Just after their Wimbledon appearance, we heard that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were beginning their summer holiday, which basically means they’ll only have one event between now and mid-to-late September. Of course, we also heard that Kate was planning a big birthday party for Prince George involving all of his school friends and a magician and bouncy castle. Not so much. It looks like the Cambridges jetted off to Mustique this week, and my guess is that they’ll be there for two solid weeks, probably more. Which means George will celebrate his sixth birthday with his family at the beach.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are officially on their summer holidays and will celebrate in style with the kids – on the exclusive Caribbean island of Mustique. The Cambridge family are to jet back off to the luxury destination for a second summer in a row, according to a royal insider.
The royal source told Fabulous Digital: “They are going to Mustique again. It is incredibly private and incredibly discreet but not remote. They know and trust the staff who work there and they are creatures of habit. Kate used to go there, the Middletons used to go there. The family love it.”
Last year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took their three kids to the island, and Prince George celebrated turning five by learning to swim in the crystal-clear water. The dates for the trip haven’t been confirmed, but Prince George turns six on Monday July 22, so could once again celebrate on the getaway. Both he and Princess Charlotte, four, broke up from school and nursery respectively in the first week of July.
I don’t know enough about tourism seasons on different islands, but I seem to remember people saying that the Middleton family could afford to go to Mustique so often because they would wait and go in the “off season,” when it was cheaper. Is this the off-season in Mustique right now? As I said, I have no idea. I think it’s interesting that the annual Mustique trip has been changed from January-February to the summer months though. It must mean something! Anyway, I’m not going to bitch and moan about this – Will and Kate love their trips to Mustique, and now they’re bringing their children there too. I’m sure the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be going away on a summer vacation trip too, so… you know, have the same energy for both families, I guess. If it’s fine for the Cambridges, it should be fine for the Sussexes too, right?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
Kaiser, you took the thoughts right out of my mind!!! I was wondering what would be said of it were the Sussexes with Doria going to the US. Wonder what would be said 🤔
And did you see the article by Instyle about Meghan might reach her breaking point and the Americans feel like she isn’t being protected???? Like I said, the media can think they can go after her but her friends and fans see the racism behind it and will find a way to rally behind her and protect her.
If it were Meghan and Harry the British Royal journos would be churning out story after story on cost , why are they working instead and practically asking for their heads.
With William and Kate the British press looks the other way.
I’m wonder if before the trip is over, William will have something leaked about how Middletons helped. Which is the way it’s played for PR when ITS Wiliam and Kate.
The British press are hypocrites .
I’m not supporting the treatment the Sussex’s have received from the press but the press have far from looked the other way with the Cambridges. For years they complained about the Cambridges holidays and lack of work. That only seemed to change when Meghan came along.
The British press called them workShy, wow! That’s so harsh. Well William and Kate were workShy. The difference is, it was not a nonstop Nasty Meanspirtited SMEAR Campaign like they are doing on Meghan for basically breathing, clapping, living, sitting, having a baby the way she desires.
Spare me how Will and Kate have been treated badly by the British Mainstream tabloid press. They call them workShy, , Then the same press will applaud them for beautiful Holiday photos in the Daily Mail and Kate wearing a nice dress. It’s not the same on any level. It’s not even close,
As far as I’m concerned Kate and William have always been given soft treatment and a coddled pass by the UK press.
@90sgirl – I’m guessing you’re a die hard Sussex fan and therefore it doesn’t matter what anyone says. I never said the Cambridges were treated in the same manner as the Sussex’s but I did say that the press hadn’t simply looked the other way, as you had implied. They’ve done more than call the Cambridges work shy. I seem to remember Kate having topless photo’s published, plenty of criticism about her family & background and lots of talk about their insane spending. They did indeed deserve some of that criticism, just as the Sussex’s deserve some of theirs but not all by any means.
I agree that things have gone further with the Sussex’s but that doesn’t mean things have been great with the Cambridges and I think people lose sight of that. It seems to me that the Cambridges were the toy for them to rip apart to some extent but then Meghan meant that their focus shifted and now they enjoy building up the Cambridges while destroying the Sussex’s.
Also by press, are we just talking about the Daily Mail? I can’t think that I’ve seen a great deal of negative coverage about either couple in any publication other than the daily mail but this is a genuine question as I am not a die hard follower.
@NAHEMA give me a break.
The Cambridges have had an easy ride compared to the Sussexes.
Nude pictures do not equal years of racist attacks.
The topless photos were never published in the UK and were quickly removed from the two European tabloids that had them. And then there was a lawsuit which at some point tried to involved Meghan with promo photos and she was used as part of the defence legal argument in something that had to do with Kate. Once again Meghan gets dragged in and also attacked.
Kate also never had Piers Morgan go after her almost every day like a bizarre obsession. There is a difference and pretending it’s the same is disingenuous. There are non royal watchers noticing the treatment and they can’t be accused of stanning for anyone. It’s obvious and it’s racist and it needs to stop.
The British press are hypocrites? Point out any press or anybody who isn’t a hypocrite. Everybody seeks confirmation bias for their own views.
Urgh people on here. At what point have I said that the Cambridges treatment has been the same as the Sussex’s? I didn’t even imply as much and yet I count three people coming for me for that very fact.
I pointed out that the press hasn’t always been kind to the Cambridges and are only being easier now because of Meghan’s arrival. At no point did I say it was the same or that there wasn’t racism involved. Calm yourselves down and stop going off with the extremes..
Brexit?
The optics?
Tacky to splash money around like this?
Yes, yes and yes. But then this lot – all of them, not just the above two – really don’t care, at base, how they come across.
So, I guess Meghan really was just fitting in with her new family. She wasn’t breaking tradition at all
But where is the press outrage?
We should remember that for future stories though. They all do it and Meghan and Harry are unfairly singled out. I wonder why?
yeah they don’t care how they come across – they spend our money like water and laugh at us peasants getting upset. Grifters, the whole lot of them!
That being said, interesting that there are no articles calling them out for wasting taxpayer money on splashy vacations when they barely work…and yet Im sure when the Sussexes take their vacations its all we will read about.
@Hope is right. So some extent the Sussex’s are unfairly singled out by for things they all do to some extent. The Cambridges get a really rough ride on this site in particular. Ultimately it is worth remembering that they are all living on tax payers money and spending it like it’s nothing and we are crazy to be continuing to allow this to happen.
Where do William abd Kate get a rough ride in the mainstreaming British tabloids? Even when people talk about them treading Kate Poorly it was basically calling her Worksy and Waity Katey, whixh she was.
Where are all the British articles where William and Kate are rake over the coals the way Meghan has been?
Calling Will and Kate lazy is not the same as a Outrigjt nonstop SMEAR Campaighn that the British Press has conducted on Meghan since she began dating Harry
Oh Poor Kate, the press called her Waity.
She worked soooo hard sitting in a garden Twice in a few weeks. wow. Time she and William to take a holiday
William and Kate are lazy as hell. They work least of the Senior Royals,
William’s work dropped 25% this year and not a peep from the British mainstreaming tabloid press when he takes a lavish holiday.
+1, all of them!
Well deserved, too. It must be exhausting trying to constantly think up excuses for not working, and pretending to care about the public.
Attending Wimbledon matches and waving from the balcony is such hard work! And don’t forget photoshoots at the garden. How do they manage? 😂
Lets be honest, attending a Baseball match and going to a movie premiere is also hard work it seems because I haven’t seen Hardworking Harry doing any other engagements for the past few days. Hardworking Harry’s overall numbers aren’t that great either for someone that’s supposed to be a hard worker lol.
It’s a baseball game, chunkyla, not a match.
Ooops!, BeanieBean. My bad lol.
Harry’s had several meetings with his patronages and charities over the past few weeks, they are listed on the CC. Kate has done a total of less than 10 engagement since April. Poor sausage needs a vacation from all of her rest. Then again, I suppose keeping an eye on Wandering Willy must be a full time job. At least she can get a full nights rest in Mustique knowing that there is no Rose Bush in sight.
“Kate has done a total of less than 10 engagement since April”
She’s definitely done more than 10 engagements since April. I can think of more than 10 from off the top of my head without too much effort.
The Mids went often as much of it was comped – I think that Mike and Carole being ex-BA employee’s can get flights either free or really cheap. They pretty much get the villas either massive reduced or free as well as they cash in on the royal connection – there is a famous story of William calling up one villa owner and demanding it for free.
Must be nice to vacation on a private island where other people are pretty much paying for it – there is no way the Cambridges have forked out all that money from their own pocket.
“there is a famous story of William calling up one villa owner and demanding it for free.”
I would hang up on Bill Cambridge’s cheap cheating a$$ then immediately call-up David Rocksavage & Rose Hanbury and offer my Mystique Villa to them free of any charge in exchange for two weeks at Houghton Hall! LOL! LOL!
@ BayTampaBay I LOVE this comment!!! LOLOL!!
Hilarious! You are in a roll today, Lol
Where are the articles listing the cost of security? The freakout the media had over the shower in New York was insane even though it was paid for by friends and yet we have a similar situation here and somehow it’s a nice family vacation.
Very true, double standards at its worst!
FWIW, when the royals or other dignitaries travel abroad, most of the security is handled by the host country.
It only makes sense – they know where everything is, likely dangers, fresh information. So they are not flying out a huge security contingent every time they go somewhere.
Some chick
But private trips are not covered by foreign countries. They’re covered fully by tax funds. 2 minimum RPOs per royal. The cost is insane for their vacations.
One of the villas they always used belong(ed) to the family friends of the Mids that own(ed) Jigsaw. So there’s that.
I think vacations were changed to summer to coincide with the kids’ school vacations now, instead of adult family birthdays.
All this said, yeah, I want to see just how “acceptable” these kinds of trips are for M&H as well. Considering the crap they got for their “baby-moon” that they took for a few days… I do remember *something* about W&K getting sh!t for going away for one too, but that was ONLY about “leaving George behind” with Ma Mids, not about the cost.
I dont know about the historical comps they got but Pippa’s husband’s family own a hotel Eden rock in Mustique & they have been going there with James even before he and Pippa were married.
Nice how rich stay rich 🙂
W & K may want to stay out of the villa owned by Pippa’s in-laws until his statutory rape charges have been dealt with. In this age of Epstein possibly getting his comeuppance, it would be bad optics for them to stay there.
IIRC H&M’s ‘babymoon’ was only a few days where the W&K ‘babymoon’ minus George was for about 10 days in the Seychelles where Kate got her diving certificate.
W&K honeymoon costs are also swept under the carpet by the UK press. When it was happening the European and Aussie press had a field day reporting on it as the owner of the villa they stayed in blabbed. Apparently they rented out the WHOLE island, as in every villa in the island for ‘security’ – the actual villa they stayed in was quoted as being £7k per NIGHT (so for 10 nights that was £70K just for one villa), so you can imagine the total costs for renting out the remaining villas on the island they stayed on (i.e. if there was say 5 villas in total then multiply that by what was rumoured to have been paid for their villa). This led to stories of how the Cambridges were photographed with other ‘guests’ on the island (these pap shots were printed in the EU/AU press) which then led onto the stories of them inviting friends to their honeymoon (I think it transpired that one of the people in the pap shots was actually a friend of Williams). They also ran stories about how they rented a luxury yacht for a few days to go scuba diving and jet ski-ing (not cheap). Conservative estimates put the Cambridge honeymoon at half a mill+ (not sure if it included security costs). Yet there was NO mention of their honeymoon in the UK press other than to confirm where they went. From what I understand the honeymoon bill was picked up by Charles, TQ and of course the UK tax payer for the security costs.
Pretty much everything from their honeymoon was scrubbed from the internet due to the court case William took out against an Australian publisher who published pap shot of Kate in a bikini. There are a few of the hardcore royal forums who have the receipts (screen grabs, transcripts etc..) but you have to be a member.
iirc the babymoon sans 8-month-old George was in The Maldives. They booked out the entire resort, likely a freebie, promoting a new resort in that questionable country. The SCUBA certs were allegedly when Charlotte was 6-8 weeks, when W&K skipped off on another kid-free vacation.
Any recent news about the criminal charges against Pippa’s FIL?
Wealth marries wealth, that’s not going to change! I guess if you social climb, the riches end up with the other side, but, for the most part, people marry within their own circles. Btw, if the Queen and Charles paid for their honeymoon, what’s the problem exactly? We’re Always going to pay for Royal security, no matter where in the word they travel to! £7k a night might be a lot for normal folk but it isn’t a lot when you’re easily going to spend the same amount on a private jet to the Caribbean. I’m sure Harry’s honeymoon was also equally luxurious. Maybe start saving up and you’ll be able to enjoy the Seychelles too! I’ve been going since I was a child and I’m looking forward to taking my future kids as well. There’s a slice of paradise for all ages!
The Middletons aren’t wealthy, or they wouldn’t have had two mortgages on their previous home. Their “wealth” is a whole lot of shell games, freebies, and Uncle Gary funding the prince hunt.
@NOTA: The investigation into David Matthews’ alleged rapes is still ongoing and no information is being revealed due to France’s very strict secrecy laws. I’ve scoured the interwebs but information is tight as an Egyptian tomb.
I thought l read that the charges against him in the U.K. had been dropped.
I’m sure the Sussexes will be absolutely harangued about any holidays they ever take.
As for the change from February to the summer months, it may only be because of the school schedule. I think there are really strict rules/laws about pulling your kids from school for holidays in the UK. Parents have even been arrested, if I recall correctly.
Teachers have way too much power in that country. Of course, on the downside, some of them have to change diapers as part of their teaching duties.
Firstly the Sussexes often go to places that we never get to know about. Secondly what kind of parent takes a child on holiday during term time.
Don’t they get tired of going to the same place over and over again? I would hate that.
Considering William’s obsession with privacy, Mustique fits the bill middleton 😊, though sometimes a few photos slip out…example: I wish I could forget the shot of William’s bad choice of swimming shorts; they were too small, his butt eating through his shorts.
I’m guess the change in holiday time is because George has started schools, British schools are very strict on kide being taken outside of term time holidays. For most people its a bummer as hols in July/Aug are so expensive, hardly matters when money is no object though.
I live in Florida so I look at this from a sub-tropical perspective. With the exception of the Orlando-Disney World Industrial Entertainment Complex and the Florida Northwest Panhandle area, summer is the cheapest time to vacation in Florida. The Winter months are expensive because all the snow-birds flock to Florida to escape the winter cold in the Northeast and Midwest to settle down for weeks or months driving up the cost of accommodations. Maybe Mystique is the same? Why leave the UK in the summer time as the summer months are the most enjoyable especially Norfolk, Wales, Cornwall and Scotland.
Lizzy: I think Eden Roc is on St Bart’s, not Mustique. In any case, yes! Wouldn’t it be nice to have in-laws with a family-owned place on a Caribbean island.
BTB: Isn’t summer the hottest & most-humid time of year in Florida? I always assumed that was why it was cheaper in summer, because the weather is so ghastly. Plus, it’s hurricane season.
Oh, I see Qzie addresses this below.
Summer time here in the UK is not enjoyable when the weather is mostly crap! Yes, it’s nice for a few days/maybe a week, but then it starts raining and getting cold. We head to the French Riviera every year to get our sun. This year and last year are the exception for UK summers. BeanieBean already corrected the mistake – they own the resort in St Barts. My in laws have a gorgeous villa in the British Virgin Islands; it’s nice marrying well, that’s all I’ll say haha.
@BeanieBean, YES! South Florida is hot & muggy in the summer, Orlando not at as much and the northwest panhandle is wonderful. Rooms and vacation rental homes are cheaper in South Florida in the summer do to muggy weather and no snow birds.
Yes, this exactly. I don’t think it means a single thing other than they have school aged children now.
I really hope the Sussexes dont follow in the Cambridges footsteps and take off two months for vacation.
As i’ve said before, both here (and on DM) William takes two months vacation to recharge his batteries and then will have the audacity to come and speak to men earning minimum wage, barely getting by, juggling two jobs, living in council houses…about their mental health. Miss me with that one.
You do realise every Royal does the same thing, right? The clue is in their titles: HRH Royal! They started doing charity work to make themselves useful; nothing more, nothing less. Royals’ raise awareness for certain causes – they’re the face of the charities/causes, whilst people are employed to run their foundations and do the actual work. I’ve never believed the whole “hands on” thing because when the cameras are off their staff do the work. And this is why you won’t catch me making a substantial donation to their pet charities; grass-root charities need the help more. These types of causes often get more work done on the ground because the funds aren’t sucked up. You can always clearly see & visit to see where your money went. I went off on a tangent there lol. I guess I don’t see why people fan over them and then get upset on their behalf. It seems weird to hold them up as the most perfect, then freak out over criticism from the tabloids of all places! If people want to change something.. join Republic! The moaning about money being spent is futile and quite funny.
I hear you. My main issue is with him championing mental health in men. I think we are all two steps short of the madhouse if given enough pressure. Regular folks have money pressure, kid pressure, taking care of aging parents pressure, school loan pressure, house repair pressure, significant other pressure, stressful job pressure, car breaking down pressure etc. how can he possibly relate to any of this. How can he ever relate to his loyal subjects unless he gets down to their level, and he does not seem to be the right person for that job. Normal Bill’s idea of leaking how normal he is, means hinting that he chitchats with the school mums and after taking his kids to school, goes to the same gym as the regular mums (rather than getting his ass straight to work)
Yes this off peak season.
I find it so odd that they are going now. We own a house that we go to and rent in the Caribbean on island not far away, and it is REALLY hot and humid in the summer. Yes breezes are there, but sometimes in the summer it can be very still. Oh well, I guess they can spend time in the AC and pool, and maybe Wills and Kate LOVE heat and humidity. Obvi we go down from Nov-early May, when everyone else does–for a reason–the weather is delightful. We deeply discount July-October because of the weather and hurricane season. (Many businesses on our island actually close Sept-Oct because it is slow.)
South Florida is exactly the same.
The island is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. The Cambs/Midds arrived just in time for the celebrations. Forgot where I read it, but the Cambs, probably the Middletons too, arrived by private jet. I won’t wait with bated breath for the posts about the starving children of Britain or the NHS funding deficiency or the optics because we know what that’s really about when it comes to Meghan.
Princess Margaret started the Mustique thing in the 1960s, she had a house there and partied with Rolling Stones etc for years. Totally decadent but at least she was interesting; Bill and Cathy probably just play Uno.
Jerrie & Mick had a place there, too.
The royal family have a long history with the island of Mustique. Princess Margaret was given a house on the island by Colin Tennant who owned it for a bit. Princess Diana & Prince Charles went to Mustique, I think, when she was pregnant with Prince William. And yes, it is much cheaper to go to the Caribbean in the summer than the winter. Also, the Middletons can now stay Eden Roc, on St. Barts, which is owned by their in-laws in the winter months.
I am here to say that header photo for the article is fantastic!
Frankly, Little Willy looks like such a PITA, I would be pressed taking him to McDonalds, much less spending two weeks with him on fancy island.
@Kaiser, yes it is the off season. My mother is from the DR. All of the Caribbean and most of Central America is VERY hot and VERY humid right now. But just because it the off season does not mean it is cheap…
Most Dominicans I know will send their kids to DR right after school gets out for the whole summer and flights can be very pricey as they are expecting the rush of school children from the northeast to la isla.
How can they go on holiday when there are sooooo many poor people? Such bad optics for the future king and Queen to spend so much money when people are suffering for basics. Is that right? Is that how that goes? I can’t wait to see the Cambridge camp concerns for the real people of Britain. I hope there’s some howling too
Absolutely correct on that @Yami! Brexit!!! No bandages for the NHS!! How dare they!! Is it paid for privately without taxpayers money? Doesn’t matter, it’s over the top!!! I bet we hear crickets instead.
They didn’t look too happy together at Wimbledon did they?
How so? There were pictures of them laughing and smiling at each other.
No, for the most part they did not look happy. I saw two pictures of them smiling and a whole lot more of absolutely no interaction during a very long match. I saw Kate trying hard to engage him, and I saw him looking sour about everything. He really does have a pissy expression on his face most of the time.
Kate seems to take her sport real seriously! You could see the excitement, disappointment, and the ‘oh ma gawd’ looks all over her face lol.
She did look like she was having a good time, and if you are a fan, it was a great game to be at. I’ve watched hockey games that have gone 5+ periods, and it’s so much fun. It rarely happens and I imagine it’s the same for tennis. The spectators at that match definitely got their money’s worth out of their tickets.
I thought they looked fine together at Wimbledon. It was a freaking five hour match, they are not going to be lovey dovey the whole time.
True ,Tourmaline.
It looks like people are only seeing the pictures that further a particular narrative they want to push. Just because they weren’t smiling, laughing and interacting with each other the entire time doesn’t take away from the fact that they did actually smile, laugh and interact with each other.
Someone tweeted yesterday that Kate only had 5 appearances on the Court Circular between April and July.
She’s definitely done more than 5 engagements from April to July so if only 5 are on the CC it just goes to show the CC doesn’t show the full picture and doesn’t accurately represent the number engagements done throughout the year.
If the CC is inaccurate then Charles and Anne must really work their arses off.
I took a look at Gert’s royals that has more updated numbers and Kate has at least 30 engagements listed. The RF website is quite bad.
This type of trips are reportedly privately funded. But I’m going to express the same criticism I expressed during the baby shower drama. I don’t think it’s right to use taxpayer-funded security when they travel on their private time. I mean,I’m not sure,but I’m assuming they have their RPOs in this case too.
RPOs are with the Royals no matter what. Their holidays and baby showers, baby moons, honeymoons, birthday parties, etc. are all privately funded, but the RPO cost will always be billed to the public.
Where does Rose spend her summer vacation?
Ha ha!! Wouldn’t it be delish if the Rocksavages turned up in Mustique with their children, too?
I could dine on that for Weeks and weeks!! Gossip Genie make it happen!
Or pictures of William in Norfolk show up?
I think the Rocksavages summer in Italy at Villa Centinale owned by Rose’s Brother-in-Law Ned Lambton. Villa Centinale is one awesome place. Vanity Fair did a story on the place 7-8 years ago IIRC.
I find it interesting that the article says K&W took their three kids there last year for George’s birthday. Wasn’t Louis just born last year? Although now that I say that, I remember when. Kate took George there when he was still a baby. I guess it’s easy enough when you fly private.
Louis was 3 months old last July wasn’t he? That’s old enough to travel – private or not. A couple of my friends have recently taken their few months old firstborns on different holidays (vacations). They look so so cute with their tiny sunglasses and baby swimsuits!
I’m no Middletons fan but I think the reason why they’ve changed to the (hot!) offseason is because thats when the grandkids aren’t in school. My in laws are taking us vacation to Europe next summer to celebrate their anniversary IN AUGUST. But of course it is the only time when the grandkids are not in school or at camp, so that’s when it has to be. You won’t catch me complaining about it either. #takemetocorisicaplease
Ahh you’ll love it, Corsica has the best beaches. Enjoy!
But maybe Katie Cambridge will carve a sand bench so the children can cloud-gaze? Maybe ALL children on the island will be encouraged to cloud-gaze? It could happen! Children!
😂
A holiday? I never knew that being a pampered, obscenely wealthy, parasite could be so exhausting.
In the Kensington Palace Twitter thread posting George’s birthday photos, one of the replies was from a guy who had travelled recently in the same plane cabin as the Cambridges to the Caribbean. He was remarking on the happy, nice kids the Cambridges were, so they didn’t travel to Mustique by private plane.
Ref Kate and the nude pictures, this happened before their trip to Australia in 2012. Somebody up thread said the British press had dragged Meghan into it. Some of the British press are vile but way back then Meghan was not involved.