to divert attention away from Meghan’s ghastly family…
That story about kate doing the schoolrun the day after louis was born was from katie nicholls. You can take anything she writes with a grain of salt.
You going to attack everyone who has an opinion different from yours?
Clearly. Anything to divert from the fact that William does less work than pretty much any able-bodied adult in the Western world who isn’t called Trump.
I hope he really is maturing. It’s about time! The man is nearly 40. I’m about a year older than him, and I’ve had my proverbial ‘stuff’ together for decades. This entitled, privileged man-boy has always bothered me (well, since he became a lazy adult, anyway). I’d love to see him step up as both a son and working royal.
I don’t think William works hard (at all), but I don’t think he’s really a mess either. He’s over-privileged, but he’s also stable publicly. He doesn’t seem immature in terms of his family life. I don’t think of him as psychologically unhinged — sensitive about his mom’s death, but that’s the extent of how I might view him in not having his stuff together. Ditto for Harry. (Okay, maybe they were both up to hijinx in their twenties, but I never assume rich people are angels when it comes to a bit of decadence. Still…compared to other rich people like Leo Dicaprio, they seem…tame?)
His parents were harder-working (obviously), but they were kind of mess in their younger years with their marital strife. Maybe the marital strife is why they did work harder — it probably helped them to distract them from their messy marital problems.
William should work harder (just because it’s more admirable and about duty, etc). but the British public don’t really hold him to account for that. Since the British public never seem to get worked up about it, I guess it’s hard for me to have much feeling about it either way either anymore.
Thank you for this comment.
I am not keen on certain aspects William’s personality (pr my perception of his personality), and he is for sure not a hard worker, but I can’t get behind the characterizations of him as a Peter Pan type or that he is mentally unbalanced to the point that he is in need of some kind of major psychiatric/psychological intervention.
There was a time when rich, over-privileged people knew to be humble, but that time is long gone. And the Kushners are beyond cancelled.
Because Monarchies have historically been humble…
Meghan really is good news all round. How sad for the Daily Mail imperialists: they’ll have to retreat to their swastika-lined garden sheds and hug their Fuhrer dolls for comfort.
Lolololololol 😂
I got nothing to say except they make the most beautiful babies, there are literally tears in my eyes at how cute them kids are. Awww…hope they have more, sorry UK taxpayers.
His father is also HAPPY for the first time in his adult life as well. He finally married the love of his life. Him being content with his own life also helps him be a better father.