Is Prince Charles still ‘upset’ about his lack of access to Prince George?

While the Cambridge children were front-and-center throughout the Jubbly last month, I was surprised that there wasn’t a moment where it was just the Queen and her heirs, meaning Charles, William and George. It’s clear that Kate was desperate to be included – and front and center – in everything, and that Kate and William thought it was visually important to have all three children everywhere during that four-day period (because they had successfully lobbied to exclude the Sussexes from as much as possible). My point, though, was that we actually should have seen at least one moment, one photo-op, where it was just the Queen and her heirs together. That didn’t happen. In fact, I don’t think we saw Prince Charles interact much at all with Prince George, although he did get to spend some time with Prince Louis (because Louis’s parents couldn’t handle him).

Charles’s lack of interaction with the Cambridge children, particularly George, is something of a sore spot for Charles. Every few years, he’ll basically commission an article in the Daily Mail or Telegraph in which “sources” complain about the Middleton influence on the Cambridge children, and how Charles would desperately love to spend more time with his grandchildren but he’s being blocked by William, Kate and Carole Middleton. Well, Prince George just turned nine years old, and some outlets decided to remind everyone of how Charles used to have a strained relationship with the Cambridges:

Prince Charles is said to have been left “upset” over his lack of involvement in planning a previous birthday party for Prince George. One recent birthday for the young royal is said to have definitively upset Charles, with a royal source saying it contributed to his resentment of Kate Middleton’s in-laws.

Planning of George’s third birthday party was helmed by Carole and Michael Middleton, which is said to have distressed Prince Charles, who was given little to do in the planning phase in 2017. The source says that Charles and Camilla were “invited” to the event organised by the Middleton family.

The source said: “Carole organised everything and Charles and Camilla were, of course, invited. He went, because he wasn’t prepared to miss out but Camilla didn’t go. Apparently she had other commitments.”

While other commitments may have prevented Camilla Parker-Bowles from attending the event, Prince Charles was busy with royal duties while Middleton-planned party raged on, with food and games reportedly on hand for the children. Instead, Charles spent the morning of the party at Clarence House discussing a rural protection campaign with Emma Bridgewater.

The reported feud between the Middleton in-laws and Prince Charles appears to be based off of the free schedule of Kate’s parents, who run their own business and can be far more flexible than Charles’ engagement-heavy days. It means that Carole and Michael both have plenty of time to drop in on their grandchildren, whereas the Prince of Wales is often tied up with royal assignments, Daily Express reported.

The source added: “Charles didn’t want to miss his grandson’s birthday, but the fact that the whole thing was essentially a Middleton event with Carole orchestrating the whole thing is exactly what upsets him. Charles feels rather left out. He gets very little time with his grandchildren and I know he gets upset about it because he has said so.”

[From The Daily Star]

Again, this is an old story. The current narrative about Charles is that he’s a lot “closer” to Prince William these days and he spends more time with his Cambridge grandchildren. I have my doubts though, obviously. Considering that the Cambridges are “moving to Windsor” this summer and every article about the move emphasizes that Kate wants to be closer to her mother, it does feel like Charles still isn’t spending time with his grandkids. Those kids have such a heavy Middleton influence and it will likely get even worse when Kate and the kids are isolated at Adelaide Cottage indefinitely, with Kate constantly running off to Bucklebury. I’m sure Carole is convinced that she’s raising the future king in little George.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.

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47 Responses to “Is Prince Charles still ‘upset’ about his lack of access to Prince George?”

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  1. jferber says:

    Total bullshit. As long as he has access to Camilla and for business reasons, the Queen, he is good.

  2. Noki says:

    He would definitely still be out in the cold if Williams need to stick it to his brother wasnt bigger than his disdain for his father.

  3. Becks1 says:

    I thought that the desire for a picture with just the heirs was part of the reason for the Queen’s second balcony appearance – the way it was Charles, George, William and Charlotte all grouped around her was very deliberate in my mind. You can tell that William was standing where he was told to block out Kate (or else it would have made more sense for William to stand closer to the Queen, but then Kate would have been behind Charlotte.)

    It is weird that this old story about George’s THIRD birthday is being recycled. Did Charles offer to have a party for him? did Charles offer and was rebuffed? Do the Windsors want to celebrate birthdays separately from the Middletons?

    • Dutch says:

      You’d think Chas would have more pressing things to do than plan a birthday party for a preschooler?

      • Becks1 says:

        Right?? I mean even if Charles offered to have a party, its not like he’d be doing the planning….he has staff for that….but he’s upset that he wasn’t asked to help the Middletons plan?

      • Yvette says:

        I wonder why George’s ‘mother’ didn’t plan his birthday party at Kensington Palace and invite both sets of grandparents to attend.

        Does Carol Middleton have that much influence over William and Kate??

      • Dee says:

        @Yvette what I’m hearing you say is that you want Kate to WORK and I’m sorry you must be confused.

      • Tessa says:

        Diana is the grandmother Camilla the stepgrandmother so technically it would not be two sets of grandparents

  4. Lulu says:

    @kaiser, both influences suck in different ways. Whether the Windsors or the Middletons, these kids can’t win with families like that. Good luck to them, especially Louis – I see a Prince Andrew in the making there. 😐

    • JW says:

      A little kid had a tantrum, and you’re comparing him to the family rapist? Low blow.

      If you just want to say that you think he’s going to grow up an entitled snot, then you could compare him to literally any other member of this horrible family.

      • Mooney says:

        I don’t think she meant it as a rapist particularly, but more in the context of growing up as a spoilt spare, like that teddy throwing Andy or Edward,who most people forget about. Either way, it’s not a good atmosphere for the camb kids

      • Lulu says:

        @MOONEY, thank you for understanding my exact sentiment.

    • MeganC says:

      Sorry, but I don’t understand your comment. You predict a child who has one public meltdown will grow up to be a grifting rapist who cozies up to dictators and shady business men to fund his excessive lifestyle? Gross.

  5. girl_ninja says:

    Maybe this another reason why Will is dissing his mother in death. His dad is unhappy with the state of things with the with the grand kids. KKKate better get it together or the money may not flow all that freely from Charles.

    • MeganC says:

      Charles will never cut off Kate. She is the only person who will tolerate William and they all know it.

  6. Merricat says:

    I would not be terribly surprised if Charles wants to extricate George from the Middleton influence.

    • Snuffles says:

      ☝🏽☝🏽

      This. Charles feels the heir should be molded in his image. And maybe on some level he blames the Middletons for taking advantage of William and forcing him to be saddled with such a useless, lazy wife/consort. I could see Charles wanting to prevent that from happening again.

      • Both Sides Now says:

        Yup. I agree @ Snuffles!! @ Merricat is spelling out the truth for us and we should heed her every word!!!

    • Jay says:

      I wonder if this is some of Charles’ snobbishness coming in to play, trying to keep Ma Middleton away from molding the future king in her image.

      I like to imagine that maybe he overheard George use some terribly middle class expression like “serviette” instead of “napkin” or, god forbid, George expressed a preference for paved driveways instead of gravel. The horror!

      • Merricat says:

        The Middleton dna was acceptable in that it introduced variation into the Windsor bloodline. That is it. Everything else Middletonian is…unacceptable.

  7. C-Shell says:

    Daily Star?!

    Anyway. This is such old, cold, gruel, if this is CH briefing on the Lamebridge/Middleton camp NOW, it’s a warning shot for something. “You lot leak about Cams wee joke about ginger afros, well, we’ll drag this old chestnut back out to put CarolE in her place.”

  8. Moderatelywealthy says:

    Charles only cares that Camilla is past bearing age so he can no longer be her tampon.

    • Lady D says:

      Any idea how that line got published in the first place?

      • Emme says:

        @Lady D….It was him actually saying it in tapes of the telephone conversation Charles had with Camilla. 🤮

      • Becks1 says:

        to be fair, it wasn’t quite that black and white….it was said more as a joke in a “that’d be my luck” kind of way. (I know, its still gross, and I can’t believe I’m correcting the record here, but it gets misquoted all the time.)

      • Tessa says:

        Charles said he wanted to be reincarnated as a box of camilla’s personal products

      • Becks1 says:

        LOL tessa,, I know you hate him and camilla, but that is not what he said.

    • HamsterJam says:

      The Italian press referred to him as “Il Tampolino” for ages after that.

  9. Truthiness says:

    How very Windsor of Charles to want greater access to George and not the rest of his grandchildren. Especially the two from his younger son.

    • Tessa says:

      Charles never issued a one on one photograph of Charlotte only photos with the Cambridge boys

      • Tessa says:

        Meant to say one on one photograph with him and Charlotte

      • Puppetgirl says:

        @Tessa, It’s ironic because Charles acted like he wanted a little granddaughter now he has two, Charlotte and Lili, I think it’s sad that there isn’t a photo of Chaz and Charlotte, you would think there would have been several of him and Charlotte instead every photo taken is with the boys, does he just prefer boys than girls

  10. Eurydice says:

    Lol – I love the part about how, while the party “raged on” Charles was working on rural protection. Like 3-year old George was at a rave while Charles was doing kingly things.

  11. Meg says:

    “royal source saying it contributed to his resentment of Kate Middleton’s in-laws” he’s upset with himself then?

    • Eurydice says:

      Lol, but don’t you know – once you marry into the RF, you belong to them. So, your own family becomes “in-laws.”

      • Casperina says:

        That’s one thing MM has going for her. She’s not in contact with her either side of her family. No competition from the in-laws when you don’t acknowledge they exist.

      • Julia K says:

        @casperina, Why so snarky towards Meghan? I assume MM is referring to the Duchess of Sussex. How do you know she is not in contact? ESP? Crystal Ball? If course she acknowledges they exist. She was at the Jubilee church service and visited with the Queen recently as well as with Prince Charles. Seems like you’ve got an axe to grind. You’re perpetuating the “Kate is an angel” “Meghan is the devil” rhetoric which is unfair and untrue. I’ve gone back to read your other comments of the last few days and wonder why you waste your valuable time here when there are so many other sites that would value your unique insight.

      • Saucy&Sassy says:

        Casperina, well if you’re talking about Meghan’s family–let’s see what we have. Her sperm doner will say anything about Meghan as long as he gets paid for it. Her halfsister and halfbrother will say anything about Meghan as long as they get paid for it. What I want to know is how do you know who in the rest of her Markle and Ragland families Meghan is talking with? The rest of those two families seem like reasonable people. In fact, you should go back and find the information Scamantha’s daughter has said about Scammy. Then you tell us why anyone would be in touch with her.

        How you choose to interact with horrible, toxic family members, does not mean everyone else must do the same. I think the way Meghan has chosen to completely keep these people out of her life is healthy. Can you say the same about you keeping toxic family members in your life?

  12. Siobhan says:

    I mean, the whole thing actually sounds very relatable to issues that a lot of grandparents/parents have with each other – it’s also very usual, I would even go so far as saying the norm, for the wife’s parents to have more access to grandchildren than the husband’s family overall. And that’s in families that don’t have the extra layers of dysfunction and toxicity that this one does.

    • Merricat says:

      I disagree that it’s “the norm” for maternal grandparents to spend more time with their grandchildren than the paternal grandparents. Not my experience, nor the experience of most people I know whose parents live nearby.

      • Tessa says:

        Their paternal grandmother is deceased I think had she lived she would have spent much time with her grandchildren and diana would have been a frequent flyer to California

    • Jay says:

      I think the biggest factor here is mentioned right in the article – time. The Middletons have nothing but time on their hands now, and Carole has always been very, er, involved with her children’s lives. To say the least. How could she resist the chance to help mold a future king? Plus, you could argue that being known as a party planner is part of her brand.

      Meanwhile, although Charles will be in his role forever, and while I’m sure he has plenty of leisure time, he’s never struck me as the type for hands on parenting. More of a “leave the actual rearing to the nanny and tutors” type. Which is probably typical of his class and upbringing.

      But just because he doesn’t necessarily want to spend all kinds of time with his grandchildren (they do live in the same country for goodness sake, if he really wanted to he could arrange outings once a week) doesn’t mean he wants them spending time with the Middletons.

  13. gubbinal says:

    I suspect that Charles wants to add a touch of what he most likes about himself to George’s life: i.e. playing the cello; doing tasteful watercolors; going to university at Cambridge. I think he was too young to care much about his own sons but now he’s hoping that George will go to hear Cello Concerti at the Royal Albert Hall in addition to sporting events. He wants to be a Lord Mountbatten type of figure in addition to being a grandfather.

  14. Paisley25 says:

    If he wants to see his grandchildren on a regular basis, he should block out some dates in his calendar and do it. It’s clearly not a priority for him.

    A remember an old People magazine article in the early 90’s after William got hit in the head with a golf club and needed surgery. Charles showed up at the hospital, but then went to the opera later that evening. Did a check in the next day and then when on a trip. Diana was of course at the hospital the whole time. Anyway, the article talked about what kind of dad Charles was. That he could be engaged with the kids, but very out of sight, out of mind when away for weeks at a time. Also, that there were areas in Highgrove that were off limits to his kids like the gardens where he painted and his dressing rooms. The areas he spent the most time in.

  15. Julia K says:

    Just as the Queen invited Wm to tea when he was at school, to talk to him about future responsibilities, I believe Charles will at some point do this with George, and no one will be denying him access. The rest of this story is bogus and click bait.