In 2023, royal biographer Tom Quinn was promoting Gilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family. We got several interesting headlines out of that book and Quinn’s promotion, like this story about the Princess of Wales treating Prince William “like the fourth child because he’s prone to tantrums.” Again, this was 2023, when the royalist press was full of rumors of the Waleses’ strained marriage. Quinn also said, at the time, that William and Kate “do have rows. It’s not a perfect marriage. They have terrific rows. But, where some couples have a row and throw heavy vases at each other, William and Kate throw cushions at each other. It’s always kept under control.” This is like “sure, they’re violent with each other, but they keep it POSH.” Anyway, Quinn wrote another book called Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants. In it, he has returned to one of his favorite topics: William is a tantrum-prone child who is “parented” by Kate.
Kate Middleton is said to be such a major influence on her husband Prince William that she treats him “like her fourth child.” The claim was made by royal author Tom Quinn, who has written a new book, “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants.” Quinn spoke to hundreds of former and current palace staff members to learn what it’s like to watch over the House of Windsor.
“Occasionally, William has little tantrums and irritations if things aren’t done the way he wants them done [as heir to the British throne],” Quinn claimed to Fox News Digital. “But Kate is very good at managing that in the same way that she manages the tantrums of their three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. And so, there’s a joke among the staff that Kate treats William as the fourth because he occasionally behaves like one.”
According to the book, a member of staff told Quinn, “I don’t know where William would be without Kate – she hasn’t had everything done for her throughout her life, so she calms him down when he gets a bit fractious. She says he sometimes has to be treated as her fourth child!”
The insider claimed that Kate’s non-royal upbringing makes her easygoing to work with, and a favorite among staff, in comparison to William and his father. “Suits must be pressed and laid out after a period of consultation the night before; shoes must be polished, ties chosen,” a staff member claimed to Quinn in his book about looking after King Charles III and his heir. “Baths must be run at precisely the same time each day and both King Charles and the Prince of Wales, Prince William, are prone to tantrums if things are not done to their liking.”
“They both get irritated very quickly,’” a former member of staff claimed, adding that the king and his heir are used to having things done for them, making them “very picky.”
“People who have everything done for them from childhood tend to be rather spoiled and prone to bouts of irritation because they have no idea how much work is involved in washing and ironing, polishing and sewing when they have never done any of it themselves,” the aide claimed, as quoted in Quinn’s book.
“In many ways, William has had an emotionally damaging childhood,” Quinn explained to Fox News Digital. “I don’t just mean because his mother, Princess Diana, died when he was 15, which is enormous in itself. Everyone could understand that that was very damaging to him.
“But before that, the split between his parents was very public. All the unpleasantness between his parents was played out on the world stage. Meanwhile, he was looked after by paid staff. For much of that time, it created an adult in William who was very needy.”“He loved spending time with Kate’s family because, unlike his, they were very warm, very close with each other, very emotionally aware. When Kate and William first got together, William tended to have tantrums if things didn’t go his way because he was still this emotionally needy child who grew up into an emotionally needy adult.”
As far as those alleged temper tantrums, they’re “less so now,” Quinn claimed, thanks to Kate.
These are literally the same people who wept in staff closets because Meghan would clearly state a preference or issue a correction. “Actually, my name is Sussex” and they screamed “BULLY” at her for years. Meanwhile, Charles and William are throwing full-scale tantrums over bath time. Anyway, I don’t actually think William was or is “emotionally needy.” I think the “emotionally needy” tag is preferential to what he actually is – a childish, tantrum-prone loser and unfaithful jackass.
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- Britain’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge speak to employers, at the London Bridge Jobcentre, in London, Britain, September 15, 2020.
William is Joffrey Baratheon 2.0.
Like father, like son. They are both so emotional needy that if they are met with the slightest inconvenience that clashes with their need for constant care and attention, they have tantrums. It’s a really sad existence.
Anyone else feel like they’re reading a period drama? Like this behavior, and the need for these things, straight out of a novel from the regency period.
The absolute strict adherence to a schedule is interesting. From a psychological perspective. It’s not necessarily about inflexibility but about a need for comfort, and the feelings of safety, stability and structure that’s routines provide.
But considering he goes out to clubs at all hours and has massive days long benders – his need for routine is obviously not that important. His need for what he wants when he wants how he wants is. Which is an entirely different thing.
I just can’t imagine being that age and so helpless. And so unable to name and self regulate my emotions. He’s just so bankrupt is so many areas. How is that not embarrassing.
The schedule is about Charles. We’ve heard that for years. Willy is not a schedule kinda guy, unless it’s football. That’s why there’s no forward planning
All three of the kids throw tantrums that need to be managed as well as W pitching fits? Yikes!
This reads like the Middletons were a source, but if this is truly coming from staff, and this is an accurate sketch of life behind the curtain, I understand some of the stress.
No way can this be coming from staff, as the reality is the complete opposite from what’s stated here: “The insider claimed that Kate’s non-royal upbringing makes her easygoing to work with, and a favorite among staff”.
If she’s easygoing to work with and a favourite among staff” then I’m the Queen of Sheba.
I’d say it’s the ghastly Carol trying to get ahead of an unflattering story about KM.
Absolutely the Middletons. Kate’s lack of emotional maturity and regulation has been seen untold times.. Grown women who are mature emotionally don’t flash, or lash out violently at family members.
Reads like a desperation briefing from Carole. Another attempt to take Meghan’s innate qualities and steal them for Keen.
Kate isn’t managing anything, she isn’t raising the kids, and she sure as hell isn’t an emotionally calm person who keeps William on an even keel. Kate and William are the same – immature, racist, selfish, emotionally stunted, infantilized, incapable-or-unwilling to function as adults.
Ummm Quinn, you’re not exactly painting an attractive picture of the future King of England.
Right? Painting Charles and William as stroppy man-children is really not a good look for either.
And all those psychopaths had the nerve to complain about what Prince Harry wrote in Spare..
Emotionally immature
Peg is an angry spoiled man child who doesn’t want to do the work but demands all the praise.
Will sounds like a nightmare to deal with: needy and volatile “the red mist” that Harry recognised before his brother assaulted him as an adult. Another commentator on this blog yesterday speculated that Kate wants Harry back as her human shield. He clearly assaulted Harry and shoved Diana against a wall when he was a teenager, so it is not a stretch to believe he’s shouted and more at his wife.
Yes this 💯 percent.
Too bad Kate did not become friends with Meghan. She would have the Sussexes on her side. But Kate is a mean girl.
She could haveade friends with the York sisters, but, allegedly made Beatrice cry.
dribs and drabs. I’m waiting for the reveal that William DID do something violent to Kate. It will be spun as Harry’s fault of course (and therefore mainly Meghan’s) because he wasn’t in the UK, leaving Kate to take the brunt of his brother’s anger.
Speaking of: do we meanwhile know where the scar next to Kates left eyebrow is coming from? Cushions???
I think most of us have a very good idea where the scar came from and the subsequent disappearance of Kate, not to mention William’s woozy appearance at an investiture not long after, and not being seen in public for months afterwards, supposedly because he was being the dutiful husband and father…my ass he was.
Good at managing tantrums? She manages his tantrums in the same way that she does for her children? Unfortunately, the entire world saw that management in action at the jubilee concert with Louis. Poor kid was overstimulated. Anyways, I can’t imagine what William is like in real life. Pushing your brother so hard he gets a cut from breaking glass just because you don’t like his wife is a massive red flag.
It seems like “emotionally needy” could be a part of it – as in, needing constant reassurance of one’s position. William exhibits a lot of “Don’t you know who I am?!!” And even though he was lording over Harry and not showing a lot of love, I can imagine William felt betrayed and abandoned by Harry and, of course, blamed Meghan for it. Basically, Quinn is saying William’s a mess.
@Eurydice sounds like he needs a combination of Olga Korbut, nanny and a lion tamer to keep him on even keel!
Or maybe some serious pharmaceuticals.
But wait, didn’t William say he’s the one who encouraged Harry to go to therapy? Perhaps he should take his own advice.
“Suits must be pressed and laid out after a period of consultation the night before; shoes must be polished, ties chosen,” a staff member claimed to Quinn in his book about looking after King Charles III and his heir.
I can believe this of Charles, but William usually looks like an unmade bed, so what are the servants doing LOL?
Imagine being so pampered you don’t even run your own bath. What useless human beings.
I picture some poor soul with a thermometer to verify that the bath is exactly the right temp and a ruler to make sure of the correct depth.
Yeah, I don’t believe this of William either. The man is Mr. Last Minute, dragging his feet for work, not confirming anything in advance. That’s why he’s a wrinkly mess. And I don’t think he cares one whit about his appearance. They’re trying to ascribe to him what is known about Charles–Mr. I Don’t Put Toothpaste on My Own Damn Toothbrush.
Also, I’m soooo tired of the wife as managing husband like one of her children trope. He’s an adult. Theirs is an adult relationship, however fractured.
That’s the problem though. Katie mothers him. Behind Katie is Carole mothering them both.
Lately it’s the complaining William articles. Harry was the one supposedly “complaining” now it seems to be Pegs. Could Carole be back at work with the media?
Yes, Carole was “warm hearted,” she could “guilt trip” William into marrying Kate. Also, she would try to get t hem to reconcile. I think one of them was at a Bonfire night.
This is why I’ve always believed that William and Kate as well as their staff were the actual bullies not Meghan.
Agreed @Amy Bee both are bad tempered and feel trapped for different reasons and vent around staff. They blame them if work events go wrong and the 2022 Tour was TOTALLY not their fault not last year’s omnishambles. Their staff should just KNOW and ANTICIPATE everything and sort it out so W and K can just turn up and scintillate the grateful masses. The absolute horror and recriminations when Meg hit the ground running and showed both of them up. They roared, they hollered, they bitched and sent Knauf out to orchestrate a campaign of denigration against their rivals!
I do not buy that Kate and her family are very emotionally aware. Besides what her brother has revealed about the neglect of his learning difficulties growing up, what we’ve seen of Kate and William’s entire relationship history just isn’t believable for me for an emotionally aware person.
When Harry flipped out at Meghan, she told him in no uncertain terms to take his ass to a therapist because she wasn’t putting up with that behavior. So he did just that, and they are better for it as a couple. Kate on the other hand, is stuck treating William like a teething child. What an unhealthy, dysfunctional dynamic.
Exactly @Smices Meghan doesn’t tolerate abuse or disrespect from anyone. She has healthy boundaries and told Will to get his fingers put of her face. Anybody remember the appalling photo of Kate recoiling from Will as he had his fingers in her face?
So throwing pillows back at him is parenting? Does she do this to the children also?
Oh dear, Carol wants that earldom before Michael kicks the bucket, I guess. And Katie Keen has been looking put out lately, feeling used and abused by the royal family. No doubt Keen thinks she’s the one holding the family together and she wants her due.
She’ll get a tiara at Willie’s coronation.
Kate being uptight about letting someone get a squeeze of her lipgloss is the opposite of an easygoing person.
Harry painted a picture of Kate and she was no better than William except perhaps not physically violent toward Harry. (We all saw she almost was with Meghan)
That awful beard is here to stay, isn’t it
Yes, it’s awful. It’s William and long may it stay.
I love how they’re trying to pretend that this is cute that William is the most cliche bully rich boy.
How much do you want to bet that Kate was helping William do his laundry even before they were boyfriend and girlfriend?
“Never marry the maid, Willie.”
“Yes Pa.”
That’s the only way Willie managed to leave the student quarters at St Andrew’s I guess.
Absolutely. She won him over by mothering him. Eventually he grew out of needing that and he likely feels emasculated by Kate and Carole. No wonder he has other women if he’s treated like a child at home.
Stories like this make me admire and respect Meghan even more because she had the guts to tell incandescent Willy to take his finger out of her face. I love her. Too bad she is such a class act that she didn’t break that finger off for the angry f-er.