For all of the talk about Prince William and Kate’s devotion to their children, I’m often left wondering why the Wales kids are constantly being put on display by their parents. I understand bringing the kids to some of the bigger events for the monarchy, like Trooping the Colour and maybe the Sandringham Christmas walk, but we’ve seen entirely too much of those kids in the past year. It wasn’t just Louis’s overstimulated performance during the Jubbly, it was Prince George having to wear a suit on an incredibly hot day to attend the men’s final at Wimbledon. It was Charlotte and George’s obvious discomfort during a day-trip full of events in Wales. It was Charlotte and George constantly being placed as physical and emotional buffers for their parents in public. The less William and Kate do, the more they rely on trotting out their kids for a quick PR hit. So, yeah, obviously, I have some thoughts about their parenting skills. Did you know that apparently this is called The Middleton Parenting Model? Lolz.
Prince William and the Princess of Wales have adopted the ‘Middleton parenting model’ and want their children to see them as their ‘best friends’, an expert has claimed. Speaking to Ok!, royal expert Duncan Larcombe said it’s evident that the Prince and Princess of Wales have taken inspiration from Kate’s parents Carole, 67, and Michael, 73, in how they are raising their children. As a future heir to the throne, the expert acknowledged that Prince George’s upbringing has its ‘similarities’ to Prince William’s – but that the Wales family are a closer unit just like the Middletons.
The expert said: ‘William has based his children’s upbringing on the Middleton model – three children, affluent, but hard-working parents and lots of love in the house. By the time Kate was in her early twenties, she counted her mother and father on the list of her best friends. That’s what William and Kate are aspiring to with their children.’
Unlike the Princess of Wales’ childhood, the expert highlighted that the Wales family have the pressure of being in the spotlight.
As such, Robert says the Prince and Princess of Wales are easing their children into royal life by ‘drip-feeding’ them to the public – most recently on Christmas Day and at the Princess’ carol service at Westminster Abbey.
What’s more, royal expert Katie Nicholl claimed the couple have told their eldest son that he will one day become King – but have been conscious not burden him just yet with a ‘sense of duty’.
There have been royal-commentary conversations before about when William and Kate told George about his heir status and what that meant. Personally, I think he’s always known because everyone (including his parents) treats him differently than his siblings. I think Carole has been “preparing” George and coaching him this entire time. And that bugs me, the fact that William, Kate and everyone in that orbit has already assigned all three kids their roles and dynamic for the rest of their lives. George is the heir, the perfect one who never puts a foot wrong, the one who gets singled out with special gifts and attention. Charlotte is the perfect and only daughter who can be a bit wilder than George, and who is there to “support” George for the most part. Louis is already the foil to his older siblings, the scapegoat. And they reinforce all of that publicly. And no, it’s not the Middleton way – it’s the royal way. And it sucks.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.
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- The King and The Queen Consort, The Prince and Princess of Wales, and other Members of the Royal Family attend the Together At Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey Photograph by Richard Pohle,Image: 744843339, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Richard Pohle / Avalon
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- Prince and Princess of Wales leaving Sandringham Church with children George, Charlotte and Louis after Christmas Day service,Image: 746498362, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Malcolm Clarke / Avalon
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- Sandringham, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal family attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, UK. Pictured: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Prince Louis BACKGRID USA 25 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sandringham, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal family attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, UK. Pictured: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Prince Louis BACKGRID USA 25 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sandringham, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal family attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, UK. Pictured: Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, Catherine, Princess of Wales BACKGRID USA 25 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sandringham, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal family attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, UK. Pictured: William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George BACKGRID USA 25 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sandringham, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal family attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, UK. Pictured: William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George BACKGRID USA 25 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sandringham, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal family attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, UK. Pictured: William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George BACKGRID USA 25 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sandringham, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal family attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, UK. Pictured: Prince Louis BACKGRID USA 25 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Royals Attend ‘Together at Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 15 Dec 2022 Credit: Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimag/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- King Charles III, accompanied by Camilla Queen Consort and members of the extended Royal Family, attend the traditional Christmas Day morning service at St. Mary Magdelene Church on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk Where: King’s Lynn, Norfolk, United Kingdom When: 25 Dec 2022 Credit: John Rainford/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK**
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- Royals Attend Christmas Day Service At St Mary Magdalene Church In Sandringham Featuring: Princess Charlotte, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince George, Prince Louis Where: Norfolk, England, United Kingdom When: 25 Dec 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
Sooo… Shameless social climbing with a pinch of racism in the mix, I guess?
You forgot the extreme laziness part.
Frankly, I don’t really care how they bring their children up. We can say with much certainty that the children will become just like their parents. Unlike William and Harry, these children have 2 parents who are so filled with envy, hatred and anger that it will rub off on the children – the whole family on both sides is like this. They become exactly like their parents because these are their role models. All of this will be even stronger (including the elitist thinking that they are something better – we have heard this often, from George in particular), because they are in this impenetrable bubble.
@Lia, I don’t think that’s necessarily true. They might rebel and reject it all. We won’t know until they’re old enough to form their own opinions and live their own lives. There are many, many people who were so repulsed by their parents’ bigotry and hatred that they up being the complete opposite.
@Lia, I understand not liking their parents, but I don’t think it’s right to already predict what kids will be like.
There are plenty of kids with unpleasant parents that are nice people.
I think we all underestimate this bubble of the monarchy. This became particularly clear to me while reading Harry’s book. When you’re a member of the BRF, especially the heir’s family, you really think you’re above the human being, something better. I really always thought k+w are just incredibly stupid cause they are so bad at everything they do, but now I realized: they just think they are something better and that they can get away with everything. George has already shown this behavior with his classmates. And it’s anchored in the English “blue blood” upper class.
I thought so many times while reading how harry can be so naive and (sry) sometimes stupid, until I realized that he just lived in this bubble until he broke out. And I still believe that he did become the way he is because he was treated differently (and maybe also because of diana, character…)
I believe that it is much more difficult for these 3 children to be different from their parents than for most children, precisely because they are in this “golden cage”.
It’s doubtful any of those kids will want to do what Harry did and leave the bubble. What they see now is constant attacks and disparagement not only by the media but also by the family, most particularly their own father. It will take a great deal of courage to break their cycle in their generation.
So the chances any of them become well adjusted adults are very slim. And the Middleton side doesn’t counter balance the generational trauma of the Windsor side because Michael and Carole basically were ok with selling off the dignity of their daughters for the chance at a title and they do nothing to stop the prioritization of George above his younger siblings.
Kate also obsessively replicates everything royal including the antiquated clothing and the kids are already put on display more than William and Harry were at that age.
The Middleton way is just as dysfunctional as the Windsor way. The only decent thing they have done to break tradition is not send the kids to boarding school prior to Eton. But it’s unlikely George and Louis won’t be sent there when they are of age.
@Lia I agree with you and with Nic919. I know people here want to hope against hope that George et al are different from William, but would they be? What have William and Kate done to show that they are parenting them differently, that they are breaking them out of the royal bubble, besides being parents who don’t really work? William and Kate think that HARRY is the one in the wrong, that HARRY is the one who has the wrong perspective here, that HARRY is the one who made the wrong parenting choice in getting Archie (and now Lili) out of the institution.
Maybe they will end up more or less nice people, but even that will be in the context of the royal family, so royal “nice” isn’t what a normal person might consider nice. What in W&K’s behavior makes us think they are less entitled than Charles, that they treat their staff better, that they yell less (at their staff), that they are less invested in the trappings of the monarchy than Charles is/was?
William and Kate (as a result of birth and marriage) believe that they are better than other people and that’s just how it is and the world revolves around them and that’s fine and it should not change because its fine fine FINE. Why would they raise George and Charlotte and Louis to think that they are the same as other people and the world does not revolve around them?
Excellent idea telling George he will one day be king without putting the burden of duty on him and you end with a heir just like Williem
Tour malinn, do you think that’s possible? George, reportedly, has already used the fact that he will be King against one of the school children. Also, he’s the one that will attend event with his parents without his siblings. Those are the things seen. I suspect that Ma Mid is very eagerly letting George know how important he is and will be. Who knows what else she is saying about that.
I think that Royal bubble is pretty impenetrable. It should be interesting in a few years when they start in with KFC should abdicate and let Fails be King. That will make George even MORE important, won’t it?
@ Saucy&Sassy, I agree completely, I just wrote my comment in a hurry.
What I meant was that W&K claims that they revealed his future role for George, but they do not want to put the burden of duty on him yet. Which I assume is not true on one hand, because all these outings are very much a burden on a little kid. And is not a good idea on the other hand, because if you just letting a kid know all the perks of being a royal without explaining him the duties that come with it, you will end up with an entitled lazy heir, just like William.
Now, I understand that what W&K meant was that they do not want to burden a little kid with adult duty stuff, but it is not the right way of raising a child (sorry to sound too opinionated, I am a psychologist and can not switch off my professional side). Perks and duty should always be put together in a balanced way, but on the child’s level. Plus George is not stupid, he is just young. I am sure that he can sense the discrepancy between what his parents are telling him about his role in life and the truth of reality of his life. He can feel the stress and anxiety of the engagements, the crowds, the media, the paparazzi and I doubt W&K are the emotionally intelligent people who can comfort him in the right way and amount if need be.
What “duties”? Having other people bow to you? This royal stuff is pretty sick.
@Lia, I totally agree. While the hope is the children will be better people it’s very unlikely. They will grow up as they are taught. Children who evolve past their parents’ shortcomings as human beings do so because of exposure to outside influences and the Wales children will have almost none.
Nic is also right…the constant negative reinforcement of Harry’s elopement will make it even more difficult for any of the 3 to choose the same option.
It’s all very sad. I watched William and Harry grow up and while Will just…stopped…stuck in his position and on himself, Harry actually did mature into a lovely person.
My thought exactly.
“By the time Kate was in her early twenties, she counted her mother and father on the list of her best friends,”because they paid for everything from the clothes on her back, to jewelry, coffee runs, a furnished flat, food, utilities, facials, cosmetics, and hair appointments. Did I leave anything out? All Keen had to do was sit pretty and available at all times, WAIT and snag that future king.
William said “my father will be king” allegedly when he was a kid. I think someone put out that George said it to take the heat off William and to make George seem princely. Just like how someone off camera gets Louis to preform. Just like kaiser write, the kids have been assigned their roles.
As far as I’m concerned, Charlotte looks like the Queen in her older years, and Louis looks totally out of control and ‘bratty’ George is bratty but dressed like an Aristo at a game. They have no clue about kids. Louis behavior at the Jubbly was appalling for the child of a self declared early years specialist. But then she isn’t is she . I think she has been reading her sisters book who has a masters in Early Childhood development.
Yes. The Middleton Model: groom the oldest daughter to see only value in her looks, pursue a prince that has been rejected by every woman he actually wants, hang around until he finally picks her because he’s lazy and she’s the only one who will say yes.
Yes, they surely shouldn’t be waving the Middleton way with how their 3 children grew up to be. All three have grown up with certain unhealthy characteristics, especially Keen.
We are not supposed to be our children’s best friends either. We are supposed to raise our children as we teach them to be loving, caring and respectful people. Encourage their dreams and aspirations, as we guide them into adulthood. We support them and we listen to them as we guide them into adulthood to be self sufficient, educated all while teaching them that they must stand on their own two feet come adulthood and to work hard!!
What a load of rubbish and nonsense. They are already doomed with the parents that they have and their evil CarolE who is already grooming George into believing that HE is to be king and should know that HE reigns supreme above all others, including his own siblings.
Girl ninja, you are so right. Carol middleton plotted and schemed to her botox barbie where she is today, and now she has her malfiescent hands on George, in his FORMATIVE YEARS, because he has already shaped up (according to botox barbies crusade. George is already showing signs of being a little rage monster, bragging and ordering around, BUT pay close attention to all 3, George looks so tired and weary all the time with shadows under his eyes, something is going on with Charlotte that ISN’T healthy, look at her hands, I think it’s the left one mainly. She always seems to have her fingers crossed when they are out in public. Lois? Yes Louis who already thinks it’s fine to lay his hands on his mother, so maybe botox barbie can tell us where THAT behaviour is in her Shaping us sht, and who has he been watching???
I posted earlier I think on this site, Charlotte is a nail biter. A true sign of stress.
I saw someone on Twitter say that Kate is cold, hungry, and unhappy, so in that way she fits right in with the British population currently being brutalized by the Tories.
As for the scapegoating — just wait until Charlotte hits puberty. The rabidly misogynistic British tabloids are going to tear her apart. And I don’t expect her parents to bother to try to protect her. She’s not the heir.
They might but the public sure won’t.
W&K aren’t going to protect PGTips either. William will throw all of them under the bus, although he’ll do it less to CC. Kate will throw all of them under the bus especially CC because she’ll be jealous of any attention their daughter gets.
notasugarhere- The truth that rings through your words- is painful to read. Ugh. But i bet you are so right.
William has already gone after his brother when both of them agreed to not do that seeing what their father had done to them. So William will toss George to the media when it suits him, as all Windsors have done to their heirs from time immemorial.
The body shaming and face shaming by DM will begin in puberty for Charlotte. Hopefully, she’s inherited skinny genes and will never get pimples or whatever.
I will never get over how they dressed Louis in knee socks (!!!!) and shorts in winter with a Kate button coatdress with velvet collar. It’s a perfect colonial vision, as if they’re all off to visit the poor school girls in Jane Eyre on a Sunday.
I feel for those kids. They’re surrounded by selfish, conniving, and damaged people. George sounds like he’s already getting warped by his birthright. Charlotte is in for some fresh hell once she becomes a teenager and has to deal with the pressure to be like her too-thin mother. Louis – scapegoat and sacrificial lamb. All of these children will grow up under the shadow of a rage monster of a father and a vain, ignoramus of a mother. Granny Middleton is going to be the leech with her hand out for money and privileges. It’s a tragedy in motion. The best thing that could happen for them in the very near future IS the end of the monarchy.
Very interesting that when the Mail wants commentary on royal parenting they consult “royal experts”, not parenting experts. Not a big surprise that royal sycophants heartily approve of the Waleses as parents.
This is the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail knows nothing. If the Daily Mail told me today is Thursday, I would double check my calendar.
@brassy rebel @baytampabay is K the “expert” they’re referring to?
One day, Louis will write a book. I’m making that prediction right now.
From your keyboard to God’s ears, @Sarahlee
I just feel bad for the kid with his bare legs and coat dress ☹️
I predict Louis manages to visit Uncle Haz and Auntie Meg in California, and chucks all the royal stuff out the window to go surfing with Archie and Lili.
I could be wrong but the Queen herself treated her kids fairly equal it seems. Charles of course knew he was the heir but the kids were not outright treated like Harry. Particularly Anne and Andrew, they held their own and Queen was very fair to them. Charles is the one that messes that up spectacularly. So Kate can actually take quees from the Queen, the Middleton model will not work with children growing up with titles and living in palaces.
Er, better parenting than Charles or the Middletons doesn’t automatically mean good parenting, lol. The bar is pretty damn low.
I’m not sure the “Middleton Model” worked for the Middleton kids, even without titles and palaces.
In some biographies of Charles I read he was.upset that his parents did not treat him more special than his siblings. His grandmother made him feel more special and imo that did not help Charles disposition. He would tell his then wife Diana do you know who I am
I think the evidence is that yes, you’re quite wrong. Charles was ignored by his parents his entire early childhood and then sent off to boarding school. His mother has two babies when he’s 10 and 12 that she allows everyone to proclaim her favorites. Anne was Philip’s favorite. The queen treated Charles as competition and a potential embarrassment, from birth.
Charles actually indicated he wanted to be treated more special. The neglect and the non special treatment can co exist. The queen mother coddled and spoiled Charles which brought put his being egocentric. Andrew was her majesty favorite. The queen actually forgot Edward’s birthday
Blufly I think Charles is worse at parenting than his parents. Charles did not rein in will and let him drive out harry and meghan he pulled harry and meghan s security. Charles did not learn a thing when he could have actively tried to be a good parent.
She did treat Charles as competition. The only one she liked was porchesters kid. Philips kids was vindicated in the end.
The Queen did not treat her children equally but their birth order changed the dynamics quite a great deal IMO, so its hard to compare them with either set of Wales children (William and Harry or the current Wales children.) Charles was born only a few years before she became queen so he spent most of his life as The Heir, not just the heir to the heir. And Anne was the spare but by the time she was 9.5 she had a younger brother who was the actual Spare. and he was 11 years younger than the Heir so there wasn’t the direct competition growing up that there was between William and Harry. and the Queen was in a different place by then so was able to give more attention to Andrew and Edward than she did Charles.
And the QM certainly treated Charles very differently.
@Noki At least TQ realized that if her children were going to treat being royal as their jobs, she was going to have to financially support them at a level where they could live like royals. Charles never figured that out. He seems to think economizing means cutting people off without realizing that they do need money to live on.
TQ raised kids who thought they needed sex deviants for best friends though
Like it or not Harry is the greatest testament of Chucky’s good parenting
I think Harry is a great testament to himself and turning out okay DESPITE Charles’ parenting.
Charles neglected harry. And took away his security. He and Meghan were rescued by Tyler Perry
Sorry Patsy, but if it were left to Charles Harry would be a complete basket case in stead of being the best of the bunch as he definitely is. It was prince Philip who played the biggest part in Harry’s childhood and Ken Wharf their personal protection officer who hated the way William was always favoured, he even went so far as to say quite vocally, that William has always been a petulant child. Then Harry joined the army, and yes, maybe as a veteran myself you might think I’m bias, but THAT was the true path to Harry’s adulthood and the making of the caring, compassionate man he is today
Chucky has zero to do with Harry managing to become a decent human being. That’s down to all the people who actually raised him. Diana, protection officers, servants, friends in Botswana.
IMO Harry raised himself from age 8 up. He was shipped off to boarding school, alternately abused or ignored by his older brother there, and saw each of his parents 3 weeks a year (3 weeks with royals, 3 weeks with Diana).
Why 3 weeks? School holidays are 13 weeks in uk. I think private schools have longer holidays.
That’s what I been getting at. Chuck let’s his kids be great. I don’t believe he stopped William from doing activities. Even a royalist magazine wrote that Charles wouldn’t let William drop out of university. They said it in the nicest way they could. They also wrote about William changing his major so he could finish.
He told William and Kate to do more activities. He even let’s Anne pretend to be queen.
The Queen was not the one primarily raising her kids, especially once she was Queen. Philip made most of the decisions and while he did not provide favouritism toward Charles, the queen mother more than made up for it. And Andrew became a favourite which has created a ton of other issues.
As for the Middletons, well the only functional adult seems to be Pippa.
Not exactly. Carole Middleton works hard for her party business whilst Kate and Willian are off work whenever the children are on school term breaks. No working adults enjoyed this ultra privilege. No corporation can afford to give such luxurious and extended breaks to working adults. Not the hardworking nurses and doctors at NHS or anywhere in the world
They aren’t imposing a sense of duty in their kids bc they don’t have one themselves.
You would think a sense of duty would be the most important thing to instill in George at this point (besides the basic points of “be a good human being.”) Again, we say this all the time but if they want examples of how to instill that duty without overburdening him, look at other European royal houses and how they are raising their children.
Methinks Professor Moriarty shows her hand with this article
‘Be a doormat, stay silent & don’t complain because (great) mummy wants the title.’ – ?
Carole middleton way. Encourage Kate to pursue a prince and put her life on hold until she gets the ring. And encourage the younger children to find wealthy spouse’s
Will and Kate bragging about raising the children . Not known how they will turn out.
Backstabbing, corrupt, Mrs. Bennett-scheming, lazy, embezzling. gaslighting, middle-class values. Got it.
Since there is only one girl they cannot copy “put your other daughter in a tight, lowcut wedding dress at her olders sisters wedding so all the focus will be on her butt”
:Add a little padding in there. That’ll help. Start some rumors that there’s a budding romance with the younger prince.” Those were the days.
Actually it is the “Middleton way”, Pippa and James always came second after Kate met William. After that all the Middleton resources were put into furthering Kate’s romance with the crown, we can see that in James who has floundered from one career to another, although he seems to have found his calling with his dog food line.
Yes good point. We’ve talked before that William is not invested in changing the heir and spare dynamic bc he had no issues with it, and also Kate has no issues with it because she was raised as the golden child bc she was the oldest so she ALSO thinks thats fine and normal.
So did the Middleton kids dress like Harry and Will as children in their old clothes? Did James wear short pants to a certain age? There is a difference between being a friend and being a parent. Shouldn’t an early years expert know that? If you have a nanny to take care of the discipline part, I guess, you could just be your childrens’ friend?
We all know parents like this that are always telling other people just how “perfect” there parenting is and how “wonderful” the children they are raising are.. while looking down at anyone that might do things differently. It is all for show and 9 times out of 10 they have horrible evil little sh*ts and are terrible parents with dysfunctional marriages. These parents always made me extremely uncomfortable acting like they were perfect and raising an anointed Saint. They really need to lay off “we are the perfect parents” briefings, we all saw Louie’s behavior and we see those kids faces at events and it isn’t adding up.
I mean – James Middleton left Edinburgh after 1 year and relies on the largesse of his wife and family to fund his private clubs, lifestyle, “business” that are tax avoidance techniques for the uber wealthy, and receives treatment for clinical treatment. It just cuts against all Kate’s early childhood rhetoric and the perfect Middletons and what “causes” adult issues.
Narcissist parents 101. Bang on about what great parents you are, talk about how you’re the kids’ best friend, and it’s all complete self-serving fantasy.
“By the time Kate was in her early twenties, she counted her mother and father on the list of her best friends.” It was a short list, and they are her *only* friends still today lol.
Yup, Kate chased off all females until there was no one left.
Ha. My thoughts exactly. Not exactly a large pool to choose from.
Kate was raised not to have women friends or else they will compete with you for william
A little attempt from team middleton to get people to think that the william/kate family is far from the dysfunctional royal family because they follow the middleton model. This does not fool me. Kate will have so much backlash for her 0-5year awareness campaigns when these kids completely go bonkers in about 6 years because how can they not with these clowns?
Ah yes, the Middleton model, which produced 2 aimless failures to launch and 1 child whose only intention was to marry the heir to the throne by any means necessary. All 3 entirely dependent on their spouse or family for financial support and all 3 demand the best money can buy – hopefully other people’s money. What a success story.
I don’t think Pippa failed to launch; she appears to have found happiness with her marriage and family and she was dedicated to earning a graduate degree, which is impressive. Pippa seems to have turned out just fine, despite whatever nonsense her parents tried to instill in her.
Also – as a parent, being my kids’ “best friend” was never my aspiration.
She went from an all-rounders scholarship to high school and aspirations of working for the City to part time party planning assistant to a failed party planning book to a series of air head girl about town articles to silence to stumbling into a beneficial marriage in her mid 30s. Now she’s using her husband and his family’s exorbitant to launch a yummy mummy business. She’s never paid her own rent. I consider that a failure to launch.
Pippa followed her sister’s example of being the community bicycle to get in to The Set. The aristo men were willing to sleep with her, none were willing to marry her. She grifted as hard as she could and still failed to make anything of herself. Tried to get hired on as her sister’s lady-in-waiting but the protests were too loud and the plan failed. But hey, she did get to use the RPOs as her personally bodyguards for her failed book signings. Is that a #PippaTip to Grift grift grift?
Her degree? 4 ‘taught’ modules (available online) plus a dissertation isn’t exactly rigorous. Appears to be either stabbing her sister in the back OR attempting to set herself up as the ‘expert’ that will be hired to be handed piles of cash to ‘run’ the EY debacle. Much like Camilla’s sister is always hired (with taxpayer money) to decorate Charles’s homes
Pippa ended up with a man who, as pointed out by someone on here, looks exactly like her. Exactly. Weird. A highly-questionable father in law, with the bought title, and multiple rape allegations against him from his under age niece. Those charges magically disappeared in the French courts, just as Pippa’s gun felony with the fallen French aristos disappeared from the French courts. Cherry on the top with naming the daughter ‘Rose’ LOL
Oh wow…did not know ANY of this about Pippa! She had a gun felony???
I can’t speak for her siblings, but for Kate in particular, I don’t think her family was so much “close” as just…I guess “insular” is a good word for it. I mentioned the other day that I found it odd that she doesn’t appear to have any friends from her pre-royal life (or any friends at all, really) outside of her mother and maybe her sister. It’s like she was raised in some sort of social-climbing cult and never learned to be friendly with other girls/women because they were seen strictly as competition.
Given that their parents aren’t in private industry the proper thing to do would be to raise the Wales kids with an understanding that they’re obligated to the public. Noblesse oblige – what happened to it?
I’ve realized this is part of what bothers me about Charles and especially William they seem to be missing the Noblesse oblige.
Charles actually seems to have that, or at least he did as PoW. I feel like as King he’s coming across as much more entitled and much more “mine mine mine.”
Hmm, it’ll be hard for your children to consider you their best friends when you barely spend time with them. William admitted to that himself in 2019, and Kate was outed in a lockdown PR story (I think from People) about both of them having to adjust to spending a lot more time with their kids than they were used to.
Anyway, sorry not sorry but there’s absolutely no hope for those kids. I know some folks think that Louis or Charlotte might be a wild card like Harry, but there were/are key differences between his childhood and theirs. The main difference being that he and TOB had one decent person for a parent and these kids have none.
There are an awful lot of people in the world with zero decent parents who turn out to be really good people. Let’s not write off children morally, okay? They’re kids. We have no idea how they’ll turn out.
These kids *are* being raised with morals, we just don’t agree with them.
I am unsure what people based their expectations of the kids somehow being completely different than their parents and grandparents off of given all of their adult role models.
Hmm, there’s still the nannies’ influence to be considered. I’m betting Charlotte is going to either break free or marry/career her way out, like Eugenie. She already looks like she’s got a great bullshit detector–and often acts more mature than her parents.
I know exactly what you mean. They didn’t chose to be that close or organically grow relationships, they were taught to be suspicious of outsiders and James was quite young when he was already being told to behave and not trust people because Kate was dating William. He would have been only about 12/13. They were taught to run home to mummy and daddy who would take care of them and that mummy and daddy and not themselves should be their first call.
So to be infantilised adults who 1) cannot make their own way in the world 2) cannot earn their own livings 3) will grift continually off their relatives and 4) will do anything to marry for money, position, power not love. Check.
JFC, the Middleton model again. They’ve talked about it before, everyone must have forgotten how successful it is. Back on their bull shit.
Those children are being brought up in the same way William was brought up.
William and harry lost their mother so they would have a different upbringing. Without Diana around Charles allowed will to push harry and Meghan out. Diana had a work ethic and Kate doesnt.kate may not instill work ethic or even try to
Diana was.looking for a home in California she probably would have lived there part of the year. She would be on team Sussex. She would have protected harry and been horrified at William imo
@Tessa: William and Harry were taken on engagements by both parents at a very young age. They were sent to boarding school while Diana was alive. She tried to make sure that their was no differentiation between Harry and William but the Royal Family, for the most part, disregarded her wishes. I’m sure if Diana was alive today she would have realised as much as she tried she got some things wrong in bringing up her two sons and that raising them in the Royal system was detrimental to their development. Harry and William would have had a lot more love from their mother if she was alive but they would have still been a member of the royal family which would have still warped their lives.
So they’re going back to the Billy Middleton angle are they? The Middletons are a close family which compared to what W and H had growing up which isn’t a bad thing. Yes the Middletons are social climbers and The Wales kids will be no diff but considering anyone in the RF who has ambition is ostracized i fail to see this as a bad thing. I think the monarchy will last bc it’s still too widely supported by the UK and even The European monarchs outside of going to uni all do charity PR are still supported. I’m no fan of any monarchy but if the Chubbly does not lead to widespread protest essentially the Brit’s are fine with their monarchy I don’t see it going away as it’s been around for hundreds of years.
Lots of things, including monarchs in a number of countries, have been around for hundreds of year and went away.
Or the BRF will fall within two years, or be reduced to the monarchy of England (and England only) until it falls within 20 years.
Charles made the original big mistake.marrying a younger woman he used to have heirs with. He should have committed to the marriage in every way. Charles did go along with Diana not treating the heir more special. But that pretty much stopped after diana died.and will was more protected
I think this article means to say that Carol(e) is raising those kids in the Middleton way – gotta protect her assets and make sure they are loyal to the Middleton family NOT the Windsors. Ma’s end game is to be the real power behind George – kHate is too stupid and lazy for that (we all know Carole is the strategist in that family).
Am sure this only applies to the royal grandchildren – the Matthews siblings are actually quite successful in their own right, they worked for their careers, hopefully they are being raised better.
Spencer Matthews has never worked hard a day in his life.
Any early years expert will tell you that children do not need you to be their best friend, they need you to be their parent.
Also- I’ve never slapped my hand over my best friend’s (or my mother’s) mouth, just sayin.
I call BS. Nothing at all has changed within the royal family institution to benefit those poor children and the Middleton’s will have eff all say in the matter. They are already surrounded by intrigue, duplicity and toxic competitiveness. As they grow up they will adapt and assimilate or rebel and be eviscerated.
Harry means well when he says he wants to help KC/WanK understand why carrying on with this generational toxicity is wrong. However, he might as well save his breath. They haven’t got the emotional intelligence/EQ to understand what he’s showing them. It’s very sad but those children are all already lost to the system one way or another.
Agree that Harry is wasting his breath as well as his time.
WanK and Keen think that their parenting is perfect as they were both raised to believe that they ARE better than everyone else, including their own siblings. These poor children haven’t even had a chance to experience any sibling relationships as they are pitted against each other already.
I cringe at wanting to be best friends with your children. I have an incredibly warm, loving relationship with my kids, but I am not their friend; sometimes parenting humans well means making those little humans very angry and disappointed. Plus, children may or may not choose to confide in their parents, but it’s wrong for parents to confide in their offspring as they would a friend. All I hear out of this is “we aspire to having dreadful boundaries and over-indulged children.”
Luckily I doubt K+W actually do much parenting because there’s staff for that, so maybe the kids will get lucky and turn out vaguely human-shaped like Harry after a lot of therapy.
I always hoped to be my son’s best friend “one day” After he was raised.
It sounds wonderful to say that while they’re growing up but the reality is friends don’t set boundaries and rules, chores , expectations. We also don’t raise our friends for at least 18 years.
Yeah, my mom and I are best friends now – because I’m an adult now.
Children should always have stable, comforting relationships with their parents where they feel they are also friends but it’s not great for the “best friend” thing to define the relationship when they are minors.
But that’s what the article said. ‘By the time she was in her early 20s’ is when Kate considered them her friend. Not when she was a child.
I thought the Windsors are a perfect family so why follow the Middleton way?
@Alicia Johnson Good point. The Windsors are supposed to be the standard for the British realms. Why are they there if they aren’t the standard?
With the following to their brand are they even relevant as a standard setting household?
Affairs, Divorces, Abuse (various), Cash for Favors, etc. 🧐
I think this article is factually incorrect. Willy and Katie aren’t raising their children PERIOD.The nanny and Carole the social climbing air hostesses are
The phrase Middleton Model immediately brought to mind the infamous Kensington System, where Princess Victoria was basically kept a prisoner by her mother and her mother’s advisors and where every single aspect of her life was controlled.
For whatever reason…
Did this come out same time as Charles not having time to meet with Harry if he attends the coronation???
Being your kid’s best friend is not a good model to aspire to. Children need boundaries and to learn respect, which requires a firm hand at times. Combine that with warm, supportive, and affectionate parenting, kids will develop confidence, thrive socially and do better at school. The wisteria sisters, on the other hand, were likely given lots of affection, but were definitely molded into money/status chasing-party girls without any goals other than bagging an aristo husband. James is the one who seems to have suffered the most and ended up aimless, depressed and a failure business-wise.
I have a good friend whose mom INSISTED on being their best friend and now my friend says it was horrible and she wished she had a parent not a friend.
I still can’t get over the fact that Kate wore boots, a (weirdly severe) long coat, a hat and gloves on the Christmas Day walk, while her kids didn’t wear boots, hats or gloves.
Whatever you call this parenting, it isn’t good.
And she put Louis in Charlotte’s old coat. Can you say afterthought? I get queasy looking at those Christmas walk photos. The colors clash terribly–army green, navy blue, burgundy. Nothing about them says Christmas Day.
She plans her outfits in advance for max photos and won’t deviate from them. The year before it was also warm out and she told a woman who suggested she was hot in her coat that the weather had fooled her or something. It rather suggests she made a deal with the designer she can’t deviate from
I was under the impression Harry and William had two parents until William was 15 and Harry nearly 13. Each parent saw them for approx 6.5 weeks of the year.
I think they saw them more than that. There were s k i trips and other outings.
The ski trips are built into the 6.5 weeks a year. That’s a normal schedule of a boarding school child whose parents are splitting vacation custody.
I stopped reading after “they want the children to view them as their “best friends”.” because this is so wrong. The kids will have friends. They need PARENTS, not adult ‘best friends’.
So is what they are saying is they have completely abandoned the parenting role? Left that to the nannies, have they? They’re just gonna be friends w/their kids. Fuch parenting, eh?
Stools.
Is it a commentary of someone else’s parenting?
An assumption based on the implied contrasting to…..
e.g.
“We prefer the Middleton’s style of parenting in comparison to ….”
They want to be ‘ best friends’ instead of …..??
The Middleton Model. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I wish they would stop trying to make fetch happen.
All this spate of recent articles are indicative of something….
The last sentence in the excerpted item mentioned ‘a sense of duty’.
What could that mean??
Kate with her glaring deficiencies and William’s awkward social blips when not provided with a script.
Is it their outputs without PR spin seem inadequate to the King??
Is this a manifestation of the king’s dissatisfaction with their sense of duty?
Is Beatrice’s patronage a neccessity, after all?
So many questions as things fall apart…..
There’s the answer, dissatisfaction from both households. Hence leaking.
There is insufficient engagements from the Waleses?
They may see differently, since they have to raise their children or whatever….
There is a article from gbnew.com that indicate there will be a massive review of hundreds of patonages to be reassigned after the coronation.
Remscient of the fail’s article about King Charles living in Windsor 2 days per week while restating that he expects more royal engagements from the Waleses.
calling it the Middleton Model makes it sound an awful lot like the Kensington Protocols
Who benefits from the “Middleton model” narrative? It’s such a weird thing to even talk/write about. Who cares how they label the way they are raising their kids? I don’t doubt Carole is behind it, but why on earth put that out? Someone enlighten me.
It raises more questions than it answers imo.
I’ve never understood parents who want to be best friends with their kids. I am the only person in the world who will ever be a mom to my boys. It’s such a unique and special type of bond that no one else can ever have with them. I want them to see me as their mother and never just as a friend.
Parenting requires sacrifice, and sometimes we sacrifice whether our kids like us in order to give them what’s best in the long run.
i’m sorry, i usually agree with what’s written here. but i feel like i draw the line about singling out their kids and talking about them like we know what they’re like. parenting is hard. i can’t imagine trying to raise someone to be a future figurehead of a country. i wouldn’t even know where to begin. so i won’t judge these two AND there’s absolutely no evidence that they treat their kids a certain way and this is all speculation. i’d like us to be kinder to all parents plz. like we are to Meghan and Harry.
It’s really not about if WanK are good as parents or how involved Mrs Middleton is or whether people here are judging contrasts of parenting styles. Those kids have just got the deck stacked against them no matter what.
For arguments sake let’s say that KC lives for another 20 years (he’ll probably last a bit longer but 20 is a nice round number and probably lin the general ballpark). That means before any hierarchy changes occur again, to reset the current dynamics, Charlotte, George & Louis will be stuck witnessing the fallout from the current hyper-toxic mixes of vitriolic relationships & tensions between their parents/Harry & family/C&C/great uncle Andrew/Ed& Soph until they are 27, 29 & 24 years old.
In other words for their entire childhoods/teens & young adult lives they will be unable to avoid all the behind the scenes nastiness, backbiting, leaking & legacy competitiveness. How they cope with this as individuals remains to be seen.
And, that’s just the actual RF – in private stuff, it’s not even taking into account how the BM will inevitably stalk, stereotype and bait them, constantly playing them off against one another. How the Middletons will try to utilise them. Then, most worrying of all, they will be the first generation of heirs n spares to grow up under constant, and often cruel, scrutiny via social media.
Most of the comments relate to how the Middletons have three dysfunctional adults and the Windsor have massive generational trauma. It’s not attacking the kids and yet we always have people coming in with the “but the kids” when no one said anything about them.
The Middleton way is obviously garbage but let’s pretend it’s criticism about children to avoid the truth of how poorly a job Mike and Carole did which is no better than the Windsor way.
@KLaw
It’s certainly Ma Middleton who wants publicity that’s why they have a label.
When you look at Kate, you see a very well balanced and educated person…
No need to fear for the education of the kids (sarcasm).
Again camilla is right. Kate isnt raising royals. I would rather be a Windsor. The middletons go for low hanging fruit. If Kate promised to never say anything William would let her leave. Pippa husband would then divorce her. The Windsor do travel. Kate and her siblings are like copycat aristocrats. No one who is doing big things are bothered with them.
What’s so impressive about the “Middleton model”? Raising your kids that way will only make your kids lazy, racist, social climbers, and entitled. They will never learn the values of hardwork, diligence, perseverance, and empathy.