Post by Deleted on May 26, 2023 20:45:12 GMT
Is Queen in two minds over Kate?
Last updated at 08:01 02 August 2007
The middleclass girl who shares William's life (but NOT his bedroom)
Geoffrey Levy Richard Kay
Last updated at 00:00 02 April 2004
Last updated at 08:01 02 August 2007
Rekindling his romance with Kate Middleton did not surprise Prince William's friends who warned that he would miss the pretty company director's daughter.
Elsewhere, however, the news has not been so well received. I understand that the Queen has decidedly mixed views about her grandson's decision.
According to well-placed sources, she fears the outcome will not be a happy one and that it will not, in the long run, reflect well on William.
Her concern is twofold. She had come to like the attractive brunette, whose uncomplicated domestic background mirrored that of Prince Edward's wife Sophie, to whom she is close.
But in the weeks when he was agonising over the relationship earlier this year, William had confided to his grandmother and Prince Philip that he did not love Kate enough.
With the experience of watching three of their own children's marriages go wrong, they urged him to be cautious and think very carefully about what he wanted to do because he could not afford to get it wrong.
"In the end, it was William's own decision to split from Kate in the spring and that is why they are uneasy at Buckingham Palace that it is back on,' a friend of the Queen's tells me.
"She takes a long view on such things and she can't understand why having been assured that ending the relationship was the right thing to do, three months later it's back on. In short, she thinks it's all going to end in tears - although, of course, she hopes it doesn't."
Some courtiers believe that William may have been motivated to start seeing Kate again partly by his wish not to be portrayed as a cad in dumping the girl in the first place.
It is not just the romance that has been exercising royal minds in the past days either. Miss Middleton's constant presence before the cameras is also being seen as somewhat provocative.
"She seems to have adjusted to a life in the limelight with uncommon speed," says a senior figure.
"Of course, to be fair she attracts attention because of who she is. But one is tempted to contrast her availability for the cameras with the near invisibility of Peter Phillips's [the Queen's grandson, see above] fiancee."
Elsewhere, however, the news has not been so well received. I understand that the Queen has decidedly mixed views about her grandson's decision.
According to well-placed sources, she fears the outcome will not be a happy one and that it will not, in the long run, reflect well on William.
Her concern is twofold. She had come to like the attractive brunette, whose uncomplicated domestic background mirrored that of Prince Edward's wife Sophie, to whom she is close.
But in the weeks when he was agonising over the relationship earlier this year, William had confided to his grandmother and Prince Philip that he did not love Kate enough.
With the experience of watching three of their own children's marriages go wrong, they urged him to be cautious and think very carefully about what he wanted to do because he could not afford to get it wrong.
"In the end, it was William's own decision to split from Kate in the spring and that is why they are uneasy at Buckingham Palace that it is back on,' a friend of the Queen's tells me.
"She takes a long view on such things and she can't understand why having been assured that ending the relationship was the right thing to do, three months later it's back on. In short, she thinks it's all going to end in tears - although, of course, she hopes it doesn't."
Some courtiers believe that William may have been motivated to start seeing Kate again partly by his wish not to be portrayed as a cad in dumping the girl in the first place.
It is not just the romance that has been exercising royal minds in the past days either. Miss Middleton's constant presence before the cameras is also being seen as somewhat provocative.
"She seems to have adjusted to a life in the limelight with uncommon speed," says a senior figure.
"Of course, to be fair she attracts attention because of who she is. But one is tempted to contrast her availability for the cameras with the near invisibility of Peter Phillips's [the Queen's grandson, see above] fiancee."
The middleclass girl who shares William's life (but NOT his bedroom)
Geoffrey Levy Richard Kay
Last updated at 00:00 02 April 2004
THE piquant irony of the situation will not be lost on their customers.
'Princess' dresses at Pounds 18.95. 'Princess' shoes at under a fiver. And to top it off, how about a tiara for a mere Pounds 2.45?
The Party Pieces website that sells these delightful products for children is a business that just happens to be run by Carole and Michael Middleton, whose daughter Kate can currently be found on the slopes of Klosters with Prince William.
How charming it would be, in these troubled times of terrorism and other dark expectations, to be able to proclaim that something prophetic lies at the heart of this amusing coincidence.
Prince William in Love? Just the kind of warm and uplifting story we need, and Kate, whose parents live in the village of Bucklebury, near Newbury, Berkshire, is a charming girl.
But hold on they're only 21, so let's put the student romance of William and Kate in perspective.
All day yesterday, after pictures emerged of them skiing together, people close to William who like to think of themselves as well-informed were divided about just how important Kate is to him. Such confusion is just how William likes it.
All that emerged from an unofficial source at Clarence House, his father's official residence, was a pithy observation that the two 'do not live together'.
In other words, although they with two others have shared a student house at St Andrews University for some 18 months, they don't share a bedroom.
In deliberately obscuring his private life William is doing no more than copying his parents. After all, his childhood was spent in an atmosphere of rumour and speculation over relationships involving both his father, Prince Charles, and his late mother, Princess Diana.
'Princess' dresses at Pounds 18.95. 'Princess' shoes at under a fiver. And to top it off, how about a tiara for a mere Pounds 2.45?
The Party Pieces website that sells these delightful products for children is a business that just happens to be run by Carole and Michael Middleton, whose daughter Kate can currently be found on the slopes of Klosters with Prince William.
How charming it would be, in these troubled times of terrorism and other dark expectations, to be able to proclaim that something prophetic lies at the heart of this amusing coincidence.
Prince William in Love? Just the kind of warm and uplifting story we need, and Kate, whose parents live in the village of Bucklebury, near Newbury, Berkshire, is a charming girl.
But hold on they're only 21, so let's put the student romance of William and Kate in perspective.
All day yesterday, after pictures emerged of them skiing together, people close to William who like to think of themselves as well-informed were divided about just how important Kate is to him. Such confusion is just how William likes it.
All that emerged from an unofficial source at Clarence House, his father's official residence, was a pithy observation that the two 'do not live together'.
In other words, although they with two others have shared a student house at St Andrews University for some 18 months, they don't share a bedroom.
In deliberately obscuring his private life William is doing no more than copying his parents. After all, his childhood was spent in an atmosphere of rumour and speculation over relationships involving both his father, Prince Charles, and his late mother, Princess Diana.
tale BS.
#JamesMiddleton