Prince Harry was tired of being the ‘gooseberry’ to Prince William & Kate

Sovereign Lunch For Foreign Heads of State

I feel like we’re all familiar with Katie Nicholl at this point? She’s a royal reporter who is firmly in Camp Cambridge, and even more than that, she oftens behaves as if she’s the Middleton family’s spokesperson. She writes for Vanity Fair, but she’s also been giving away random “exclusives” to other media/gossip outlets for several months, and I’m still struggling to understand why that is. Anyway, Nicholl gave an interview to Entertainment Tonight about Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s Finding Freedom. She talked about how she wasn’t even able to get her hands on an advance copy, so she’s basically just summarizing the excerpts we’ve already discussed, then adding her own “keen” spin on everything. Some highlights:

On Finding Freedom: “Even Oprah Winfrey wasn’t able to get an advance copy of this book. It has literally been kept under lock and key by the Times and The Sunday Time. I think it’s fair to say this is no Andrew Morton’s Diana. However, the level of detail in this book is quite remarkable. What the authors have managed to do is get a level of detail which is unprecedented. It’s clear that they have spoken to numerous sources. There is a lot of speculation that they have spoken to Harry and Meghan themselves, something that the authors have denied, and something the Sussexes’ team have been keen to also play down. They say that Meghan and Harry have had no official involvement with this biography, but it’s very clear that the authors have had access to sources incredibly close to Meghan and Harry.”

Opening up old wounds: “This has made the book compelling and fascinating, but for the royal family, this book has been damaging because it has opened up old wounds. I think what’s very clear is that Meghan and Harry have wanted to get their side of the story across. This is clearly a couple who feel quite aggrieved by the fact that they’ve never been able to answer their critics. They have never been able to address incorrect reporting…To give Meghan and Harry the chance, if not through their own voices, then through the voices of friends, confidants and people that they trust, to get their side of the story out there. They feel — Meghan, particularly — that she has been muted for most of her royal life, as short as it was. She didn’t have the opportunity to speak out to address her critics to get her side of events out.”

Before he married Meghan, Harry felt like the third wheel: “One of the themes that seems to be recurrent in Finding Freedom is that Harry felt very much like a spare wheel. While the media loved this idea of a royal threesome (Kate Middleton, Prince William and Prince Harry), for Harry, he very much felt like a spare wheel. At points [in time], I even heard him complaining that he felt like the gooseberry, the third one along at the date. He never quite fitted in. I think that while Kate and William went out of their way to make sure Harry felt like a part of this team, this trio, Harry always wanted to be his own person. I think Meghan has very much been the catalyst in giving him that confidence to break free from William and Kate, and to break free from that trio dynamic, which was at times cozy and convenient, but actually wasn’t really what he wanted.”

Harry wanted out: “She gave him a new confidence, but I think the truth is that, for a long while, Prince Harry has wanted out. This was a prince who’d spoken quite vocally about the restrictions of being a royal, the weight of burden, a boy who said he wish he hadn’t at times been born a prince. I think that says a lot about Prince Harry.”

[From ET]

The whole thing about “gooseberry” is just so… odd. I don’t think Nicholl is completely wrong there, at least about how Harry was increasingly uncomfortable with the “royal threesome” vibe. It was clear that William and Kate hoped that it would be that way forever, that Harry would never marry, that they could hide behind Harry and take credit for Harry’s ideas and his work. William wanted to keep Harry dependent on him. Kate wanted to keep Harry all to herself, so she could preen for him and everyone would write about how flirty they were. Kate likes all of the male attention for herself. But again, that just shows how short-sighted Kate and William were – it’s not like Harry was just going to be alone forever just to make them happy. And I still believe that no matter who he married, W&K would have taken issue with his wife. They would have made his wife’s life a living hell no matter who she was.

Duke and duchess of Cambridge

The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge And Prince Harry Visit Bacon's College

The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge And Prince Harry Visit Bacon's College

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.

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99 Responses to “Prince Harry was tired of being the ‘gooseberry’ to Prince William & Kate”

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  1. Priscila says:

    Kaiser and these shots! I tell you! Hilarious!

    Kate looking at Harry as if he is dessert—then we realize William is also in the picture! Lol!

    Haha! Even Katie Nichols mentioned the royal treesome, and did not deny it was cozy – for William and Kate that its- so I say maybe the Middleton´s check bounced this month and she is giving them a hint?

    lol–lol

    • Love says:

      Harry gave Catherine (as I hear she likes to be called. Soooooo much more regal😉) the “attention” and respect that William didn’t… because it’s very obvious H is a gentleman. So when he found his Queen, she struggled to reconcile with that, because she became truly invisible… because let’s be real. William doesn’t SEE her

      Sad…

      • L84Tea says:

        That now famous photo of William leaving Kate behind to walk alone while he walks off under an umbrella–and Harry clearly calling to his attention “um, did you forget something?”–sums this up perfectly.

      • notasugarhere says:

        The Jubilee flotilla was a mess, with William forced to spend hours publicly with his wife. Clenched his jaw and fists the entire time. Leaving Kate behind in the rain was typical – he just wanted away from her.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        Wiinot the Rose Gardener is such a loser.

      • Sunday says:

        ITA, Love, and to take it a step further:

        When someone like Kate has a disinterested, unaffectionate partner and is suddenly treated like an actual person by someone else, it is quite common for them to misunderstand that behavior. (“If my own partner doesn’t show me this much care, then surely this person must have feelings for me.”)

        So, I think it would be quite natural for Kate to flatter herself into thinking that Harry was kind and engaging and respectful because he was in love with her, not because he’s a gentleman who treats other people with common human decency. I’m not saying that Kate wanted to be with Harry, or even that she had feelings for him, merely that I can see how having someone around who you thought liked you would be a great confidence booster (especially for someone as insecure as Kate).

        Now, imagine that bubble spectacularly bursting once Meghan comes along. Kate now sees clearly how a gentleman treats someone he loves, and it is devastating because of how obviously it is lacking in her own relationship. Jealousy was inevitable and the rest is history.

        (Disclaimer: I am NOT defending Kate, just giving an unsolicited psychological analysis. Lol you’re welcome.)

      • bettyrose says:

        Sunday,
        I think you’re right. It’s not that Kate fancied an affair with Harry; she just wanted him around for the fun and flirtation. That’s not necessarily sinister until it takes the form of hostility to Harry’s new partner.

      • Nic919 says:

        Sunday I agree with your assessment. Kate was desperate to be treated with decency which Harry did to everyone and she may have thought it was more. But her illusions clearly ended when she saw the respect with which Harry treated Meghan and it was another reason to dislike her.

      • Tessa says:

        I do think Kate liked being the “only woman” accompanied by two Princes to an event. I think that since she has no close women friends (apparently) she would be resentful of Harry getting married and having his own significant other. She spent years trying to keep other women away from William and even before they dated. She got used to seeing other women as “rivals.” I also think WIlliam always had a rather condescending attitude about his brother and got bossy with him. He also could not take the high road and be nice to Harry’s choice of bride.

    • Nic919 says:

      The pics are the best.

    • Myriam says:

      Everyone talks about these photos, but I’ve never seen them. I’m trying to google it, but I still don’t see them. WHY????!!!!!

      • Lady D says:

        Good question. Someone had a link to the picture in a story that ran about 4-6 months ago. It came up no problem. It showed William and his umbrella, half way down a set of stairs, with Kate and Harry standing at the top, with Harry yelling at William and pointing at Kate. I think Harry was in some kind of uniform, but I’m not positive about it. I believe they were getting off a boat if that helps.

      • truth fairy says:

        I was able to find it a year ago but no luck so far

        CBers we need to track down this video!

      • notasugarhere says:

        I don’t have a link to the video. It was when they were exiting the Jubilee flotilla boat, where Kate matched the upholstery in her red dress. All the other royal ladies got the memo and wore white or white with pastel print. Kate in red blended in with the drapes.

  2. Astrid says:

    Wow, I forgot how young they were!

  3. Lala11_7 says:

    It is AMAZING how much chemistry Kate had with Harry and NOT with her husband😁🤣😄

    And I agree with EVERYTHING Kaiser wrote!

  4. Who ARE These People? says:

    Kate’s gaze at Harry was as Melania’s gaze was at Trudeau.

  5. Edna says:

    Its embarrassing the way Kate is looking at Harry in those pictures. Also, I wish American outlets would stop using these Royal Rota maggots. And Katy Nichols, just like the rest of the BM, want to paint a picture and insinuate the Sussexes had a hand in this book and it’s a mouthpiece for the Sussexes. Other Royal writers have been given “unprecedented access” to write their books as well.

  6. Betsy says:

    “I think what’s very clear is that Meghan and Harry have wanted to get their side of the story across.”

    No, I think what’s very clear is that Meghan and Harry would probably have tolerated all the usual fckery from the press; Harry had already lived it and Meghan knew as much as anybody on the outside could know about having your life reported on constantly. What they could not tolerate was being undercut from doing work (what even is the point of them if they’re not allowed to work?) and I think it had to be insanely cutting to realize that the primary betrayal is coming from your brother and his wife.

    I think if he hadn’t met a Meghan he would have probably just done his work, allowing it to be mis-attributed to Lazy Willie. I’m sad that we don’t get to see Harry and Meghan like we used to, but I’m glad he met her and I’m glad that he’s in a better place.

  7. Zazu says:

    It’s like Katie Nichole wants to walk a tight line here kind of saying there’s no blame, this is just an unfortunate series of events. Harry didn’t want to be a third wheel. Meghan wanted to share her side of things. William and Kate went out of their way to include Harry (yeah, right), but that just wasn’t the position he wanted to be in. So here we are. Oops.

    It’s bizarre. Does she want to appeal to H&M fans because this is a US publication? She talks out of both sides of her mouth. I think she’s right about Harry’s motivations. But clearly side steps the active campaign waged against Meghan by tabloid trolls, aided and abetted by leaking viper courtiers and the Royal Family, who at best just shrugged at Meghan’s pain (“don’t be so sensitive Harry, we’ve all been targets, there isn’t any racism going on”). Or more likely, orchestrated some of the stories and hits themselves and painted embiggening stories about their keeness and Meghan’s otherness. Ugh.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      “It’s like Katie Nichole wants to walk a tight line here kind of saying there’s no blame, this is just an unfortunate series of events.”

      With regards to Worldwide Royal Watching, the worm is turning against Willnot and Kant. Katie Nicholl wants to be on which ever side of the BRF (five feet either side of the middle road) is necessary to command what ever fee$ she charges for ‘Royal Reporting” to any publication that will have her.

      What Katie Nicholl does not understand is that in the USA there is nothing in the middle of the road but a big fat yellow line and a whole bunch of dead armadillos. If you hang in the middle of the road, you will eventually get mowed down. I would guess Canada, New Zealand and Australia are much the same.

    • Livvers says:

      I definitely notice an adjustment in her messaging here. Maybe the Cambridge well is going a little dry and she wants to start appearing more “objective”?

  8. Sofia says:

    I find not only the “royal threesome” weird but how much Kate’s stans seem to harp on it. They’ll say Kate and Harry were having a secret affair and how much they really love each other. Whenever I read it I’m just like “Doesn’t Kate has a husband?”. People who claim to love Kate seem to want to ship her with her own brother-in-law instead of supporting the married relationship between her and her actual husband.

    • Becks1 says:

      YES. The comments about “how sad” it is that the threesome is broken up – and how close Harry and Kate were – well, we know that was never really true, and if they were that close, then Kate’s behavior towards Meghan is even more deplorable.
      But the fixation on Kate and Harry is super weird.

      Also, wanted to add that I agree completely with Kaiser’s take that they would have hated whoever Harry married, and made her life hell. the fact that he married a black woman who knows her own mind and is smarter and better at basically everything than Kate just tipped the scales against Meghan even more.

      • Sofia says:

        Becks, I think it’s because Kate’s stans know deep down the Cambridges probably aren’t happy together. So they pair her up with someone that they think/hope will make her happy.

        Oh they definitely would have. There was a hate account on IG back in 2015 that hated on Cressida and said Harry’s wife would never be “royal” like Kate or whatever. Like I said, this was 2015 so Meghan was never in the picture. Harry’s wife would have gotten hate no matter what but like you said, marrying Meghan worsened it

      • Nic919 says:

        Kate didn’t like Chelsy or Cressida, but it was just easier to be a snob to Meghan because she was supported by the courtiers in doing it in a way she wasn’t with the white girlfriends.

      • Tessa says:

        The weirdness of some media comments et al that he should “be with” his brother and sister in law “who love him” and “wanted to warn him about Meghan” but he “had to learn the hard way.” And Commend William as the perfect one who is so smart and so forth and so on. Really nauseating.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        @Nic919, Kate did not like Cressida because she came from a truly old aristocratic family and because of her sister Isabella Calthorpe Branson. Kate did not like Chelsy because she came from major money and is highly intelligent. Are my thoughts and theories correct?

      • Tessa says:

        Chelsy studied law which is not all that easy. I think she was so much smarter than Kate.

      • Tealie says:

        @ BayTampaBay Yes apart from you missed out the major reason Katie didn’t like Cressida and actually stopped her and Harry from getting back together in 2015.
        She was the sister of Isabel Cawthorpe who was the one that William was in love with and wanted to marry ( and actually broke up with Kate for), sited by W friends as ‘the one that got away’. Having Cressida in the family would’ve meant having Isabella (since they are very close) Which would’ve stirred Williams wondering eye for a reboot of the Charles Camilla saga threatening everything she worked for in pursuit of the QC position

      • LS says:

        Meg is biracial she’s not a black woman. She identifies as mixed race. It just annoys me a little when people act like the white side of her doesn’t exist. She’s been very vocal about being a mixed woman. That being said yes Kate was bothered by this fact and also that Meghan outshines her in every way. It was always going to be a problem. Will and Kate are extremely jealous of her.

      • February-Pisces says:

        They want kate to be married to both brothers lol. It’s funny they ‘don’t trust meghan’ but they don’t mind kate cheating on William with harry. It’s all about validating Kate’s desirability, if harry fancies Kate, then he might fancy other basic, boring bi*ches too. They want kate to ‘win’ and attractive, sexy, charismatic, intelligent, successful women like Meghan to fall flat of their face and be punished for their admirable qualities.That way they can feel better about themselves.

      • Emmitt says:

        LS,

        Meghan identifies as mixed race and she also identifies as black. You can identify as both. No one is erasing her white side and quite frankly from the way her white side has treated her and from the way her new white in-laws have treated her she should not want to identify as white.

    • Marleigh says:

      LS, you can be mixed and black in the US. There’s a tweet in 2015(?) where she called out someone who basically said the same thing you just did after Meghan was included on a list for black actresses.

  9. One thing I noticed throughout the years after Kate married in is how Kate treated Harry like she was doing him some kind of favor by having him along. She acted like SHE was the one doing HIM a favor by having Harry be part of appearances, as if SHE were the one born to the royal life and not Harry. Harry was treated as an adjunct and treated as if he were along for the ride instead of being a born blood prince and born to public life. Kate and William also treated Harry as if he’s the silly party prince instead of a seasoned royal personality and it is clear that Kate herself hasn’t learned how to handle herself in public or handle the reality of her role. Throughout appearances she was more focused on Harry instead of her husband or even the event and it has been clear that she still isn’t really seasoned enough to behave accordingly. I’ve noticed that she keeps trying to make every appearance involving her role as if she’s living the happiest life possible, despite the sadness in her eyes and it is clear that she isn’t someone who knows or accept her real place. Ever since Kate came in, it has been kind of emphasized that Kate is doing Harry a big favor by having Harry at appearances. As if Kate is being Lady Bountiful by ‘letting’ Harry go along on appearances despite the fact that before the engagement, the BRF was setting William and Harry up as being a double act.

    • El says:

      “Seasoned royal personality” is an oxymoron, sorry. Yes, even Harry. Just because he’s the least bad, doesn’t make all of them less bland.

  10. Agnieszka says:

    “Gooseberry” to someone? These are all just made-up sayings, and not the way actual British people talk, right? Lol

    • GR says:

      @AGNIESZKA – Believe it or not, I have seen English people use this term before!

    • Tessa says:

      Some years ago after Harry and Chelsy broke up and William was dating Kate the media reported WIlliam made a snide comment about his brother being a “gooseberry.”

    • Rebecca says:

      It’s a term I’ve seen used many times in books by English authors. I even saw it used on a AITA post on Reddit last week.

      • Golly Gee says:

        I’ve seen that too. PG Wodehouse uses it a lot, but the context is different. ie. his eyes were like gooseberries. And in audiobooks, British readers pronounce it “goozeberries.”

  11. Becks1 says:

    He was the third wheel and frankly I always found it a little strange because it was clearly something pushed by the royal family. When he was 20 or 22 and he and William did events together, that made sense. But by the time he was in his early 30s and still arriving at premieres etc together like they were – it started to seem a little weird. Like, he is a grown man who became a FT royal before William. Let him arrive at an event on his own if he wants.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      Or with a date or plus-one.

    • Nyro says:

      They needed Harry’s star power. Baldy and Ofwilliam alone never could stir up international interest. Their wedding was the highpoint. After that, literally no one cared.

    • Sunday says:

      It makes sense if you consider the deeply engrained misogyny and the warped values of the royal family and courtiers. Yes, they encouraged the narrative of the threesome, but it was never inappropriate coming from Kate: she was just humoring her husband’s little brother, and he was the one who admired her. This way, it feeds the public a harmless but potentially juicy, fun story, and also elevates Kate (not only does the future King love her, his brother does, too!) without making Will look like a fool (any more so than he does usually, anyway).

      • Nic919 says:

        The tabloids did pick up on it at one point though because Kate’s looks to Harry were getting a little awkward and hard to explain. It was only ever one sided but I do recall it was a topic of discussion, I think in 2015 or so.

  12. Digital Unicorn says:

    A load of rubbish from Nicholls as always – they needed this trio to hide behind. As for Top CEO, you can tell the way she used to look at and behave with Harry that she LOVED the attention from him and from also being the only woman in the Wales’s brother lives. Meghan took away a source of attention and validation from Top CEO and she’s bitter betty over it.

    • Amy Too says:

      Loving the attention of being the only woman or girl among men/boys is something I used to enjoy when I was in middle school or the early years of high school. Or going to your boyfriends house and seeing his brothers and having them all hang out with you. There was this very immature high feeling I would get by being the only girl and trying to get all the boys to notice you or like you, even if you didn’t actually want to date them. I think it came from some very, very gross and misogynistic ideas that my job was to make my boyfriend look good by having his friends or brothers be jealous of me. Or an idea that my sense of self, sense of power, sense of control of the situation was validated by having all the boys admire me. But I grew out of that by the time I was 17 years old because it’s childish and gross. It’s the puberty era version of the special feeling you would get as a child when you were the only kid in an adult space and everyone was fawning over you and calling you smart and pretty.

      I think it just goes to show how Kate has a serious case of arrested development. Like she’s permanently stuck in high school, or stuck at the age at which she first met William, or first devised her plans to “win” William and become a Princess. You’ll hear about people who seem to stop growing and maturing at the age they started using and abusing drugs, and I think for Kate, the power trip type of high she gets by being noticed/wanted/used by William (or the paps, the public, the RF, the aristos) was her drug and she stopped maturing once she started “getting high.”

      • L84Tea says:

        My MIL had/has issues like this. She only had brothers growing up and then proceeded to only have sons. She never learned how to properly deal with other women being around in general. I know she relished her Queen Bee status and enjoyed always being the only female. When I came along and started dating my now husband, she was very, very threatened by me. And it was funny because it was very subtle and she did things that usually only I noticed, but anytime I walked in the door it was very obvious to me that she did not like there being another hen in HER henhouse. We get along fine enough–I make her son happy and gave her gorgeous grandkids afterall–but to this day she still doesn’t ever seem to want to come over to our house unless we practically drag her, and I know why. It’s because she, 16 years later, still doesn’t like being somewhere where she isn’t the Queen. If we’re in my house, it’s sort of “my castle”, not hers.

        I believe Kate has a lot of issues similar to this, but in a lot of twisted, complicated ways. She’s going to be a fun MIL one day.

      • Nic919 says:

        Kate also enjoyed being the only female of a certain age and had no competition in terms of youngest or prettiest royal. Kate looks quite average really but since the next closest in age is Sophie, Kate benefitted from that. But obviously Meghan is beautiful and really makes Kate look plain so she is struggling with that along with aging generally and since she has no substance outside of being thin and “young” she is going to have a hard time in the next years to come.

  13. Watson says:

    Off topic: kate used to be so cute. The fuller face made her so youthful and vibrant! She was so beautiful pregnant and with post pregnancy weight as well. I suppose we all end up with the face we deserve though. Too many ciggies, sun, weight loss and petty back stabbing.

    • Becks1 says:

      Also, my god, William’s hair really did run away from him fast, didn’t it?

      • Watson says:

        William was so beautiful in his teens! The hair was glorious. Alas, genetics and the type of racist / classist personality that would laugh at an uber driver getting frisked eventually catches up to you.

    • Digital Unicorn says:

      I agree – she looked great then. Now, she looks old and exhausted. And thats not because of her ‘work’ or the children. And it’s not because of the ‘restrictions’ of RF, it’s down to her deteriorating relationship with William – the stress of that is written all over her face and the body language between them.

      You know what they say – at some point you get the face you deserve.

    • L84Tea says:

      Not only was she cute, she actually used to be borderline sexy. When I look back to some of the clothes she wore in the early days of her marriage, her dress selections are like night and day compared to now–hello, that black strapless velvet gown she wore to some awards ceremony…I had forgotten how many beautiful dresses she used to wear that actually highlighted how in shape she was and made her look youthful and well put together. Somewhere along the line she apparently decided for herself that she needed to dress more like QEII rather than a woman her own age.

      • notasugarhere says:

        That black strapless velvet was one of her many weird Diana cosplay outfits, complete with ruffle around the bodice.

      • Watson says:

        Agreed she was definitely way more sexy. Her clothing and her facial expressions just seemed more alive back then. Now she is trapped in Diana cosplay and row upon row of buttons.

      • Becks1 says:

        She wore that great tan/beige dress when she met the Obamas the first time, she had that Roland Mouret with the high slit up the thigh, there is a really pretty long dress in royal blue (cant remember the designer) that she wore to an event at KP – its interesting because her style has definitely deteriorated and verged more and more into looking costume-y (see the Ireland tour). I used to follow WKW religiously bc I liked following Kate’s fashions but part of the reason I stopped was because her clothes just kept getting uglier and uglier.

        She didn’t nail it every time in the beginning, and I wasn’t a fan of everything, but I thought in general she did a better job of dressing.

      • Amy Too says:

        I wonder if her turn towards ugly conservative grandma fashion is some way of punishing William. Like as he kept stepping out and their relationship deteriorated, she went “Fine! I’m no longer going to be your cute, sexy wife who dresses in such a way that makes all the people say ‘wow! William really nabbed a beautiful, sexy woman, he must be very good/special/hot himself!’ I’m now going to be embarrassingly dowdy and mother-like since that’s how you treat me and everyone will extrapolate that you must also be a dull, boring, middle aged, balding man!” She seems like the type of person who doesn’t dress for herself in what she likes and makes her feel good. She seems like she dresses to send messages and either punish or reward other people. Like all the flashing she used to do. I think that’s because William liked it, found it funny/sexy, and it was an inside joke between them—sticking it to the courtiers and his family.

      • L84Tea says:

        @Becks1, I am the same way. I used to follow everything Kate did because I loved her clothes so much (including her pre-marriage clothes). But I lost interest in her look when it transitioned to all the coatdresses and buttons. I almost feel like her clothes changed a little when her one assistant (Rachel someone) quit. She was a good influence on Kate’s look and even dressed similarly to her. Once she was gone, Kate’s look went haywire.

        I LOVED the beige dress she wore when she met the Obamas. That’s one of my all time favorites she’s ever worn!

      • A says:

        @Amy Too, I don’t think so. I think it’s her attempt to cosplay the Queen actually. It could partially be as you said, but mostly I think it was just her way of figuring out how to dress in a way that her aides found appropriate. She couldn’t negotiate between her own sense of style (which was perfectly fine pre-wedding), and what was required of her as a royal, and she finally just settled for dressing like the Queen as the safest option. I also think that she probably did this on the advice of someone like Angela Kelly, no doubt, who she’s rumoured to have been somewhat close to.

      • notasugarhere says:

        If Kate was ‘close to’ Angela Kelly, she wouldn’t have spent almost 10 years flashing on the job. Some of her coatdresses are once again Diana cosplay, with the widower of Catherine Walker using old Diana patterns to make Kate’s (and Carole’s) clothes.

    • Dilettante says:

      And the grey and white dress is lovely and clearly pre-dates buttons, coat dress and shirt dress fixations.

    • Vera says:

      I really like that grey checkered dress she’s wearing in one of the pics. She used to dress so much better.

  14. Ginger says:

    I think William wanted Harry along to his and Kate’s royal engagements so he wouldn’t have to deal with Kate. When Harry was there she would have all of her attention on him and I think William liked it.

    Someone on twitter posted a video a few months ago where Kate was sitting next to Harry and was so close to him and had her body turned toward him instead of William. Harry looked uncomfortable and was trying to move away from her slightly and William didn’t seem to care at all.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      I think Willnot wanted Harry to be close to Kant and available to be around when ever needed to keep Kant company and occupied so he could spend major time on his personal hobby of Rose gardening.

  15. Truthiness says:

    The wiglet/extension game was so strong in those pics.

  16. Mignionette says:

    Jokes aside, this actually explains why Kevin and Karen despised Meghan so much.

    The unwritten rules to this toxic codependent three way were ‘find someone Harry but remember we come first’. Harry actually kept their sham of a marriage going by providing cover for wandering willy and giving attention to waitey Katey.

    I am willing to bet that Harry knew of all Bill’s indiscretions and often acted as the clean up man. When you remove Harry from that dynamic the marriage falls apart and enter Rose.

    Also it’s easier for Kate to be angry with Harry and by implication Meghan, rather than show her disdain to Bill for cheating in the first place. Remember the DM piece about Kate freezing Rose out. Basically Kate blames everyone except Bill for his behaviour because she has no real power in the dynamic.

    • Nic919 says:

      I’m sure Harry knows about all of William‘s cheating and probably more than Kate knows too. That’s why William’s advice on taking it slow fell on deaf ears, because of the massive hypocrisy.

      • CrazyHeCallsMe says:

        Yes. And if Harry ever decides to go nuclear, all the tea may be spilt about William’s rose gardening.

    • Merricat says:

      Kate can’t pull off a freeze-out among the aristos; she may be FFQ for now, but she’ll never be one of them. She doesn’t have the lineage, no matter what she does to her accent. Even being FFQ isn’t enough to make them toe the line, as Tatler continues to demonstrate.

    • notasugarhere says:

      I sincerely doubt Harry would ever act as William’s cleanup man regarding William’s cheating. If anything, he’d call William out about it and take Kate’s side.

      • Mignionette says:

        Acting as clean up man doesn’t mean you condone behaviour or a set of actions. In fact codependents will often try and “save” their codependent sibling in the toxic dynamic.

      • Amy Too says:

        Sort of like “fine, I won’t tell Kate about this one because I don’t want her to be hurt, but you have to stop! You have to do better by her.” There’s a lot of toxic manipulation, emotional blackmail, “think of my children,” from the guilty cheating party that they employ to make other people just shut up, look away, and pretend everything is fine. “Don’t tell Kate, I’m going to break up with so and so just as soon as I can. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt/Kate’s in a fragile position right now, she’s pregnant and throwing up all the time, you wouldn’t want to add to her stress right now, especially since this thing with Girl C is just a fling.”

      • Mignionette says:

        @Amy Too – exactly, which is likely why Hazza paid so much attention to Kate trying to keep it all together.

        One thing that people don’t seem to focus on is the fact that Harry met Meghan after an intense course of psychotherapy. He literally states this VERY clearly in an interview in 2017. He also uses the phrase “the stars aligned’ to describe his meeting her.

        He had spent years acting out and likely enabling his sibling’s toxic behavior, then finally got counselling to come to terms with his mother’s death. The counselling was encouraged by the bloody family. And then when he did get mentally healthier and fall in love they all turned on him.

        Can you imagine how that must have felt.

      • notasugarhere says:

        I doubt Harry would cover for William and he wouldn’t choose to lie to Kate about it. Harry doesn’t treat Kate differently than he treats most of the people around him. He’s polite, cordial, but doesn’t treat her as special. To Kate, given how William treats her, being treated as human is a different experience.

        You’re claiming Harry enabled William’s abusive, toxic behavior? Honestly? The abused enabled William’s toxic and abusive behavior towards him? You must be kidding.

        Harry and William haven’t lived together since Wm was 18. And even then, the ‘living together’ was rooming separately at boarding school. Harry was away in the Army for 10 years while William was skipping around the services and holidaying with the Middletons. Harry has been moving away from the royals and away from his own brother since he was 18. He even co-founded his own charity at 19 – with Prince Seeiso. Not with Seeiso AND William, because Harry didn’t want William to be any part of Sentebale.

  17. S808 says:

    This threesome should’ve broken up before Meghan arrived on the scene. I hate she gets blamed for that. There’s no reason why Harry was still doing engagements (except Heads Together) with those 2 after they got married. I think other commentators are right and Harry was acting as buffer between Kate and William. I also think between the Cambridges and real work too. I wasn’t around during those days but I find it easy to believe they let him do the heavy lifting in public and coasted off his work.

    • Merricat says:

      Yes, Harry was a buffer for the Cambridge marriage, and a publicity buffer as well. William continually used his little brother to serve his own purposes.

  18. Ella says:

    ‘She oftens behaves as if she’s the Middleton family’s spokesperson…’

    She is (allegedly)…..

    Methinks: Slyest spinner in the game who appears to be sympathetic to the Sussexes but is very much Team Keen. Got to keep up appearances for those US media spots

  19. candy says:

    I remember listening to a marriage therapy podcast and the host was describing the husband as overly attached to his mother. She said, effectively, “in order to be a good husband, you’d have to divorce your mother first.” That was quite an epiphany to me. It happens in other types of relationships as well – siblings, friends etc. You have to be willing to break away in order to make a committed relationship work. You can’t have another priority or another #1 confidant. It has to be your partner.

    I met my partner late in life so I was often a “gooseberry” (haha, love that expression). It sort of happens inevitably if you’re perpetually single. But what’s weird is that people actually do triangulate you and try to possess you once you move on. It’s probably a sign they aren’t happy in their own lives.

  20. Vanessa says:

    Kate behavior towards Harry was Completely inappropriately the overly flirty the way she is looking at him is completely inappropriate for woman who is married to Harry brother . I can’t believe the courtiers didn’t have a talk with her but yet the called Meghan up because she was smiling in a picture and wore a necklace with her and Harry name . But the future queen openly flirty with her brother in law was ok Kate wanted to have both brothers all to herself she wants to be the center of attention for both brothers . I think when Harry realize how him just being kind person to Kate is giving the wrong impression to Kate her flirty with him was over the top some will think she married to Harry instead of William . I think a lot of her hatred and jealousy of Meghan comes for she jealous of the love and attention Harry has for Meghan Kate knows she will never have that with William . She took out all her passive aggressive behavior towards Meghan because Meghan took away her favorite toy . Kate had the best of both world she has the Ring she didn’t have to work the royal reporters kiss her ass just for breathing she didn’t have any woman to competition with she was the new shine toy on the block . And the Meghan came along Meghan is every thing kate wish she could be .

  21. GillySirl says:

    I have a question about the usual suspects with reporters- I get the Daily Mail, Sun, and Katie Nicholl, I’m seeing similar pieces on the Daily Beast – which is generally an accurate news site. Outside of the occasional Andrew update, Tom Sykes or now Tim Teeman are putting out stories that follow the “institutional” party lines. Sometimes they aren’t even flagged as “opinion” pieces. What’s up with that?

    • MerryGirl says:

      I started to distrust Tom Sykes and the Daily Beast a while now when I noticed his articles becoming more Harry & Meghan negative while still pretending to be neutral. Once his articles went behind a paywall, I quit reading altogether.

    • Beach Dreams says:

      Tom Sykes is a tricky one who likes to take a certain viewpoint when it suits him. Of course he’s more anti-Sussex since that’s the popular stance for royal reporting. He did predict that Harry and Meghan’s popularity would trigger a lot of jealousy and resentment from the RF shortly after the wedding.

    • February-Pisces says:

      We all know some serious collusion’s have been going on obviously. The daily beast are clearly on KPs radar to send them a legal letter threatening to sue in they mention Willies affair. Most of the media have been bought off with either, money, access to the Keenbridges including interviews or leaks about other royals. I also think all major bosses including the heads of BBC, ITV, channnel 5, the fail, the scum etc will most likely be given knighthoods at some point if they don’t already have them. Also a lot of journos most likely can’t criticise the Cambridge’s without being threatened, or fear of losing their jobs. I wonder how many of these reporters besides the royal rota actually have a problem with harry and Meghan and how many are being bought off to trash them?

    • Golly Gee says:

      On the other hand, the Daily Beast has the guts to go after stories that get blacked out by other media. They go after Scientology, Bryan Singer, Alan Derschowitz and I can’t remember what all else. I’ve noticed that in the past when they break a bombshell story, other media won’t touch it, even though it is well sourced. Bryan Singer is a good example. In the first wave of me too, he was covered in the media a bit, but since then mostly silence except for the daily beast. He is protected by powerful men because of what he knows about them. Dershowitz is sometimes named by other outlets, but there’s very little written about him except of course in the Miami Herald which broke the whole Epstein thing open. Sorry, don’t mean to threadjack, but I think it’s important to give them their due in a time when the media is controlled by so few and information is filtered.

  22. MerryGirl says:

    Amazing how in every picture, Kate seems closer to Harry than her own husband. She acts like she only has eyes for Harry, acting like a love sick teenager.

  23. Alexandria says:

    I was actually surprised when Harry suddenly became the hot one. Anyone still remember Prince hot ginge, honk for Harry?

    I actually saw Harry as hot when he stood up for his wife.

    • February-Pisces says:

      I think harry is as hot as hell. He’s always been hot to me, he just radiates charm, and he seems like an incredibly warm and kind person too. Just love him.

  24. Fatima Knows says:

    Any story that emerges right now about any of the royals other than Andrew is a transparent attempt at deflection. Tales of catty behavior and texting emojis – really? Prince Andrew and Prince Albert should be front-page news alongside COVID-19 right now.

    • A says:

      Let’s keep some perspective here. The serialization of the book these excerpts are from has been in the works for months. The Times and People magazine have had the rights to publish excerpts for about as long. Unless the press has had knowledge that the files on Epstein will be unsealed today, it’s inaccurate to suggest that any of this is a deflection.

      However, that being said, the revelations in the unsealed files should knock any whiff of this book out of the front pages. The fact that it hasn’t speaks to the priorities of the people who own the papers and the press, and what types of stories they think will get them the most money.

  25. blunt talker says:

    I saw a video of the three of them sitting on a picnic bench discussing mental health-Harry was really into this conversation and this issue-William’s jaw tightened while Harry was talking-Kate’s eyes looked like poison darts while Harry was talking-Will and Kate left me with the impression that Harry was stupid or insane for the way he was talking-they did not like what he was saying. I think someone said above-they felt they were doing Harry a favor by having him along in their public activites-There is also a picture of Kate standing over Harry-this looked like some tennis match-Harry was so angry he could bust a gasket-Kate was talking to him and appears to be trying to calm Harry down.

  26. Florence says:

    I’d run a mile with an in-law giving me desperate looks all the time.

    Kate used to have much better dress sense.

  27. Dinah says:

    Katie know nothing Nicholl is just stating the obvious things everybody already knows bout the book, is repeating some of the things the biographers themselves already said about (the purpose of) their book and the already spun and gaslighted stuff by anti-Meghan and Harry UK commentators and RRs, to further plant this agenda into the US market. Look close and find any new journalistic information in her comments. It’s all about, ”I think, I believe”. Nothing factual, nothing news worthy, just repeating the anti Meghan and Harry agenda.

    She doing these (free) US media interviews in the hope to get paid ones/gigs from the bigger US networks. It’s unbelievable how she’s still able to tell/sell her fake and constructed H&M stories with completely faked access and made up sources, which never turn out to have any truth in them.

  28. Alarmjaguar says:

    Had never heard that term before this article and, of course, read it in an Agatha Christie novel just today. Thanks, Celebitchy!