I have a confession to make and it’s something that’s occurred to me over the course of the last year: the Duchess of Cambridge was really lucky to have Carole and Michael Middleton in so many ways. I feel like Carole Middleton is a world-class social climber, as well as one of the biggest, manipulative, Kris Jenner-esque moms in the world. She made a plan for Kate and the plan worked. But even though I find Carole to be somewhat tacky, she has been a genuine rock for Kate and William too. Carole didn’t sell out her daughter for press clicks and attention like the White Markles. Carole understood the long game, that it would be better for everyone involved for her to be “the power behind the throne.” She’s still playing that long game, even when – reportedly – William and Kate need their hands held about Harry and Meghan leaving. This is from a Sun exclusive, although it was not written by Dan Wooten (who seems to get all the suspiciously accurate Cambridge scoops these days).
Prince William and Kate Middleton have been leaning on “stabilising force” Carole Middleton since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the royal family. The Duchess of Cambridge’s mum, 65, is said to be the true “power behind the throne” with “immense influence” over her daughter and son-in-law, according to a royal expert.
Royal author Phil Dampier told Fabulous Digital: “Carole is a very strong woman who comes from quite a humble background, and the fact that she has worked herself up with a successful business has given her a backbone of steel. Kate turns to her for advice and comfort all the time and she spends a lot of time with William and Kate’s three children. Now that Harry and Meghan have in effect left the royal family, there is a lot more pressure on William and Kate. Carole will be a stabilising and supportive force in the background, looking after the kids when needs be but also just being there for them. Carole is very much a power behind the throne and her influence is immense.”
A source close to the family claimed that the former BA air hostess Carole has been a substitute mother figure for Prince William, 37, who lost his own mum in 1997 when he was just 15-years-old. They said: “William’s in-laws have become like second parents and Carole is almost a Diana-Type mum. Harry has missed out by not having that influence and someone he can turn to in this country and now seems dependent on Meghan.”
The source added that Kate and Prince William have made “quite a few visits to see the Middletons in Berkshire” and “Carole has spent a lot of time at Anmer Hall with the couple”, following the Sussexes leaving the family. They added: “William has been leaning on Carole and Michael a lot during Megxit. Understandably William and Kate have been very upset by what has happened. Not only has William lost his brother as a working member of the family but he and Kate now have a much greater burden. Being able to talk to Carole and share his feelings has been a great help.”
I have a lot of theories about Carole, Kate and William and what they really think about Harry and Meghan’s exit and what they (the Cambridges/Middletons) were doing in 2018 and 2019. One of my theories is that Carole understood immediately that Meghan would be a big problem for Kate specifically, that Meghan would work hard and be innovative and interesting. Again, it all comes back to that two-month period in the fall of 2018, when Meghan announced the pregnancy, the Sussexes went on their massively successful South Pacific tour and the sh-t hit the fan in a huge way. It felt like a campaign against the Sussexes. We know/believe that Charles (Clarence House) and the Cambridges (Kensington Palace) had a hand in the smears. But I’ve always wondered if that’s why Carole was suddenly so active and everywhere too.
Anyway, this article is just more of the same old crap from Camp Cambridge – “Poor us, we are entirely blameless in this whole Sussexit fiasco, and now we will have to work our weary bones down to the nub because Harry and Meghan are gone.” Poor sausages had to run to Carole! I also wonder if Carole had any kind of say in Kate’s Struggle Survey and nonsensical Early Years “launch.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and WENN.
Hope it was all worth it.
I agree. Carol needs to mind her OWN business and stay out of the business of Harry and Meghan. js
I think she has very little power as does Kate.
The Rose fiasco proved this. Shadows of Diana have long been cast over the family but have proved that one born the heirs belong to the family…
Kate is no Diana. She has no following, isn’t good with people and certainly isn’t a fashionista. Additionally she has made zero impact on world wide causes. If she was exited or exited noone would care.
Her mother has little to no power. She is not a fool and therefore behaves suitably. She has schooled and conditioned her daughter to do the same.
Exiting Meghan and Harry was the only game in town. They had the work ethic, style, empathy connection and wow factor that Diana had. They truly could have been a problem for the royal family long term.
Compared to them Kate and William seemed their worst selves. Their existence highlighted their every flaw.
I agree, this isn’t the Boleyn family.
Carole still didn’t have to do an interview making obviously snide comments about Meghan’s work ethic. She should be forever condemned for that. It’s one thing to support your daughter but that was low class.
That’s why they need the press, PR team, and…. some helpful half a dozen people with three hundred emails (kidding!) to make comments on the right places.
Their marketing is not the best, but it’s certainly massive. They are pulling old tricks, but pulling around the clock. Non stop. I wonder if it will work.
It’s funny, but since rumors started about the bad financial conditions of her company Carole seems more present on the news. Always helping K&W, of course.
Oh I’m sure she’s definitely very involved in their marriage and with the kids. I imagine everyone in Camp Cambridge had an “oh crap” moment when H&M actually left. I don’t think they thought they would ever actually do it and now the focus is on them. Right now they’re pushing the “poor Cambridges, they are going to have to WORK” angle but it will be interesting to see how the narrative changes.
As Diana said, there were three people in the marriage. In this case, it is William, Kate, and Carole. If Carole hadn’t kept coddling manchild William, this marriage wouldn’t have happened.
I agree ladies. But not sure if Ma Middleton understood the long term affects if Meghan leaving.
You know, I think Carole was spoilling William in the beginning. Good, nurturing, understanding mother in law. I think this caracter is not played anymore.
From all the people, Carole is the one who could spot first-hand the signals of trouble in her daughter’s marriage. And ohhh…. There is trouble. Just a nun from an enclosed convent wouldn’t see.
And last, but not least, I don’t think any mother would be happy watching her daughter become a fashionable skeleton.
Rolled my eyes a few times reading this article. Just confirms Carole had a hand in all the nastiness towards Meghan. She recognized the threat and used her contacts to make the Sussexes’ lives miserable.
It is THE SUN! Take ANYTHING you read in it with a HUGE silo of salt (just like pretty much ANY trash tabloid).
The part about how Harry suffers because he doesn’t have a Carole Middleton in his life!? The extremely random shoe-horning in of Diana’s name: “Carole is almost a Diana-type Mum.” What does that even mean? What is a “diana-type mum”? This sounds like Middleton PR. I think the Middletons have an extremely close relationship with the nasty tabloids. I think Carole Middleton basically runs the PR and leaking that comes out of KP. There are just far too many random and senseless articles that seem to be written solely to uplift Kate (not William) and her Middleton family. Also the fact that any negative stories about the Middletons would be killed immediately. In exchange for these fluff pieces and killing bad stories, Carole leaked about the Sussexes. Why do we think so many of the early articles pitted the women against each other rather than the brothers? Because the source was Carole Middleton. Carole has a vested interest in making Kate look like the epitome of the Perfect Princess. And Carole has proven herself to be very hardworking, relentless, savvy, risk-taking, and singleminded when it comes to getting what she wants for Kate. She also plays the long game and has the stamina and determination that it takes to achieve her goal. I can’t see Will or Kate doing that amount of work for that amount of time for anything. They are lazy. About everything. They like to let other people do things for them. Wills PR strategy is to threaten to sue the press for invasion of privacy when they reported on his Rose trimming affair. Blunt force cudgel.
I fully believe Carole really wanted Harry to hook up with and marry Pippa, and where all that talk in the tabs about them being a item kept coming from. But Harry was too smart to let the Middletons get their claws in him that way – or in any way.
I don’t know what a ‘Diana-type mom’ is either; however, I do think Diana weaponized William and Harry against Charles. I believe she loved them, but I also think she should never have involved them as she did in the battle with Charles. Charles doesn’t get a pass with me as a parent either. I think in many ways they both failed as parents. Both William and Harry have paid a price for their parents’ choices. Being considered a ‘Diana-type’ mom certainly wouldn’t be a compliment I would want given to me.
JA, I disagree with you. Charles caused the problems by putting Camilla first, always. He even communicated with them by Fax when he was spending time with Camilla at Highgrove (he was still married to Diana then). Charles used William and Harry very blatantly in his campaign to get Camilla accepted. Less than a year after their mother died he pushed Camilla on them. And even used William in the PR. I remember the headlines “Diana’s sons accept Camilla.” I thought it was a disgrace. If Charles had put his first wife and family first and ousted Camilla, it would have been a whole lot better for William and Harry who would have been better off with two parents to guide them. Diana was more or less cut loose.
I agree JA. Diana has been sainted but she was unstable mentally, quite fragile and had a lot of problems. She loved those boys and she was given an unfair shake for sure but she was quite immature. Didn’t she throw herself down the stairs while pregnant ? Is that folklore ? I admire her for a lot of things but I wouldn’t want to be a Diana type mother either. Sad but true
morrigan: that’s so sure that I bet my ears and the tip of my nose.
Chrissyms: maybe you are too young to remember, but Diana was a product of her time. In those days the women were not necessarily carreer oriented and wedding was priority. The pressure was enormous for us. I imagine for rich girls. She was not graduated and didn’t have any interest in book learning, so her choices were very limited. She couldn’t understand Charles and, mind you, he’s not the image of guy with a solid culture! But she had a heart. Just look at her face and eyes. Charles might be more learned, but it’s cold like an ice cream.
Chrissyms, That is the spin of Charles’ Camp, Diana having a “lot of problems” “Damaged” And Fragile. I think it is horrible thing because it was done after Diana was dead and can no longer defend herself. Actually Diana was quite strong, she would not put up and shut up and did not like having Camilla calling the shots. Diana was a wonderful mother. Junor derided Diana for being a Bad Mother but Junor also called Camilla “endearing” and admitted she has a soft spot for CHarles. It is unfortunate how this spin is “bought” by some and the source of the Damaged Diana spin is not considered. CHarles should not have married Diana if he knew he did not love her. Diana tripped down a few steps as correspondence she wrote at the time. She was not seriously injured. I am so tired of this propaganda. Charles did a horrible thing, keeping the mistress around who IMO coveted what Diana had. How fragile must Charles have been needing “two women” he even said in front of Diana he needed “two wives,” this moment has been preserved on YOu Tube. Poor Diana not only was rejected but after she died she was derided as having “something wron gwith her.” Diana’s sin with Charles camp was complaining about Camilla.
@Tessa, I think Charles’ mistake was that he put himself first, always. His own pleasures were his priority. He didn’t marry Camilla at the time because she was “unsuitable” or because his family didn’t allow it. He didn’t marry Camilla for the simple reason that he didn’t see her as the marrying type. He saw her as someone you had “fun” with, not someone you brought home to your mother. The thing that doesn’t get discussed often enough is Charles’ own questionable opinions regarding who someone in his position ought to marry. The way things have been written since make him out to be some type of stalwart, forward-thinking type of person who wanted to marry Camilla and didn’t mind her past, even though it’s much more likely that his actual beliefs fell much more in line with his own family’s rather conservative ideals, which very much squared women into two separate, distinct camps of respectability.
Diana was far from perfect. But she was never afraid of demonstrating her vulnerability. Being open about that is a person’s biggest strength. It takes true courage to be vulnerable so publicly, to not be silent, to demand what you want in a relationship and not suffer quietly like everyone expects you to. Only cowards hide their feelings under the mask of stoicism. Diana would have had much more respect for Charles if he’d simply been honest with her about his affairs and why he did what he did. Their relationship wouldn’t have survived, but it wouldn’t have died so rancorously. Charles disrespected her with his dishonesty, and him and the RF disrespected Diana even further by being dismissive of her feelings.
Where was the comment that Carole made about being royal had nothing to do with making speeches? I can never find it
I *think* the interview was with the Telegraph and it came out in November 2018. I know the interview was covered here, so you’ll be able to find it if you look through the archives.
It’s in that article about an anniversary for Party Pieces, when Carole was probably trying to sell the company. I think it was in the Telegraph?
I think your spot on that Carole had a plan for Kate all along but I wonder when it started. When the kids were young she couldn’t have possibly envisioned one of them marrying royalty, let alone the heir to the throne? Or is she that level of schemer? Or maybe it came together once W&K were dating? I’d love to know the machinations…
I think she always wanted Kate and Pippa to marry someone who was wealthy and part of the aristocracy, William obviously being sort of the ideal goal. Supposedly Kate decided to go to St Andrews when it was announced William was going there. I don’t know how SA is or how likely it was that their paths would cross though.
I read a biography on Kate. At the latest, it started during high school – Marlborough College. During that time Kate made a concentrated effort to join the outer fringes of William’s friends and even tried to coordinate her gap year plans with his. Didn’t work out. But she got info about his movements.
Switched to St Andrew’s AND made sure she was staying in the same dorm as him.
It started when Kate was a junior/senior in high school. She had already befriended some of Williams friends at that point, and attended the same foreign exchange program William was doing. Kate deferred at U of Edinburgh when William announced he would attend St. Andrews, then she signed up for the same dorm, made the same friends etc. It was carefully calculated.
@knowitall that’s super interesting! the aristo-adjacents always play such an important role in these stories – von Strauzenbee, etc. I wish we knew more about them!
She met him before St Andrews, as a very very trailing edge part of his set. That’s the only friend she’s kept, the convenient female friend (Emily?) who introduced her to William’s set. That woman knows where the bodies are buried.
Kate supposedly met William when they were still in high school.
They met at Club H, the little basement hangout set up by Charles at Highgrove for William and Harry so they could still party with their friends while being discrete. Emily D’Erlanger knew William and Kate was invited through her.
For years, people would question how Kate could have possibly known William’s post Eton plans, and supposedly it was through Emily.
I think KATE set her sights on William, and Carole helped her plot it out the finer points of “the trap” lol. Let’s not completely invalidate KATE wanting the feathered cap. While she seems to have a very docile, bending personality TO US, we all don’t really know what she is like IRL and to family. Some “sources” (! lol) have said she wears the pants at home… who knows? Public vs. personal persona. Could be an agreement with Will (I will be the Placid Princess in Public… but at home…!).
Bottom line, we don’t know! But I do know she wouldn’t’ve gotten as far as she did (Big Blue) if SHE didn’t want it, first and foremost.
Didn’t Kate use to have posters of Bill in her bedroom when she was a teen. Kate probably said what any teenager would say, ‘Will is so dreamy and I’m gonna marry him’ and Carol had a look in her eye and said, ‘Done’.
Carole supposedly had Normal Bill’s photo as her phone screensaver.
Kate IMO got the degree in MRS. Carole patched things up between Kate and William during one of the breakups. She really wanted Kate to marry William.
Ohh yes you can, Teddy. I saw that few times in a small scale. And they were very ordinary people, mind you. Not even rich, just comfortable.
If Carol is such a good manager and so involved why isn’t she shadow managing Early Years? She could set it all up and just let Kate be the face of the operation. She must see that Kate needs a real win and not just empty press. Kris Kardashian wouldn’t let this happen, Carol should call her for advice.
That’s a very good question. IMO Carole’s role in all of this is quite exaggerated because it makes a good story in the media. She is for sure smarter and more ambitious than the rest of them (except for Charles) but I don’t see her as the evil mastermind pulling all the strings in the background as some make her out to be…
I’m not sure how much I believe Carole is masterminding everything either. Like I’m not sure if I buy that she was scheming since before St. Andrews. I think she’s really ambitious and driven and has done a lot to make this life possible for Kate but I also think the Middletons truly care about each other and are loving. My theory is that Kate has wanted revenge on all the girls who bullied her at that school she went to before switching to Marlborough (Downe House was it??) and that was her biggest motivator to pursue William.
I do think it’s notable that William has had the Middletons all these years – since he was a teenager – as a support system and alternative family. Harry never had that, until now with Meghan.
Also maybe the survey was Carole’s idea! Catherine Quinn got sick of the bs and took off and Kate had to turn to Carole quick to pull something together. “Sweetie just throw together a survey or something, people will eat it up!!”
You are absolutely right to doubt all that Carole master mind talk. I’m almost sure it was a long time ago. She planned and played her daughter, yes. She tried to play William, yes. She was bitting her nails everytime they split, yes.
But Will grew older and wiser (not much but enough). You can measure Carole and Kate loosing the grip by the time she started getting thinner (ok. please, let’s not fool ourselves, obsession with dieting and weight are the first signs of eating problems).
Because that’s not what’s important to her, Will, or Kate. What’s important to them is selling Kate as the perfect, conservative, stay at home, skinny, coat dress wearing, wifey and mum. The image: the clothes, the hair, the social aspect, the parties, the houses, the vacations, the kids, and making sure William is coddled and doesn’t divorce her are the big priorities. Propping Kate up in the media, while tearing down Meghan, and managing William’s indiscretions take up a lot of time. And honestly, outside of Celebitchy, no one seems to really notice or care that Kate rarely works, the work she does is paltry and ineffective, and she’s not growing into her role. It’s probably actually helpful that she’s seen so rarely, hardly ever speaks in public, and doesn’t ever do anything that makes a big impact or could be seen by anyone as even remotely controversial. This way everyone can project their own Princess ideals onto her.
I think this is all spot on. And as you say it works for her! People who marry in to this family have typically not fared well – basically you have Phillip, Kate, and Sophie having lasted out of the first marriages. Meghan’s hanging in there but had to gtfo of the country and away from the disfunction to survive. Kate’s goal is to have the position and the privilege, not to do anything worthwhile with it or have any other identity so she’s quite content it would seem.
Meghan’s very existence made that difficult though because she was doing Kate’s job but so much better. The profitable fundraising, the dynamic projects, the eloquent speeches, all made Kate’s deficiencies obvious because Meghan is the same age as Kate, very pretty and got a lot of media attention and she handled the charity part extremely well.
But they don’t have the throne! The queen does and then Charles. There is literally two human beings between the throne and William. Why would William be OK with this article making him so reliant on his mother-in-law?
I know, this ridiculous idea that William is in any way in charge of what’s going on. She is the mother of the wife of the second in line to the throne. She has NO decision-making power over the QUEEN, for goodness’ sake. Does anyone seriously think QEll is taking Carole Middleton’s advice ?
+1. I’m rolling my eyes at comments blaming the Cambs / William for bascially everything (they are simply not smart, ambitious, driven… enough) and ignoring the fact TQ and Charles are more senior than Wills.
So I’m very happy to see the media finally focussing on Charles because IMO that’s where the source is.
LOL I was thinking that the entire time! Carol is not the power behind the throne because I’m pretty sure the Queen, AND THEN KING CHARLES III don’t want her anywhere near their seat. She can wait a decade or two, and then set up shop behind the Queen Consorts chair.
Carole still provides information to the media and her interview was clearly a slag against Meghan. Charles and the Queen didn’t do that part. Perhaps she is not alone in the smears, but she was definitely involved, as we see with her interview.
She’s been the power behind the throne long before Meghan came onto the scene let alone Sussexit
“Harry has missed out by not having that influence and someone he can turn to in this country and now seems dependent on Meghan.”
Shouldn’t a man be more dependent on his wife than her mom? If my husband depended more on my mother than on me, I would have serious concerns about that.
And didn’t Carole kind of sell her daughter into an unhappy marriage for power and prestige?
These people are f’ing shameless. Of all the people involved in the vilification of H&M, Carol’s is the comeuppance I would enjoy and revel in the most.
The key to that sentence is “someone he can turn to IN THIS COUNTRY…”
I’ve seen reports claiming Doria is behind Sussexit; to me, that sentence reads as a slam on Doria possibly influencing Harry (when there’s no evidence that she is, Doria is not Carole Jenner).
Carole Middleton is not as smart as she thinks she is because if she were, she would have neutralized the Meghan threat by telling Kate to cozy up to Meghan and use Meghan’s popularity to boost herself (ex. wearing something from Smart Works, inviting Meghan out to shop, being supportive of Meghan, etc).
Seriously. It’s clear from the past year or so that both Kate and Meghan know how to put up a public front of getting along and are willing to do so when they appear at joint events–I don’t think there is such a huge personality clash there that they couldn’t have taken it a few steps further and put out a public image of being genuine friends or having some causes that were just Kate and Meghan (rather than all four of them). Meghan is smart enough that she probably would have gone along with it even if she privately would have known that Kate was attempting to use/neutralize her popularity, because it would have also helped to neutralize some of the negative media attention Meghan was getting.
Honestly, I wonder if Carole did see this possibility but also realized William’s beefing with Harry would make it difficult (i.e. if Kate is being friendly with Meghan then she’s being disloyal to William and we can’t have that!).
Emmit: Your comment just proves you have a good heart, bless you.
Unfortunately, it’s not like that in the real world. Remember the green monster of jealousy…. He said the truth. It’s a monster and harms the wits.
Maxima and Mabel, royal SILs, are open friends who spend lots of time together. There is nothing wrong in royals showing family and friend relationships.
Amen! I just had a more long winded post saying something similar. I find Carole’s alleged meddling repulsive. If course who knows what is true in any of this. But I’m reading the tea leaves, so to speak.
I never had any doubts she was in Kate (&William’s) ear about Meghan. Even if the Sussexes had “fallen in line”, Carole (&Kate) would’ve been threatened by Meghan. She’s gorgeous, has charisma, actually seemed to give a fuck about the charities she worked with. I do not think Carole was the main driver tho. I think everyone had a hand in driving the Sussexes out, William and Charles especially. It’ll be interesting to see if the what happens to Kate post Sussex. I think the “Saint Kate” campaign will continue as William and Charles go head-to-head. She is also absolutely going to have to up her workload and put out projects. They can get rid of Meghan but what she accomplished in 3 years won’t go away. She showed that it is possible to be a newly wed/new mom and still work (their version of work anyway). I don’t think Kate can just skate by anymore. Or maybe she can. We’ll see.
I think William was the biggest driver and Carole certainly helped. She’s the one who convinced Kate to take William back after the cheating and I can guarantee she’s telling Kate to deal with the Rose situation in the same way.
Lucky? Lucky to have a mother who grooms you to be an automaton so she can effectively replace you in your own life?!!
As a daughter whose mother attempted to do the same, I beg to differ. Fortunately I had my own backbone of steel and told my mother what her place should be and put her in it and now we are fine. But it was soul crushing for the years that process took, as I assure you it did not happen overnight and I had to contend with other family problems as well.
And I know my own job is to work to ensure my own daughter has all the resources she needs to be the person she wants to be, whatever that is, as long as she also maintains high standards of decency, honor and integrity. But her identity and purpose is for her to discover, not for me to dictate and engineer.
What Carole Middleton has done is evident in Kate’s drawn prematurely aged visage, unnaturally thin (for her) build and constant subservience to Will. What kind of life is that for any woman?
Kate could have made her own way in life and known the pleasure of knowing who she truly is, not be a projection of what everyone wants her to be and her entire useless family’s meal ticket. She might have ended up wealthy in her own right. Or not. But however she ended up, she would have gotten there under her own steam. It’s a chance every person deserves.
The Middleton parents are a pack of users. First they used the resources of their own creepy pedo Uncle and now they have latched onto and exploit the royal family’s dysfunction.
And if Carole truly exerts a motherly influence on William and we have the results we see before us in how he’s betrayed Harry, then the Middletons need to go.
And no mother should be that involved in her children’s marriages.
And if it’s true that Carole is heavily involved in raising the Cambridge children I just think we need to look at Kate and her siblings to see how they will turn on in 20 years. Carole in particular treated her children as tools to further her own social ambitions and Mike seemed to let her – he is not innocent in all this.
Oh Digital Unicorn that is a truly chilling thought. Charlotte and Louis are going to have enough problems as it is growing up in a society that conceptualizes non firstborn children as “spares”. I’m talking about the entire system of primogeniture that the entire aristocracy operates within. I can’t imagine how much dysfunction that introduces into self identity and family relationships.
Sometimes when I read the comments from what are supposedly members of the British public I cringe at how they talk about Harry as if his life doesn’t matter at all because he’s not the heir. It’s like he served the purpose of being spare as a child and now that his brother has survived to adulthood and looks poised to take on his duties, Harry just needs to get out of the way. I’ve read Harry referred to as “surplus to needs.”
I understand the British taxpayers feel burdened by the expense of maintaining the royals. So they feel justified in speaking of a living human being as “irrelevant” and “surplus”. But then they need to drop the hurt and indignant act when the surplus takes himself out of the equation to go live a healthier life.
So getting back to Charlotte and Louis, the next generation of surplus, well I hope they won’t be groomed to scratch and claw to desperately cling to this toxic antiquated lifestyle. I hope those kids fight for their own independence and don’t just hang around for crumbs from the table.
Michael is such an enigma to me. What is his deal??
Bless you, Guest with Cat.
We give birth to children and are responsible for making them responsible, caring people. The world puts enough pressure on women.
My work ethic is all about being an example to my daughter so that she has the freedom to be who she is. She teaches me so much.
You’re doing it right, Christina. The pleasure and blessing of raising our child to be their own person is that they have so much to bring to life, that we can learn and grow from them, too.
It is sad to see Kate Middleton. Yesterday we saw an article and discussions on how she let one of her patronages down. She was vilified for bringing nothing to her patronages. It is because she was raised to be an empty vessel with nothing to give but what her handlers (ma and pa) put in.
I don’t know what methods they employed to so completely obliterate her identity. They must have been masterful at convincing her what they wanted for her and the family is what she herself should want for herself.
I think all that was tried on Diana by her sisters and by Charles and the rest after she married in. Diana wasn’t having it and fought back like a tiger. Which is why she was so charismatic. She found her spine. She became as much of her authentic self as she could under such stifling, restrictive circumstances.
I hope Kate finds her spine. But I worry she’s locked into a situation where the consequences would be dire if she does. Her mother is ruthless and would destroy her.
GUEST WITH CAT … I am in love with you. So well put. This could literally be a piece on parenting.
it’s really quite chilling to think about all this dysfunction. Not only in the Royal Family, but the Middleton family. I don’t see a happy future for any of the Cambridge children, quite honestly.
You’re right – no parent should be that active in their children’s marriages.
Sounds as if you are on the right track with your own kid(s).
Off topic: she sure is big where her daughters ain’t.
And needs a better bra imo.
I wonder what Chuck has to say about Carole’s influence – he’s reportedly not a fan of Carole and has tried several times to break the hold she has over the Cambridges. Apparently at one point he didn’t like visiting the Cambridges at home as she was always there in the background. Chuck will not like this new narrative of Carole being more powerful than he is.
Stories like this are not good for the Middletons or the Cambridges as it makes them look weak. There has already been stories of her family accepting gifts on behalf of the Cambridges and considering Party Pieces isn’t doing well financially and Uncle Gary’s criminal activities – the Middletons are ripe for the pickings.
Look at all the negative Middleton stories that have disappeared in exchange for the full-bore attacks on Meghan. Matthews Sr raping his underage niece, James and the hate crime party packages, James crashing in yet another business, PP failing financially.
Convenient ties the Middletons have, with the two former editors of the Mail on Sunday in their pocket, plus the new editor of Tattler.
Yes. It’s disgusting and we need to keep this discussion alive just as we do all the outrage against Andrew.
It does make them look weak. Yet another shortsighted PR plan. They are so self-absorbed that they don’t realize it makes W&K look like they can’t make their own decisions as grown adults. Not good.
While I don’t like how Charles handled the situation, I can understand completely why he doesn’t like Carole if this is what she’s doing. And quite frankly, if Carole hasn’t been able to curry favour with Charles and keep her fingerprints off these stories she’s not powerful she’s just messy.
This piece could be the start of a “the Middletons have too much influence!” campaign. The first time I read it, it sounded like Middleton PR, extolling how important and special Carole is, how helpful, etc. But the second time I read it, I realized that it’s not really spun to make her importance seem like a good thing. It just seems like it’s letting us all know that she’s very much in the picture, behind the scenes, controlling and guiding things. “Power behind the throne,” sounds threatening and manipulative. Perhaps this is piece one in a campaign to blame Carole Middleton for everything that’s wrong with the Cambridges, both in their private life/marriage and their professional (or lack thereof) lives.
I read it like you. They turn on each other now. Lean back and watch.
I could see Charles planting this. People who still like the monarchy are all about people “knowing their place” and Carole will forever be a social climber to many of them.
Somebody needs to remind Ma Middleton that TWO people have to die before Kate becomes Queen Consort, if William doesn’t tire of her ‘hyena grin’ before that. Normal Bill has his heir and spare; he doesn’t need Keen Katie anymore.
I think Ma Middleton is being set up as a scapegoat in case this all goes sideways. Normal Bill isn’t going to take responsibility for standing by and watching while his brother, sister-in-law and nephew were driven out of the country. No, it was all the ‘coal miner’s daughter’s’ fault,
Totally agree, Kerwood. Ma Midds probably did see Duchess Meghan as a threat to the ffqc. However, she’s smart enough to see the bigger threat would be Willie’s Wandering Willy. Neither she nor Kate has ANY power if he decides he’s tired of her. All those plans would fall by the wayside.
Sound like there is 3 in the marriage – sound a little crowded.
I used to mostly give Carole Middleton a pass but after Party Pieces’ financial troubles and the rumors of the way she treats her employees and now Sussexit, I no longer do.
I always think Carole is the one who urged Kate to cut off Rose, which ended up backfiring big time and exposing the affair to the world. I was recently reading some Royal bio where it stated that Diana had cut off Kanga (I believe, but could have been another mistress) and it dawned on me that Carole probably reads all the royal bios as her playbook and thought that Kate was in the position to do the same freezing out to Rose. Where Carole miscalculated was in not realizing that Diana had more of a chance of getting away with that behavior being an aristo herself and not a climber like Kate.
Carole, a commoner, should be wary of being called the “power behind the throne.” The crown does not care for that kind of embiggening.
I have a theory that it was Carole who exposed the rose/Kate feud story to the Sun. The reason I think they did it was to ‘threaten’ rose and William with exposure of their affair if it didn’t stop, because they were scared he was getting serious and gonna make it official with rose. I don’t think they meant for it to blow up with the affair trending on twitter like it did. Also Carole has a lot of allies at The Sun, they wouldn’t have leaked anything with the risk of upsetting their royal leaker, unless they had permission. With attention on Rose and William, there’s no way they could risk being seen together, even privately. Also if William ever decided to dump Kate and go public with rose, the affair is unofficial out of the bag, meaning Kate would get to play the poor victimised wife forever. I don’t think William will ever go public with rose now because of it. It was a big risk, but it paid off, because Kate’s position is safe for now. Just my theory.
Excellent theory. I think Carol is a player and I think the stories on how she has treated her employees tells a lot about her character and selfishness. I think she absolutely recognized after the Sussexes’ first away trip that Meghan was going to be huge. However, I don’t think she was alone in recognizing this; I think William and Charles and the Queen are also major players in what went down with the Sussexes. Now, for all of them, it’s important for them to rewrite the “short term history” of the last few years. History will get the truth out, but that’s 20 or so years — at least — down the road. What’s important to all of them right now is to be seen in a certain light for these next 10 years or so.
Also, once again, that plot line of …. Harry depending on Meghan …. is trying to emasculate Harry. Although why a husband should not depend on his wife is beyond me. Emasculating and calling Harry’s mental health in to question seems to be a key plot point in ALL their agendas.
Hmmm. Your tiara may have some tinfoil on it, but I can see it. If Carole leaked the “rural rival” story as a way to sort of send a warning shot to William to get him to end the affair, as a power move….that’s not impossible. And then it backfired when William threatened lawyers . I don’t necessarily think that is what happened, but I don’t think its impossible.
One thing is for sure – I want to know who leaked the original “rural rival” story.
The only thing I’m gonna stick a red flag on that theory is Rose is somehow in love with William and would ditch it all for him. WHY would she ditch her marriage for William? Seriously. He might be a fun “dalliance” for her, since it is the aristo set and they indulge in that sort of thing– but why would she give up her spectacular life . . .for William? Her husband is extremely high up in the aristocracy, her home, Houghton Hall puts Anmer Hall to shame, she too has a castle AND she has three young children? She is going to ditch all of that for William and being chased by the Paps forever as “the other woman?”
No.
Rose is not that dumb. She has the life that Kate wants. Extraordinary privilege, a solid place in the very upper echelons of the aristocracy, wealth, real estate, children — and NONE of the BS of the palace and the “royal rota” and all those back stabbing “Men in Grey.” I’m sorry, but William is an entitled brat, he is not the kind of man who inspires wreckless abandon and passion in a woman for her to give up her already more extraordinary life.
@beck1 a lot of people like to accuse Meghan of leaking it, which I wouldn’t blame her for at all, but the biggest give away that it wasn’t her was that it leaked first in the Sun. Harry and Meghan have no allies there and are suing them so that rules them out completely. Ma Middleton does have her allies there which for me makes her the strongest suspect. By the time it reached the daily mail, William had jumped ahead of the story by being the one who ‘tried to heal their rift’. Then Richard Kay wrote is ass kissing piece inadvertently blaming Meghan as the leaker.
@ja lowcountry attacking Harry’s ‘mental health’ means they fear he’s gonna spill some legit tea. This is a move the kardashians do all the time whenever they break up with someone and are scared they are gonna reveal their secrets. Notice how all the kardashian men always have something wrong with them, Lamar was a drug addict, Scott a drunk, Kanye is crazy, Tristan a cheater, Caitlin’s transformation, tyga was broke…. they all were discredited for something, that way the men are always in the wrong and the Kardashian’s are always the innocent ones, and no one will believe anything bad their ex’s say.
I think they fear harry may drop a few bombshells about them, but I don’t think he will, he’s smarter than that. They also tried to make diana look ‘crazy’ too.
@what…now. we don’t know anything about is rose, she’s an enigma, therefore we have no idea what she wants or even why she would want William in the first place. I personally think rose is more like kate, the fact she married some old aristo who is apparently in the closet goes to show she is willing to bypass real love for money and status. Also even if rose has no intentions of officially being with William, doesn’t mean that Kate and ma Middleton weren’t threatened by her. I don’t think Meghan ever intended to be a threat to Kate at all, but that didn’t stop them from seeing her as a threat, that must be taken down.
@FebruaryPisces – I definitely don’t think it was Meghan. Everything else aside, like you said, they are suing the Sun and I just don’t think they would do that if the Sun had any kind of real dirt on them (i.e. knowing that they started the rural rival story.)
I agree with WhatNow that I don’t think Rose actually wants to marry William, but like you (FP) said, that wouldn’t necessarily be the point. Rose would still be considered a threat by the Middletons.
@becks1 I wouldn’t be surprised if William gloated about his relationship with rose to piss Kate off. He may threaten to dump Kate all the time for Rose. Kate begrudgingly let’s him cheat, but catching feelings is another thing. Kate knows all it takes is for one woman to capture his heart, and she’s done, 20 years of hustle down the drain. I can’t imaging William and rose working out if they were officially together. I think side chicks for William are a form of escapism. If he wifed rose, she’d become apart of his dull royal reality.
“The crown does not care for that kind of embiggening” made me think of how Kate has been embiggened with all these articles about how she’s keeping the royal family together during the sussexit crisis, comforting the queen (!!!), and guiding the family into the future. I’m wondering now if Will and Kate (or someone else?) aren’t liking the spotlight being on them so much, aren’t liking that people are looking into their behavior and lack of support for H and M, aren’t enjoying the scrutiny of what they actually DO and how much money they spend, and if they’re trying to throw it back to Carole now. “Oh no, don’t look to us for answers. We’re not nearly as big and powerful as we’ve been made out to be. It’s actually Carole! Pay attention to her!”
I had a good laugh reading an article suggesting the queen has taken Kate into her confidence and consulting her on how the monarchy should precede going forward. Some of these people would make good comedic writers, if they weren’t so pathetic otherwise.
No, I don’t think Carole is the one who encouraged Kate on this. Carole is a lot smarter than that. In spite of the downright horrible way the aristocrats have treated her and Kate over the years, she still knows the value of staying on their good side and sucking up to them as much as possible, which is exactly how they like things. She would have never tried to nuke a friendship with someone like Rose Hanbury, who has the exact sort of social clout that Kate desperately needs. The scuppering of the friendship was all on Kate, I think, and it was likely because Rose was being indiscreet (“everyone knows it’s an affair”). I believe that Rose is the one who leaked the info to the press because she knew that 1) William would shut it all down before it ever got any traction and 2) she was putting Kate in place in turn and reminding her that Kate might be the HRH but Rose is still the person in charge in the Turnip Toff crew.
Kate would fit in just fine during the realm of Henry the 8th, when noblemen willingly sold their daughters to kings as mistresses as a way to gain power, The young women had no say in the matter–they did as they were told, and their mothers were as ruthless in the pursuit of power as the fathers. Imagine being raised to be nothing and nobody–an empty vessel through which other people live their ambitions. Imagine your only value being your looks and your fertility. It’s 2020, and people are holding her up as a figure of an “ideal woman?” British women, are you okay with this? Your future future Queen Consort has no visible identity or voice, has no accomplishments, no passions, no seeming interests. If this is what Royal women are supposed to look like, why bother with women at all? Why not just get hologram? If joining the British royal family as a woman means that you have to erase 99% of your personality and become a thin, mute, symbol, who the hell would want to join? It was hell for Diana, and she was the “perfect package” in terms of breeding and looks. Is the British royal family where women who marry in go to die? They destroyed Diana, tried to destroy Meghan (still trying), and diminished Kate to absolute nothingness. What a toxic family.
Perfectly said!
Handmaiden’s Tale 2.0 anyone?
Nobody ever expected Diana to behave as she did. No one. Everyone assumed, because of her background and her breeding and her “temperament” (ugh) that she’d be the quiet, stoic wife and preserve the royal reputation over everything else.
Kate married William with the expectation that she’d do everything in her power to remain married to him, no matter what. The Queen and everyone else around her don’t want another repeat of the tumultuous relationship Diana and Charles had, which they believe damaged the royal reputation extensively. They want and expect Kate to hold it together and keep the image of their marriage intact as much as possible. So does Carole and the rest of the Middletons. Everyone has an investment and an opinion on the Cambridge marriage, except for Kate it seems, which is f-cking depressing when you think about it.
And what a guiding light Carole has been indeed: coddling her son-in-law and placing his feelings/opinions over those of her own daughter. All because she wants that crown in her family. I wonder if Kate feels even the slightest resentment towards her mother.
This, exactly. Carole Middleton strikes me very much as the mama from Miranda Lambert’s ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ song. “Fix your make up girl/it’s just a break up/run and hide your crazy and start acting like a lady.”
Oh dear! 🙄
Carole would happily sell Kate’s soul to the devil for money and power. In fact she already did. A lot of Kate’s issues are because in ma Middleton, wasn’t she the one who encouraged her to lose weight as a teen because boys like ‘skinny’ girls. Didn’t Ma encourage her to be ultra competitive with other women too, look how that’s turned out. She hardly has any female friends because she sees every woman as a threat that just be taken down. Every time kate wanted to give up on William it was Carole convincing her to ‘hang on in there’. I don’t believe the narrative that Carole is a ‘second mother’ to William, he can’t be arsed with Kate, so why would he give a sh*t about Carole. I think it’s just more Middleton PR. It must suck to have a mother who cares more about social status and power than her own daughters wellbeing. The entire Middletons social standing rests on William, if he decides to turn on kate, the middletons are done. If he can turn on his own blood family without provocation, then he will make mince meat out of the middletons.
I think you take on this is not only interesting, but accurate.
I do think that William sees Carole as a surrogate parent. I half suspect that a major reason he married Kate is because he wants to be close to Carole since she goes out of her way to support him no matter what.
Oof that garbage line about Harry not having a mother figure like Carole is gross. And all he has is Meghan?! Wtf is that supposed to mean? I hate how people do this thing where they frame grown men as lost little boys who need their mommy to hold their hand well into adulthood.
1. Not sure about Camilla but I mean she’s been there forever for both of them right?
2. Doria? Hello? Did we forget her?
3. Again Meghan is not a consolation prize nor a replacement mother figure for her husband.
It’s so blatantly obvious to me that this is another dig against Meghan (and Doria).
Preach it, Sass. Especially #3!!!
It’s even more insulting because the way I read it, it makes it seem like Meghan is this manipulative spouse who’s turning Harry against his own family, whereas Carole Middleton is so much better since she’s a “maternal” figure who provides much needed “wisdom” to William and is all about family.
I predicted this exact type of article over the weekend!! This article has the wrong type of spin, though. My prediction was that the Middletons were leakers and a big part of pushing Meghan out, and I thought Kate was looking extra anxious because it was going to be found out as Harry and Meghan’s lawsuit went forward and/or as the press turned on them. I predicted articles about how Carole sees the kids more often than Charles and the RF, how Carole was a “substitute mommy” for William, how Carole has always steered and stage managed their relationship and marriage, how Carole has a lot of influence over both of them family-wise but also professionally and how she was molding William into the type of King that would be most beneficial for Kate and the Midds. I thought that these types of articles would come out to show how the Middletons had been manipulating William this whole time, and that’s why it’s not his fault that he’s lazy, workshy, petulant, has a poor relationship with his dad, and has a poor relationship with his brother that ended with KP actively working to push out Harry and Meghan. “It was Carole all along and poor Will was caught up in her clutches. She manipulated him with cheese toast! Now that we’ve found it out though, we can rehabilitate William, fix his laziness and petulance, and bring him back into the RF fold to be the King he’s supposed to be!” That’s the sort of thing I was thinking would happen.
Maybe this is step one, though. Just a statement/reminder of facts. Perhaps it will eventually twist to include “and this is a problem!” I’m thinking this might be a subtle way to blame anything wrong with the Cambridges on Carole Middleton, secret Machiavellian “power behind the throne.” When has “power behind the throne” ever really been a good thing? A compliment? It’s generally meant to imply manipulation and ulterior motives.
Good points, Amy Too. Never underestimate the determination of William to embiggen himself by throwing everyone under the bus.
However, Carole Middleton did sacrifice her daughter’s personhood to place herself in this position. So as far as I care, run that damn bus over her and her husband. I go back to what kind of mother urges her daughter to stay in a situation where she’s consistently disregarded and disrespected?
Ultimately I think the battle is between Charles and William. William apparently has a lot of issues simmering below the surface. I’m just coming back to reading about him after not paying any attention since he was a kid. So I don’t pretend to know what he’s capable of, of his own volition. What I’ve seen so far isn’t very warm and fuzzy.
I’ll never forget the video of Carole & Kate watching William doing something. Carole was smacking gum and being smug. Kate smiles at her mother, but as soon as Carole wasn’t looking the happy facade and the smile dropped. That image has stayed with me for years. One of the few times I actually felt sorry for Kate.
Oh no, guest with a cat, I’m totally fine with Carole Middleton being exposed for the manipulative, daughter’s soul-selling, leaky person that she is. I just think that it’s going to eventually be spun to paint William as an innocent sweet guy, on his way to becoming a lovely Prince, who was just looking for a mommy figure when he fell into the clutches of the manipulative Middletons who then FORCED him into becoming a petulant, lazy, coddled, man-baby who, at their behest, cut off his father and leaked things about brother, refused to work, and spurned his duty to crown and country. The idea being that if they could just get rid of the Middletons then poor William could be rehabilitated, all of the bad habits they instilled in him would fall by the wayside, and he could be back to being the hardworking, upstanding, princely prince that he really was all along. So nothing that William did between the years 2000-2020 were actually his fault. If it comes out that he had an affair for sure? He was trying to escape the Middletons. If it comes out that he personally called up the tabloids everyday to say horrible things about Harry and Meghan? He was just doing what Carole told him to. But now he’s a new person! Everything is forgiven!!
Whereas what’s actually happening is that Carole Middleton just helps William to be the huge asshole that he always has been and always will be. Because she’s also an asshole.
Excellent theory AmyToo. And, the theory above that Carole leaked the Rose story to pull William back in line is interesting as well. Could this be William setting them up for a fall as payback? I mean, most of us already believe he sacrificed his brother. If indeed he was a player in that, then no one is safe — not even his second mother. This story is more and more a Machiavellian horror story by the moment. Can they all be that far down the rabbit hole?
An interesting note about this: Phil Dampier, who is quoted above as saying Carole is the power behind the throne, is also the one who wrote the original Sun article saying that Meghan owes the success of her Smartworks launch to Kate, which triggered that whole hilarious Twitter meltdown giving Kate credit for everything and anything under the sun. So he’s definitely in Camp Cambridge.
@Leigh. Phil definitely hates Meghan. Someone on twitter found some older tweets of his and he is a huge Chelsy Davy fan. He wishes her a happy birthday every year and wants Harry to get back together with her. I’m thinking she might have leaked some stories in the past since he is such a fan. These RR love the ones that give them leaks. It’s probably one of the reasons they hate Meghan. She doesn’t give them leaks.
@Amy Too, I am totally with you. Normal Bill is going to need a scapegoat. He stood by while his brother, his sister in law and his infant nephew were driven out of the country. And THEN he goes to scold a bunch of movie stars about diversity? This is not a good look for Normal Bill. The tabloid set might think things are peachy keen but those aren’t the people that Normal Bill wants to impress. Normal Bill wants to impress the WORLD and right now, the world is mostly pro-Sussex.
Normal Bill is going to need a scapegoat and who better than Ma Middleton who is probably getting way too big for her britches anyway. Normal Bill probably wants to keep these climbers in line. ‘Power behind the throne’? Comparisons to HIS MOTHER, St. Diana of Spencer? Oh hell no. Normal Bill isn’t going to put up with that.
I’ll bet that Normal Bill spent a minute in Doria’s presence and got a feeling of what it would be like to be around a woman who wasn’t pushing her daughter at you all the time. Doria isn’t posh, but she’s comfortable in her own skin. This story might claim that Harry needs someone like Carole in his life but I’ll bet that Harry is perfectly happy with the mother in law he has.
Diana would be very disappointed in William. IMO.
Even if this is a subtle way to blame everything on Carole Middleton, the simple fact is that this didn’t come from William. Barring an extreme circumstance, I don’t think William will ever actually throw the Middletons under the bus. It’s not because they have too much dirt on him, but rather because he genuinely does feel close to them and indebted to them and there is an emotional connection there that he doesn’t want to sever. He has no one except for Carole Middleton who’d be willing to be his surrogate mommy. I don’t doubt for a single moment that, even more than Kate, William is the one who relies heavily on Carole for emotional support. He sees Carole as the type of parent and the family that he never got, primarily because she likely goes out of her way to validate and support him behind the scenes in a way that Charles and the Queen never did and still don’t.
And Carole, for her part, cares deeply about making sure that Kate remains married to William so that she can continue to exert her power and influence over the RF. This is essentially her life’s work, and she’s not going to let that get away for anything. Carole has figured out what makes William tick, which is constant adulation. She likely validates him and supports him in ways that the RF never does and never will, which is exactly what William wants.
“Harry has missed out by not having that influence and someone he can turn to in this country and now seems dependent on Meghan.””
What the what!?!?!? Harry has had a busy and rewarding life and was/is dependent on no one. To insinuate that he was lost until Meghan came along is utter bullshit and is spinning the dogwhistling nonsense. I think Carole must be one of the most manipulative, spiteful people on the planet. Bill falls for her mollycoddling because she knows his achilles heel – his ego – and works it like a pro. Despite her 2 daughters marrying royal and rich, all 3 of her kids seem to be workshy which, I guess, is what happens when you over-manage them…they lose their focus and work ethic which Harry and Meghan have in spades and overshadowed her precious Queen Consort-to-be.
Maybe this is Charles behind this … hiding the fact that he has taken 202 private jet trips in the last 6 days. 😜
Tin foil tiara – what if Charles is the leakier of this story? Dan Wooten is written as a Cambridge toady but that creep is only loyal to himself. This story makes William look weak after selling he was part of the conclaves for Andrew and the Sussexes. Not a good look for a future king. No matter what the Middletons will always be seen as the posh Markles in the eyes of aristos. The Rose bush trimming is a reminder that their social standing will be gone with a stroke of a pen singing a final divorce decree.
I feel a bit conspiracy theory about it myself. Dan Wooten is so publicly linked to the Cambridges because of his friendship with someone in their office, which we all conveniently know about. No one would look at Charles.
This story also has a bunch of subtle digs at Carole. Note the multiple comments about her “humble” background, and how she was a “former BA air hostess.” Not a mention of the fact that Carole built herself a multimillion pound company that was quite profitable for a long time. No mention of the incredible wealth the Middletons likely still have. Considering the history of how the aristos have treated the Middletons with not a small amount of classism, and the especially pointed digs they’ve taken at Carole being a former air hostess over the years, the whole article reads less as an embiggening of Carole and more as a way to paint her as this machiavellian shadow force, lol.
WE BEEN KNEW!!🙄 & I’ll bet they’re repeating the “sleeping on her lap & stroking his head” scenario!!
I just wonder what Kate’s life would be like, and how much different the UK would be, if Mama Middleton hadn’t been so crown thirsty. I see Kate with a terribly moderately wealthy husband of her own and a flock of children, very active in school events, selling wine charms on Etsy and going to vintage shops for fun. She didn’t marry The Prince but she is happier. Yes, I think Kate wants to be Queen Consort Catherine and she wasn’t without her own agency in all of this. But I feel like if someone had urged her to think more and she hadn’t been pushed so much, she wouldn’t have married Wills at all and her life would be better.
Camilla Tominey gave the game away when she posted on twitter about wondering what was going though Carole Middleton’s head when the news that Harry and Meghan were “stepping back” from Royal Duties was confirmed.
The Cambridge/Middletons were totally the leaks and behind the smear campaign against Meghan. They saw Meghan as a threat and wanted her gone, just as I’m sure other courtiers in BP and CH likely did, only they were the main instigators of it all. If they couldn’t drive Meghan away, they at least hoped they could break her spirit or something and control her.
However, it all backfired when Harry walked away *with* Meghan. I’m more than sure Carole, Kate, William, etc., didn’t see *that* part of driving Meghan away coming. I think Harry leaving is part of why Kate looked dower right after the news broke. They all did this, and are now responsible for a blood prince walking out on them along with his wife and kid.
IMO, Camp Cambridge/Middleton are behind the ridiculous stories about Kate missing Harry to the point that it sounds like she’s in love with him, and that recent ridiculous story of William flying to Canada on Cressida’s word (as if Harry still talks and confides in the woman that was hand-picked by people like Ingrid Seward to try and get Harry to marry) to bring Harry and Archie – but not Meghan mind you – home. (As if Meghan would just let William and whomever whisk her baby son away from her, ha!) They effed up wrt their smear campaign against Meghan by Harry choosing to leave with her.
I believe what anon said when this all broke was true: that Harry had proof that they were behind it, and presented that proof as leverage to both Charles and The Queen. I don’t think Harry would ever leak that proof, but I’ve no doubt someone from either BP or CH *would* to use again KP/the Cambridges, and especially against the meddling Middletons. For all the social climbing that family, mainly though Carole, has done, all those people are deeply entrenched in that whole British social class belief and system: and what has happened is that a bunch of commoners helpt to make a blood prince walk away from the Royal fold. And the other blood prince was influenced to help do so by those same commonors. The other royals and couriers will totally protect William on this, along with the kids – because again, they are blood Royal – but Kate, Carole and the rest of the Middletons are SOL and will have to use their pull in the tabs to protect themselves. And I think those recent stories about Kate’s over workload (haha), Kate missing Harry desperately (eh?) and William going to bring Harry depressed and William going to Canada to bring him and Archie back (sure Jan) were all part of that attempt. This story in the sun *might* be part of all that as well. Though I’m not 100% sure it’s a compelty positive story, and maybe could be leaked by a rival camp, maybe setting the stage for painting Carole as the manipulator behind Sussexit and getting William to help do it. We’ll see.
Great theory. But I think if there is a divorce there goes the Middleton pull with the tabloids. The royal reporters want the blood royals and taking down the Middletons is too muck click bait to resist.
Oh, Kate and William won’t get divorced, even if some rival courtiers may want to make such a thing happen. Not only do Kate and Carole not want such a thing, I don’t think William wants one either honestly. Not because he’s deeply in love with her or anything, but because he can trust her, and doesn’t try to upstage him in any way, and will just put up with whatever he wants to do (or *whome*-ever hehe).
I’m just saying if it all comes out that the Cambs/Midds were behind the smearing of Meghan, the Midds will be forced to take all the blame fallout from it, as William will be protected from taking any blame because of his status.
It’s certainly not that big of a leap for reporters or readers to go from “Carole Middleton is advising the Cambridges in the wake of Sussexit,” to “Carole Middleton was advising the Cambridges during Sussexit,” to “Carole Middleton advised the Cambridges to make Sussexit happen.”
I don’t think the Middletons would have done anything without William’s approval. He was in on this and they helped him, along with the rest of the KP staff who took issue with Meghan’s existence from day one. The Middletons are the ones who have oodles of contacts with the tabloid press, which they’ve cultivated over the years for this exact reason. Plus, using the Middletons in this way gives William a jail free card in a sense. Whatever happens, they’ll have to take the fall, and he’ll get to keep his hands clean. God knows that home boy has never picked up a phone to blab to any tabloid reporter unless he’s calling them up to threaten them with legal action for publishing the details of his affair.
Also, I don’t think Kate will ever be induced into leaving William, and frankly, I don’t think she’ll ever be “allowed” to as long as Carole Middleton is in charge. And I don’t think Kate actually wants to. She seems exactly as mercenary as her mother, in that she’s interested in the position she’s been afforded as a royal. And while William might be a blood royal, he has far fewer friends within the people who matter more than him in the pecking order, aka the Queen and especially Charles. Being a stroppy, arrogant, rude a–hole behind the scenes means that there are far fewer people who are invested in wanting to protect your reputation if it ever came down to it. William has thus far gotten the press to cover for him all on his own, either through his own clout or by using the Middleton’s tabloid press relationships, especially after his marriage. I don’t think he’d look to the Queen or Charles for help if it ever came down to a divorce.
Oh, I don’t think William and Kate will ever get divorced. If push comes to shove, she and the rest of her family, especially Carole, will take the fall over Sussexit if it ever comes out in full daylight that The Cambridges/Middletons were the ones sanctioning the smears. (And it very well could come out in open court).
However, Carole and Kate didn’t go through 10 years of waiting to give it all up in a divorce. No way. Even if William wanted it, and I don’t think he does want one, even with his affair. I think one of the reasons he married her after all of those years is because, despite everything, he can trust Kate not to turn on him, or try to be bigger than him or anything like that. She willingly defers and puts up with everything because of the status of being married to him and what that brings her. He give her that, she gives him a wife that won’t upstage him and will let him basically do what he wants – or at least will put up with it.
So no. Will and Kate are long hall in this. I feel firmly convinced of that. Even if I don’t think they make each other really happy, even if William’s affair with Rose gets exposed with 100% proof to the general public, Kate will stick. And he’ll stick with her.
Why on earth would she run away? She got the ring and waited years for it. If William wants out he will leave Kate. Consorts have been expendable and if William meets someone else he will move on. Kate may put up with everything but that does not mean William will not be able to leave her.
We know what happened to Rasputin. Careful there Carole.
No matter the criticism was (and continues to be) flung at Kate, at least she doesn’t run away. She was ridiculed for years and years, so was Fergie for that matter – it comes with the “job”. Something the American didn’t understand or care about tbh.
Lol. Did you get lost on your way to royaldish?
Kate is saying because she doesn’t want to give up the riches and the other itches to become HRH and then queen. She’ll put up with anything, including a cheating royal spouse, to keep it. Charles has proven adultery is not a deal breaker for the throne and William has an heir and two spares. Kate’s services are no longer required.
Meghan, the AMERICAN 🇺🇸 you want to dismiss put in more work in three years than Kate did in her eight. Oh and Kate’s patronage the Art Room just went belly up. Kate didn’t put in enough effort to come up with ways to help keep it afloat. But just show smile and wave which is all she is good at.
What “job”? Having babies, getting blow-outs, exercising with a personal trainer, working with a dietitian so she can eat the least amount of calories without collapsing at her occasional photo-op? There’s really nothing for her to run away from other than her dickhead of a husband.
no idea what royal dish is, but i’ve found things to admire in kate as well as meghan, just as i find things to criticize about both of them. it is possible to do so without deifying one.
fwiw, i’ve always found meghan’s face to be much more classically beautiful and her form to be more elegant than kate, but at the same time i do like quite a few items of kate’s style.
and now i must google this royal dish you speak of.
It’s terribly easy to not “run away” when you’re doing the bare minimum.
Diana was dismissed by Charles after she had the heir and spare. If William wants out, he will get out after the precedence of Charles dismissing Diana.
Wow she resembles a weasel in that pic. Hmmmm, rightly so.
And which “Diana-type mother” is she? The one who cried all night in the bathroom while William pushed tissues under the door? Or the one who took her sons to homeless shelters and McDonalds? The truth is, aside from the stories in the media or from “sources”, the public, including Carol, have no idea what type of mother she was to the boys or what type of mother she would have been to the men they’ve become. What we do know is that Diana continued working with her patronages and added new ones after she divorced Charles. So, we can suppose she would have encouraged William to do more public work and marry someone who was very similar.
What is disturbing is how Carol, instead of Kate, is touted as the one William depends on and how Carol seems to see herself as the new queen mum. She does realize that TQ is still alive and we still need to get through Charles’s reign, right? And. given the longevity of both the Mountbatten and Windsor families, it is entirely plausible that the elder Middletons won’t live to see King Normal Bill take the throne.
I will give respect where respect is due–the Middletons definitely have the healthiest familial relationships out of the whole sorry bunch. They far, FAR outstrip the Windsors when compared directly to them. At least the Middleton sibs have never thrown each other under the bus for popularity, unlike Charles and William. They know that if one of them does well, they all do well, so they boost each other up.
The rest of it seems like a rehash of old gossip tbh. We’ve always known that William glommed onto the Middletons from the very beginning, especially Carole. The Midds have always gone out of their way to treat him like a prodigal son, and William, for his part, has always been rumoured to prefer the Middletons because he finds their family dynamics and close, tight knit relationship a refreshing change from his own family. He sees in the Middletons the idealized family that he’s always wanted to grow up in, the family he wants for himself, which is a solidly middle-class, but incredibly cash rich family with two parents who aren’t divorced who dote on their kids and are always there for them.
Sorry I don’t see anything Healthy about the Middleton lifestyle. Pippa and Kate were apparently encouraged to look for wealthy husbands. Kate rarely worked and was “available” when William called. Pippa found a rich husband. And now James is being married off.
They’re the rich set, they don’t need to “work”, in fact I would prefer they didn’t take away job prospects from people who actually need the pay. And why shouldn’t a parent want their kids to marry and have families. It’s a normal stage of life (for most people).
I’m Carole’s age, and my “commoner” daughters AND their spouses can count on me for babysitting, emotional support in rough times, and occasionally a calming presence in the midst of chaotic situations. That doesn’t make them helpless or my pawns; we are a very supportive and close family.The fact that Carole is a loving and supportive matriarch is not indicative to me that she’s “the power behind the throne” or anything else Machiavellian. People here always ascribe to Kate that she thinks people are “peasants”, but I’d guess she is much more down to earth and grounded due to her mother’s background and influence.
Her mother of the ‘top brick in the chimney’, chase after the aristocrats and try to be like them mummy? There’s nothing down to earth with the Middletons.
All three of Carole’s adult children are overgrown adolescents, incapable of making their own way in the world. Always with mummy there to clean up the mess. One of the most telling things? We never see Carole one-on-one with Charlotte or Louis. And never with Arthur, Pippa’s son. Her investment in being ‘best granny ever’ is only in the grandchild that is headed to the throne.
Maybe she doesn’t want to show off and doesn’t want to be in the spotlight too much.
For me their dynamics is really healthy and Carole really is supportive of her kids.
Carole not wanting to show off? Since when in twenty years has Carole not wanted PR and to trade on her royal connection. She made a point of being repeatedly papped with George, but never with the other two kids or Arthur.
Co-dependence is not healthy, and the Middletons are textbook co-dependent.
Raising three children who cannot function as adults. Moving in for months on end to keep the peace between W&K, with the staff quitting after five months of Carole. Those staff leaking about Prickly Princess Kate being a pain in the a$$, Carole coddling William and making his cheesy toast, and being his confidant. Carole is far, far too involved in that marriage. If she wasn’t, the relationship would have died a natural death at Uni.
Just because there are no photographs of her with her other grandchildren doesn’t mean she’s not with them!! I’m sure she’s an involved grandmother with all of them. Why demonize a close family? And just because Carole helps a lot doesn’t mean her kids couldn’t cope without her. A telling fact is that one of the things people most often say after meeting Kate is that she was so down to earth. She did do her own shopping all the time early in their marriage, and no one ever reported any high handedness, etc. Just because you want to do the most to see your children do well socially, it doesn’t mean you can’t be a nice person. Is the real crime she was ambitious? Good for her.
The Middleton PR says Kate’s down to earth, the staff have said the opposite. She’s very much like her fake posh accent – all show, trying to be above everyone.
Carole is always cognizant of PR. See the past two years of pro-Middleton PR stories from the MOS (Middleton hired PR hacks as editors) and Tattler (Kate’s acquaintance from Uni). If she was out with the other three grandkids, they’d be photographed. Just as Louis was photographed out with Nanny Maria last week. She’s aiming to be the power behind the throne with George.
Having ambition to be successful in business is one thing. Having your ambition being selling your daughters off to the highest bidder because you’re a social climber? I see nothing admirable in Carole’s behavior. Why does anyone raise up an unhealthy, co-dependent, social climbing family as something to admire? There is nothing admirable in that tacky family.
BARF
The have a much greater burden of actual having to “work”and get their arses kiss.
I think she is intelligent, worked hard and then pushed Kate to not work but reach “higher” – to become a royalty. Honestly, Kate met William while she was very young and all her adult life was about him!
Carole, Kate, and Pippa designed their lives around Kate and Pippa marrying wealthy men. Never being strong women in their own right, but merely being an appendage to whatever wealthy man was stupid enough to marry them. Kate schemed for years to get into William’s circle, from Marlborough/Downe to semesters abroad to getting in with Emily to get close to William. She has agency, she chose to do this to herself.