Here are some photos of Prince Charles at the Royal Salute Coronation Cup at Guards Polo Club over the weekend. I really wanted to use these photos, so I’m so happy I found a Charles story. You know why I loved these photos? Because Charles really does have great style. This is like the perfect men’s look for a polo game in England. Charles really is something of a dandy, and it’s fabulous. I love his purple boutonniere too!
Anyway, there’s been a lot of buzz this year that Prince Charles has been very hurt because William and Kate rarely let Charles see his grandson, Prince George. Months ago, we heard repeatedly that Charles has been concerned all along that Carole Middleton in particular is too involved in Kate, William and George’s lives and that the Middletons and Cambridges have cut Charles out on many major occasions in George’s life. In the past few months, it seems like Will and Kate became aware of the bad press and they made a concerted effort to allow Charles to spend more time with George. The Cambridges even stayed for a week or so at Highgrove after Charlotte was born, and Charles and George planted a tree together. Now the Daily Mail has a story that seems aimed at informing Will & Kate that Charles expects to see A LOT more of his grandchildren in the future:
It has been said that he doesn’t see as much of his grandson as he would like. But that hasn’t stopped Prince George’s doting grandfather Prince Charles turning his beloved gardens at Highgrove into a veritable toddler’s playground. The heir to the throne, who has made the gardens at his private Gloucestershire home his life’s work, has recently refurbished the tree house once played in by George’s father, Prince William, and uncle, Prince Harry, for the little prince to inherit.
To cap that he has also installed a £20,000 hand-made artisan shepherd’s hut – complete with a little bed, woodburner and French oak wooden floors – in his wildflower meadow for George to enjoy. And the prince and his now two-year-old grandson have even planted a Balsam Poplar tree in the gardens within sight of the main house as a lasting memory of their time together.
According to well-placed royal sources, the future king regularly enjoys picnics in the gardens with George and has even bought him a tea set, complete with plastic cups, to play with. The little prince, who is third in line to the throne, is said to be particularly taken with the spectacular treehouse his grandfather had built for William and Harry. The treehouse – named Hollyrood House after the Queen’s palace in Scotland, but also because it was originally built in a holly bush – was finally installed just in time for William’s seventh birthday in 1989.
The tree house has since been re-sited after the holly tree died and is now held up by slate towers. The trap door has also been removed with a new entrance featuring a holly leaf-shaped door installed, and will soon be re-thatched. But it is still an exciting place for a young prince to explore and George is now a frequent visitor. The little prince also enjoys exploring the charming shepherd’s hut given to his grandfather to mark his first birthday last year, which was also something of a thank you to Charles to for the help he gave its makers more than a decade ago through his Prince’s Youth Business Trust.
Fashioned out of corrugated iron, it took Richard Lee of Dorchester-based Plankbridge 250 hours to make, is 12 foot long and has an English oak window and door. Painted in Charles’s favourite pale duck egg blue, the Victorian-style hut even has its own woodburner and bed, furnished by the royal grandfather himself. One source said: ‘It is sited on the main drive to the house in a wildflower meadow and Prince George loves it.’
One aide told the Mail: ‘The gardens at Highgrove have always been the prince’s passion but he has never lost sight of the fact that this is a family home where his children and now grandchildren play. He and Prince George have already spent some very happy times here together and will no doubt spend many more.’
Ha, Charles is really laying it on thick these days. He’s publicly guilting William into giving him more access to George. It’s sort of amazing that this is playing out in public, through the media. While I understand that George is “special” in that he’ll be king one day and he’s Charles’ first grandchild, I hope Charles also plans to spoil Charlotte as well as Harry’s future children too. Because you know what? Little girls like treehouses too!!!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
This sounds really weird. I am sure that Prince Charles is able to visit his grandchildren whenever he wants to. It just sounds like the Middletons make far more of an effort to be around their grandchildren than he does
wasn’t he kind of an absent father?
I suppose maybe he wants to make up for that, with his grandkids, but it doesn’t really work that way.
And use them for PR. William and Kate are much more liked by the public. At least in the past.
Then again, he pays for all their renovations, so if I were him I’d be like “I see my grandson or there’s no cash anymore. Build the tennis court by yourself!” 😉
That’s not true at all.
Diana really did him a disservice in the war of ‘who is the better parent’ in the media. For most of their lives, those boys were at boarding school starting age 7 and a retinue of nannies before then. She missed birthdays [as did Charles]. she sacked one of the nannies for being too close to William [Barbara Barnes], was horrible to other care givers, was emotionally dependant on William to extent that he may be a crippled adult…..yet she comes out of this as the shining better parent??
Further, the royals don’t operate like normal people, no point in extrapolating normal family relations into how they operate.
William is perfectly aware of this and this is why the public shaming is working on him. Kate and the Middletons are operating like regular people so the public shaming probably doesn’t filter through unless their PR tells them the PR optics of it.
As for those complaining about Charles using the kids for PR, William is doing it too. Learnt at the feet of the master and mistress. they aren’t the first royals to do it to foster an image. regular/celebrity people do it too.
No he wasn’t an absent father, he just didn’t make sure there was a photographer around for every moment.
LAK – your remark about boarding school triggered something for me. When her children were tiny, I recall Diana saying that she preferred NOT to send her own kids to boarding school when they were very young as she (and Charles) did not have the best experience there. I wonder what made her do a 180?
LAK
“Further, the royals don’t operate like normal people, no point in extrapolating normal family relations into how they operate.”
I couldn’t agree more. Much like the bubble of Hollyweird throws up relationships and interactions that are nothing like the relationships the rest of the world have, the BRF (and the top aristos generally) just don’t operate like the rest of us. To my mind, the way they do work is dysfunctional and unpleasant, but there we go. Whatever you think of their set-up, though, it’s pointless to look at what goes on from the prism of the way the 99% live their lives. Criticise the group mores, by all means. But all the individual actions are just part of the group mores, not one member behaving badly by the standards of the group.
LAK, Sixer agreed. A friend in London who has small kids has described the way her “set” (she’s German, married into it, and views her high-end Chelsea life an anthropologist at this point) is simply wide and away different in how they handle their children versus “normals” like us. One schoolmate of her little daughter is a godchild of a royal. Anyway the child is basically raised by a ever-changing series of nannies while the parents work, or travel with their respective lovers-of-the-month. She said the child is pathetically grateful for the smallest attention, like being taken along for tea and a movie, but other kids at the school in similar circumstances seem more plucky and used to it. She went to a conference with the headmistress (very $$$$ place in London) this year, and was warned that her daughters were “always mentioning her at school as in “my mummy took us here, my mummy read us a book. our daddy made us eggs, our daddy taught us to spell elephant” and was told she & husband needed to “step away” from the kids to avoid “over parenting” — let them “fend” — now, she works, and is present, but like, not a helicopter sort. Just a normal harried caring mom. The kids are nearly 7 and 8. Step away!
I’d imagine it’s this on steroids for the RF. (Don’t know if this is “normal” in the UK for public schools? But I heard similar a few years ago from an American friend there who has one child.)
Liberty – yes, that’s it. I think, say, Hollywood and the British aristos have different, but equally dysfunctional, ways of going about interpersonal relationships. And that they are fundamentally different from the common sense morality of the rest of us. I mean lots of us cheat, or have failed relationships, but we at least realise when we’re f*cked up, you know? For them, f*cked up is how it is, how it’s always been and how it will always will be. Because that’s how they roll. We see f*cked up, they see normal.
I think we can judge these groups as a whole. But I don’t think we can really judge individual actors within them: it’s pointless. They’re not operating on the same understandings as the rest of us.
I went to a posh public school but a second tier type school – no aristos or royals, but the children of high-up military people, politicians and diplomats. That sort of level. And the parents there weren’t like that. We certainly had all the inculcation that we were very special snowflakes destined to be the great and good of the world who would use our special snowflakeness to the benefit of the great unwashed, simply by existing. And that included the relatively poor scholarship pupils like me. We were there, so we were special. But the parents were “normal” – involved to a normal degree, happy to have a public cuddle – parents you and I would recognise as doing parent-y type things.
So I think it is very much peculiar to the very top of the top – that old money, dynastical rump of twits, headed by the royals, that we still have left. It’s a tiny culture these days, but because we are a constitutional monarchy, it’s still strong and secure in its strange little bubble, out of step with the rest of us.
You know, I used to really be into the “Charles is a horrible ass” narrative for a long time after Princess Di passed. However, after actually learning more about him, I’m opening up to the fact that he may very well have been a really good father to Will and Harry, but that he was actually doing his job – I think we see William and Kate doing their “jobs” as royals, and assume that’s just what Charles was doing. I actually think he worked a lot harder, and for more charities, so he was gone more (not to downplay Princess Di’s amazing work with charities at all).
I actually like knowing that he’s such an excited grandfather – he’s said that he has always wanted a granddaughter, so I’m positive she’ll be just as doted on as George.
Liberty: LOL. It’s not funny, but I couldn’t help laughing at your story. The imagery of a headmistress telling a parent to stop it…..
My headmistress AND housemistress were the coldest women i’ve come across. Then and now. How they were put in charge of children is life’s mysteries.
That said, when I need to be cold to a person, I imagine them, and then ice berg!!!
Katy, that has happened to me, too. I always thought he was cold and aloof, but now that I’ve read more about the BRF and Diana in particular, I don’t think that is quite true. I also think Diana was a lot smarter and more strategic with the press than many give her credit for, even today.
Diana herself would proudly relate that William would push tissues under the bathroom door when she sobbed, telling her he hated her to be sad. She would say this as evidence of their close relationship. He was a small child at the time – not yet double figures.
That is a shitty, shitty parent, whatever class she’s from. You don’t use your children to meet your emotional needs like that, least of all when they are so small. Combine that with sacking the nanny because you’re jealous of her bond with him… ouch.
How people choose to blame Charles for William’s issues, and dependence upon the Middletons, I will never know.
“Further, the royals don’t operate like normal people, no point in extrapolating normal family relations into how they operate.”
“I think we can judge these groups as a whole. But I don’t think we can really judge individual actors within them: it’s pointless. They’re not operating on the same understandings as the rest of us.”
I am pasting these comments on every royal thread, particularly when someone relates a royal story to a situation in their own lives.
These people are so different from you and me as to be almost aliens.
Maybe he should have tried this hard to spend time with his own kids when they were young.
He did, just not in view of the cameras. He also had a job that he takes seriously. There are tons of stories about how warm and wonderful father Charles is, but they don’t fit the public’s “poor pretty princess is perfect” narrative that must paint Charles as terrible at everything.
Yes, he can just show up, calling a bit ahead to make sure everybody is home. Or offer to babysit…. Much ado about nothing.
Well played Charles
Yeah but planting a tree? With a 2 year old? I agree he’s playing the media well but I don’t think he’s great at playing Grandpa.
Meh – this doesn’t seem weird to me, because that’s the kind of thing my dads family did.
I was 2 and a bit when my brother was born. As soon as he was born, I was spending a lot more time with nan, gramp, and my aunt who lived there taking care of them. Prior to that they didn’t see too much of me, because I was their first child, (also the first grandchild) and they were pretty clingy to their baby. But once the bro was born, they realized that having a super energetic two year old underfoot was pretty difficult, so the family got to steal me for afternoons.
And I spent a lot of my really early years in the garden. Destroying some of my aunts beloved flowers while trying to help her garden. So this story, at least to me, really isn’t strange because it’s super similar to my own childhood.
Are you kidding? Dig in the dirt? I bet George loved it, and he’ll be able to talk about “his” tree and watch it grow!
I think it’s a lovely thing to do. Digging in dirt is probably what it was to George at the time, but for years to come, the tree will represent that moment (even if he doesn’t fully remember it).
My niece is one month older than George, and when I visited her earlier this summer, we had a blast planting and then watering flowers. Toddlers love dirt and imitating adult activities. And while I was slightly older when I brought home a tiny pine tree from preschool on Arbor Day, I still love to point to it 30 years later when I visit my parents.
That’s no comment on whether Charles is a good grandfather or not, but planting a tree is a fun thing for a kid that age to do with family.
How adorable what a good grandpa .. he should spend time with both families equally
Charles was always open about wanting a daughter and when he didn’t get that, a granddaughter, Charlotte will be the spoilt one.
They shouldn’t be keeping Charles from his grandchildren unless he’s undermining their parenting by forcing cakes and fizzy drinks down their throat or something. He doesn’t seem the type to do anything stupid, offensive or dangerous, he seems the delightful type that would talk to the kids about nature and introduce them to every flower and plant.
William and Kate seem to have placed her mother in charge of their entire lives because they’re too lazy to live their own.
ha ha yes! I could totally see that – him introducing the grandkids to all the different plants and flowers in the garden. Such an adorable image 🙂
I don’t get how this is a public shaming – it says multiple times in the article that George is a “frequent visitor” to Charles’s garden. Sounds like he’s seeing his grandfather plenty.
+1. let’s not see conspiracy where none exists
Kristen….that’s what I thought, too!
Agree. I think the whole thing has been exaggerated.
Thank you. I re-read a couple times to see if I missed the part where he is publicly guilt tripping Will & Kate.
totally agree. And if I were Will and Kate I would want my son hanging with grandpa Charlie as much as possible. He has hobbies other than vacationing and skiing. He loves his plants and his environmental issues. He’s quite interesting and well studied. A grandson could learn so much. Petting zoos are nice and all (sorry Grammy Carole, I take my toddler son to them as well) but that treehouse will foster so much imagination and fun. Point Charles. Well played.
I didn’t know there was another Kristen here! **smiles** **waves hello**
AND that she spells her name the “right” way, too! lol
Yes!!!!!!! The only way to spell it!!! Hi! 🙂
Me too!!! Yay! You know, I always hated my name growing up – went by Kris for years, and begged to change to Christine, or Christina, or even Kristin with an “i” – but now I love my name and wouldn’t trade it for anything!!!
#allofthekristens
Edited to add: errr…..maybe my username should have been Kristen3, within this particular series of replies
Yeah, I was confused about it too. I see good PR for Charles, nothing to indicate that he doesn’t see George enough.
Totally agree. The way I read it, I almost thought it was a planted article from Will and Kate’s office: “see how much time he spends with his grandfather. The Middletons don’t have a monopoly in George. See?”
Charles actually has a lot of engagements unlike Kates parents he isn’t free to do what he wants when he wants. And it is easy to cut his access they have their main house in Norfolk and seem to get around. Charles always wanted a girl and he even said he wanted Charlotte to be a girl so I have no doubt that she will be as spoiled or more so by Charles.
I want the treehouse and shed. That is all.
Can I come? Will Colin and Mark be there to serve us brunch?
But of course!
I want a tea party with plastic cups with Charles. If he wishes us to sup in the treehouse, I am game.
j.eyre!! Did you see Thornfield is for sale? The real one! Go buy it because I want to come to your tea parties!
And scones! If I’m climbing a tree, there must be scones!
mmmm scones. the little tea room by my place sells the yummiest scones: flavours include chocolate chip, pistachio & almond … yummers. Now I want to leave work and go there to get some scones
blu – What?! This seems like something I should know. What was that ol’ coot planning to do, sell it out from under me? Let’s just see how Bertha feels about this – bet she drives the price down.
Actually, I have long been fascinated with the tree that inspired Wuthering Heights. I can still conjure up its image when I want to be spooked.
..scones in the treehouse! Sigh. WIth a small bunch of flowers on the table….
The shepherd’s cottage sounds a bit hameau de la reine, non?
Birdie, oui. Great observation. My mind went all Mayerling until I read this.
Birdix, That’s the first thing I noticed too. How can they not be concerned about the negative PR with the Marie Antoinette association? Otoh, perhaps the BRF think it’s funny and it’s C’s political statement paying homage to Marie’s f**k you attitude toward the peasants.
Sort of, but it is a royal tradition to have either playhouses or the treehouse, starting with the Welsh cottage built for Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. It was built during a time of financial struggle and unemployment, to showcase Welsh craftsmanship.
I wonder if Charles really isn’t that into his grandkids but sees all of this bad publicity so he pretends like he cares. I think the Middletons are getting s bad rap. Carol is an involved grandmother. What’s wrong with that? I know a lot of very involved grandmother’s. Why shouldn’t she be able to be around her grandson only because he’s a royal.
My parents see my kids way more than my inlaws because my inlaws don’t care as much. On the rare occasion they visit it’s because they have an appt in the area anyway and then they’re like, “hello children, So… who wants to go to the running shoe store?” and then they leave. They like the idea of grandkids but not the action. I’m not saying that’s bad on them. It is what it is. I know they get upset because my mom sees them all the time but she asks and wants to and loves playing with them.
Yoohoo – your inlawa may not feel comfortable asking. It’s easier for mother to say to her daughter I’m coming over to see the grandkids or to give advice etc. There’s a saying- your son is your son until he gets a wofe, your daughters your daughter for life.’
I bet they want to see and spend time with the grandkids but don’t want to feel like they are intruding. I’ll also bet that you talk to your parents much more than your partner.
I have a son and a daughter and I worry about not having access to my grandkids when he marries, or having to compete with my daughter in laws parents for access.
I remember an article years ago about Charles being annoyed about how noisy Camilla’s young grandchildren were. I don’t think he finds young children that appealing. And I don’t think he understands them. Carole Middleton took George to a petting zoo; Charles’ idea of fun is to plant one tree. He does not understand kiddie fun IMO. He was like this with his sons and his parents were like this with him.,
children will play with anything. petting zoo, plastic toy, tree planting. it’s adults who determine what is fun vs what isn’t fun and mold their kids accordingly.
I looooved going with my father to herd cows and do things around a farm. It depends how you talk to the kid and help them enjoy the experience. Planting trees and seeds seems not only educative, but fun and a great project. I bet George got all muddy and happy!
I had fun digging up the potatoes with my grandfather. You can make anything fun for a child. My grandparents also used to live on a farm and I always begged to live on a farm too as nothing seemed more exciting, every aspect of it…
Hey, when my mom had my little sister my dad entertained me by letting me vacuum. That one corner of the rug was pristine!
I planted little trees with my grandfather, and I remember we placed a potato under each to feed it through the winter! I loved it.
bluhare: Aw! I imagine a wee prim you industriously vacuuming away in the morning room, while a sort of Mr Hudson and Mrs Bridges staff duo smile and nod approvingly from the doorway.
I agree, my daughter’s mother-in-law lives with her and her family. The other grandmother has daily access to my granddaughters but I’m the Nana…it’s special time when they visit me. I’m the one without the rules, without the defined bedtimes, the one who eats ice cream and cookies for breakfast, plays with them on the beach and watches movies until midnight. After the weekend is over, I’m the one who packs up their clothes and sends them home with bags of chocolate and other sugar laden treats. As the youngest said, “Nana your only job is to love and spoil us right?” I agreed.
Awww. My mom let my kids have ice cream or those orange push-pops for breakfast. Good memories. 🙂
I totally get it, yoohoo. My MIL talks about how much she loves our kids and tells everyone else how we don’t visit enough (we live across the country) and how lonely she is without them, but she has refused for years to fly here for a visit. Instead, she will fly other places and then demand we drive to meet her there, which we do when we can. Then she decides she is too tired to do anything we want to do as a family, even if we ask her to pick the activity. When we take the time to visit her, she doesn’t want to spend any time with the kids. My favorite was one time when she told us we couldn’t leave yet because her friend hadn’t gotten to meet our kids. We delayed our three-day trip home for a couple of hours, but when her friend came she pointed out the kids and then sent us outside so that she could tell her friend stories about them. Then she got mad because her neighbor saw we were all outside with nothing to do so she let her dog out for the kids to play with and gave us a soccer ball to kick around; apparently we weren’t supposed to talk with her because they didn’t like her. Then she cried when we left because we hadn’t stayed long enough. Lady, we were there for five days and you refused every attempt to spend time with the grandkids, including watching television when they asked you to play a board game and told you you could choose which one. If she calls, it’s to get my husband to solve a problem for her. As soon as he mentions something about us or the kids, she’s off the phone. It’s really sad; our kids are awesome and she is missing it, but we can’t force her to change her behavior. The kids still love her and they shrug off her behavior, but they definitely see the difference between grandmothers and have on occasion privately called my mom “the fun one.”
i have a feeling he’s going to spoil and pay attention to the ‘important’ one, the one who will be king someday (if that monarchy lasts that long).
Charles was raised in teh same environment where name, birth order, etc are of the utmost importance, so I can see him caring more (publicly and privately) about the first born grandchild.
I don’t get that feeling at all.
If anything, he’s going to spoil his granddaughter more. For now, he can build these things and do activities with PGTips because he’s older.
I don’t see that at all. I can see him looking at Charlotte as if she’s hung the moon & interacting with her as if she’s the only girl child to have been born to the world. As a kid, he had Anne but for the most part he was surrounded by boys. So, I can see him treating Charlotte not only like a sweet little snowflake but like an intellectual equal, if that makes sense.
I wonder if it will be a mixture of duty (applying some effort to forming a likely future PoW and King) and natural bonds of personalty (they simply get on with each other, or click in some way, boy or girl).
Many nieces and nephews on Mr Liberty’s side and it’s all great, but you do see certain kids/aunts/uncles/grandparents gravitating toward each other somehow.
I don’t think Charles was the absent father everyone claims he was.
Diana was v good at showing off her ‘good mother’ side with loads of pap opportunities but let’s not forget their boys went to boarding school v early and they also spent lots of holiday time with their father.
They share a lot of hobbies with him (polo, hunting) that Diana didn’t and he was v protective of them after her death.
I think there has been a narrative of lovely Diana/stuffy Charles that doesn’t actually reflect reality.
As for the absent grandfather scenario he is after all the future King! He can’t exactly do a Middleton and move in with his son.
Exactly.
He wasn’t – Diana herself said he was a very hands on and involved father. Both boys also confirmed this when they got older.
I’ll bring up Harewood Park again. Charles bought it and was rehabbing it, completely with artist studio, when the big 2007 breakup happened. It was rumored that he was fixing it up for W&K as their country home. It is about an hour from Highgrove vs Anmer being 8 hours away.
Charles wanted his children and grandchildren nearby. And as Maum noted unlike the Middletons, he has a job he cannot delegate. The person he’d delegate to has decided to go be a helicopter pilot.
Boom!
I remember reading about this estate, too. I can’t imagine Charles would gift William property close by if he didn’t want to be an engaged in-law and grandparent. Besides, there’s really no story here as others have stated. Sounds like Charles is making a good (albeit expensive) effort to give his grandchildren a welcoming place to visit.
Nota, I didn’t know about Harewood. Wow. I’ll echo bluhare and fist-pump your theory. And Dena, I agree – likely he’s really trying, hardly doing all this as some sort of in-law spite. Maybe hoping for a child who will love nature as he does.
The power of visual images are forever stuck in people’s heads of Diana out and about with the kids. Who can forget the time when she took the kids to the water park / amusement park, for example. Those types of images of fun & frolicking that most associate with mom & family or would like to associate with mom & family carry happy mom emotions that most of us can connect to our on experiences or yearnings for that. There is no way that Charles, whether he was a good dad/a bad dad / or an indifferent dad can have publicly competed with warm mom pictures. Even those pics of him with his kids on the ski slopes showing the kids having fun with him cannot compete with the images of Diana & kids. I guess I’m saying I agree with the others in saying that just because there are public scrap book like photos & public Hallmark card moments with D/W//H doesn’t mean that the more private & introverted parent wasn’t present in important & meaningful ways.
As I recall, Charles and Diana competed for the affection of their children. Diana may have had gripes at times, but I believe that she thought Charles a very loving father.
Their divorce was so bitter. I hope that William is able to separate her feelings from the reality of Charles, who has tried to do the right thing for so many years.
Wolfie, I don’t think William can do that yet. He doesn’t seem mature enough yet. I hope that now that he’s a husband & father who will be perhaps placed in a similar position as his own father, sans a bitter marital relationship, that he will better understand & have compassion for some of the decisions his father made as a father, as a husband and as a man.
“I hope Charles also plans to spoil Charlotte as well as Harry’s future children too. Because you know what? Little girls like treehouses too!!!”
beautifully said and very true.
Big girls like tree houses, too. I wish I could go play at Hollyrood House. It sounds awesome.
+ 1
Charles, as we all know, is quite good at manipulating the press for his own purposes. Exhibit A: his public battles with Diana. Also, using his sons to sell Camilla to the public. I’m not defending any of that.
However, he really shouldn’t have to manipulate his son into access to his grandchildren. William has nothing without his father and grandmother. Where he lives, what Kate wears, titles, ambulance copilot job, everything comes from his father’s side of the family . And, I bet Charles is a lot of fun as a grandpa and the Highgrove gardens are spectacular.
William is such a disappointment; I used to like him. And I get the attraction of the close knit Middleton family to him, but he really needs to find a better balance between the two families. OR-give up the throne entirely. Not likely, and how would he ever support his family?
I appreciate that charles’ activities with his grand children (i assume Charlotte as well once she can walk) include being close to nature. The planting of trees to commemorate time together (and something they can always look at together and remember their day and look how it’s grown), and the “hut” is so awesome (i want one).
I had a father more concerned with his affairs than with me. He wasn’t an awful father, not abusive or anything. Just sort of neglectful when it came to spending time with me vs his secretary-turned-girlfriend after he divorced my mother. Twenty years later I had a baby and he was GRANDFATHER OF THE CENTURY. My father lavishes attention and gifts on my kids like no tomorrow. Which I think is his way of making up for being an absent father. This is how I view Charles.
I know Diana was FAR from perfect but he was a sh*t from the beginning of their marriage and I can’t ever forget that.
Both Diana and the boys publicly disagreed with the idea of Charles as an absent parent.
He seemed to be an absent-ish husband more than and absent father. I think he suffered a very cold upbringing due to the culture his family has, and having a British queen as a mother. I think he really tried to make up for it with the boys (not with Diana). They seemed real close, particularly more after they lost their mom.
I like that he is reminding William to give him access to his grandchildren. There are grandparents who suffer in silence because their children are too busy and they forget to share their children with grandparents or just prefer one set of them.
Similar situation for a friend of mine. She was a teenager when her parents split and she never saw him after that. Years later she is married and expecting her first child and all of a sudden her dad was BACK in a big way. She was gracious enough to allow it but I know she felt hurt by it.
He was definitely a bad husband for Diana but the bad dad narrative is greatly exaggerated.
Oh, for God’s sake: this story has no traction. These people are all busy with their own lives to lead. This tug of war over the little prince is a lot of bull. I did not get to spend all the time I wanted with my own grandson when he was small, now even less while he is finishing his college studies. No conspiracies or real story here.
I don’t see a big deal. I mean my family does more with my side of the family than my husband’s side. Somewhat its b/c i’m closer to my family than my husband is to his and somewhat b/c they call and ask us to do things and my husband’s family isn’t good at calling or putting in effort. Its not b/c we don’t like them or never see them, we just do a little more with my family. I’m sure Royals are the same.
There is a detail in this story that casts a suspicious light on the whole thing: BALSAM POPLAR. Balsam Poplar? Really? I just cannot picture Charles purposely planting a Balsam Poplar on his property. I think this story is as substantial as Balsam Poplar fluff.
Livvers
That story has been out for a little bit and there are photos.
And Charles planting anything is highly likely. He’s been huge into gardening and sustainible organic farming for decades now.
I seem to have not explained the reason for my surprise very well. I really do trust Charles to know about trees, and legacy trees, and I know he has planted a _great_ many of them around the Commonwealth, and that is what makes this species of tree _such a weird choice_ for planting with a grandson. They are short-lived, they are brittle, they are messy as all heck, their lumber has relatively few uses and none that aren’t better served by other trees, they don’t have good fall colour or much ornamental value at all. In fact, Michael Dirr only grants them a tiny footnote in his _Manual of Woody Landscape Plants_, and that one just to note the “buds and leaves very gummy,” which “emit a pleasant balsam fragrance when expanding.” I hope that clarifies my comment.
Now the Tilia cordata tree, which other sources also mention, does make sense to me.
Livvers
Thank You for clarifying.
I remember planting trees with my family. Some didn’t take. Some did. Some were lovely and some I didn’t like. We plated them for reasons though. To promote shelter for animals. Help other species of plants/insects that were beneficial. Or because they were not going to get a fungus.
If I had my wish I would have planted the earth in Sugar Maples. They last a long time, they are lovely in the fall, and drop few seed pods to rake up.
That aside the act of planting the tree, the sentiment, and not the upkeep, I can’t find a reason to fault this at all.
Unless it promotes something infectious it’s only a vanity issue imo.
Perhaps he let George pick out a little tree at a nursery, or from some selection they had? (Decision making skills.) And it happened to be this?
I don’t think he is – maybe what he’s doing playing the Midds at their own game. We all know that Ma Midd likes to periodically tip her pap off about when she’s out with the kids, making sure that the world knows that she’s THE ONLY grandmother to the future King. Carole likes the press attention just like her kids but she’s more subtle about it and hides it behind the grandkids.
Both families clearly see a lot of the children and the press need to stop making out otherwise. Charles might feel a bit insecure about the influence Carole has over their upbringing and as much as Kate and her family irritate me, its perfectly natural for a daughter to go to her mother about raising children. Maybe is this insecurity that is behind these ‘stories’.
I can’t stand him and Camilla. They destroyed Diana. Was she perfect? No. But she was a teenager and she was used by Charles.
Wow. Took a sharp left turn off topic to state an opinion.
Diana found her way. It’s too bad that she wasn’t around long enough to restore the dignity that she tried to strip from Charles. She would have gone on to become a mature and whole woman – with acceptance of the folly of others, that was beyond her control; and to control what she could, which would be herself. This is one of life’s lessons.
Wolfie
Diana in her last year was a woman more than on her way there imo.
She had set things aside and was friendly with Charles and Camilla. She was possibly doing 1 last hurrah of revelations in the press. She was thought to be distancing herself from the fayed family as she thought they were tacky anyway. And William was upset with her being so public with Dodi her distancing from her would have started to mend their relationship.
I honestly think Diana had grown a lot and there was minimal bad blood left. Had she lived another decade I think we would have seen the parents and spouses rallying around their boys.
Had she lived.. Sinnce she didn’t we’re left with a narrative discussed above unfortunately.
Well, there may well be something in that tragic tale that you identify with . . . I think many women live with that kind of sentiment, unfortunately.
That’s an aspect that makes sense.
I think it’s normal for the maternal grandparents (or grandma, anyway) to spend more time with the grandkids if she lives near enough and has a close relationship with her daughter. Not saying that they shouldn’t make the effort to include the paternal side, but I can see where it’s just natural for the daughter to want to be with her mom more than her father-in-law.
Kids deserve to be around their grandparents but maybe there is a reason why they keep him at arms length? For me, I will never leave my daughter with my MIL because she is so careless. My 18 month old is a very sweet and lovely girl but she is fiesty and a little explorer that needs to be watched like a hawk. My MIL has already shown to be inattentive with her (left her on an armchair at 6 months old to grab something where my daughter almost fell out of it, left her alone on the sun deck with a kiddie pool full of water, and more) so until my daughter is old enough to know better and can operate a telephone (MIL has a bunch of health issues), she will not be left alone with her. I know she loves her granddaughter but I just don’t trust her. Perhaps there is something similar with Charles.
on a related note…Today is 34 years since Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer. What an awesome wedding that was!!
imaginary MrsM: Cor blimey!! ‘ave you seen the news! That daft dad of yours is up to something! ‘is old Nibs thinks he c’n just goose-step in and take over th’ mind in’ ‘n education of our own Gary George, does ‘e? Does ‘e? What ‘ave you to about this, lad? Eh? Didn’t I tell you to mind that lot, you gaspin’ layabout! helicopter, me auntie’s pants! Look wot you’ve done!
imaginary PrinceWBaldtop: Why, I say, you know The Thing and I have been utterly swamped by the holiday yobs coming here to the bloody Tower! We’re workin’ nearly six hours a day, only five tea breaks, it’s deadly! I’ve never seen anything like it, Kitty’s goin’ quite grey, ain’t she, and her hairdresser quite thirty minutes away and unwilling to travel up to our cell in a cherry picker, isn’t he? and I found ten more hairs in my brush just this morning! It’s a misery, I tell you and I have my solicitor on it – Pops isn’t answerin’ my calls! So, don’t know about the sprog, do I, what! I think someone took ‘im in a car to tea yesterday? Without a nanny, why, no one for The Thing and I to ask where he is! Is there? Is there?
iMM: you great big blighter, and this is why! ‘is Nibs can be bent on stealin’ my Gary George right under your nose! Oi, I’ve put in two years of ‘ard work on that tot, ‘ard work, and ten on you and thirty on that gal of mine – do something!
MEANWHILE IN A WILDFLOWER GARDEN…
iPC: Look, little fellow! Har! isn’t it fine! I say, Charles George, it’s quite a toddler wonderland, eh, jolly ho! All yours, old thing, what?! Yes, my lad, look over there at that great swanky pile! All yours too! A million-pound artisan-crafted bachelor’s bolt hole, har! Go on, take a peek we’ll all follow — — king size bed, eh, eh? Har! Incense burner, the birds love, it, har! Wallpapers by that lovely Cath Kidston, who I once, well – har! Bought a puppy for, eh? Eh? Wink. Nudge! Bought a puppy for! Har! Never you mind, lad, you’ll be buying puppies for the lovelies too one day, what! And the maids, if you hire well, har! I say, whatver happened to that little foreign nanny girl, by the way, one we bought for Willy, look that out Paul, won’t you, heard she did a fly? Find her! And get a few more like that, for my own Bucktown, ho!
Imaginary Cammie: Oh, isn’t the child a lovely! Yes, Charles George, that gold mini Mercedes is yours too! Oh, boys, you must snap a picture of that to send up the nose of that wretched old air hostess with her balloons and dull sparrow-hipped kids and naff mobile tennis terraces! Smile, laddie! There! Send those to Mailbogs right away!
iPC: Har! Do! Wait, let me pose with the little sod in our matching bespoke pale linen suitings and Liberty neckrags! Har! I say, queenie, you delicious spotty piece of cold rump, do text old Mike, fine fellow, and advise him to hie it to his local before you hit “send” to his missus – ta! Ah, doesn’t this remind you of the old days, in another bolt hole in Humber, and the one in Surbiton no one looking there! Ha! Oh my ravishing old slag!
iC: Ooh, you addled old charmer! Me knickers are quite wrecked again, har! I say, is that magnificent quiff of yours still on: bringing the lad here today and debriefing the poor little blighter all month with the help of that lovely former Scientology deprogramming expert Mister Peterborg, who now specializes in his new proprietary “De-Middlesizing” program for Britain? Oh, is that him I see shushing through the wildflower meadow now, near the Camilla Yew you planted with dear little Chuck?
iPC: Indeed it is! Yes, he’s on the clock, must work fast, undo the damage, times-a-wastin’, ho, and so we’ll have our first deprogramming picnic today, in fact! Haul out the plastic martini set and the bread and Speck! I say, Peterborg you fat mare’s tit, welcome to Holly Rude Haus! Lovely color, aint it, Tilda Swinton’s Right Eye Blue, eh, learned about color during the seven blissful months I spent refining the shag with that American, Miss Stewart, eh, now quite the fancy of mine? Eh? Now, I want to say a word to the boy before you start —- what, oh, yes, mind the lad, he quite likes to whack one with that little miner’s hammer he carries about, great spirit, eh, future monach material, what, not like that limp Spencer-ish commoner-dazzled pa of his, what! Get a photo of that too, eh, boys? Me and the tot by the door of the hut! Wait, let me look wistful, as I did one in India, there! Har!
iMrP: Indeed, sir!
iPC: So, listen here, Charles George, m’lad: I know on paper you have the family pile, Allyerfawlty, and the dump in town that old Kitty turned into a plebe fright, but now that Great Gran is rightfully detaining your mum and dad for a lovely bit of remedial royal training, I hope you will consider this your home, and Highgrab up the path too, and Paul here as your Butler, and Cammie here, you can call her GrandTampy eh, eh, har! Family joke, lad, you’re one of us now! Eh! Crowns on head! Eh! Duchy to run, what! And, no more middle-class girls’ togs for you by the way, lad, we’ve country clothes for you now, Bond Street, now you look a princeling, instead of a WAG’s sprog off a baller! Look, even some medals and a shotgun, ho!
Imaginary Princeling: Fie! Blast! I am three! Damnitall! Bloody hell! Mine!
iPC: Har! That’s the spirit, totling! That’s the way, my fine stout little iron guts! Also rest assured, boy, I know what it is like to have a dreadful angry grim younger sister, so disruptive and taxing, it never gets better, does it! Quite as bad as a younger people’s prince son who takes after his mum, what? so you may come here without her; we’ve arranged a comfortable bin at the gate where she shall be left in the good care of a pair of lovely German shepherds, Didi and Shakespeare, good enough for a spare, what! Oi, Peterborg, over to you! Can you work on his awful Southall vowels and preference for a cheese toast tea and marshmallow? Not the thing, eh! And — foremost, I, to never trust a Ginger, what? They’re too clever by half!
Lol Liberty!
I will never completely understand these stories with the slang, but they’re still funny!
“MEANWHILE”…haha! My mind is reeling! I don’t know how you come up with this stuff, Liberty. It’s one outrageously funny insult and turn of phrase after another! Miner’s hammer, LOL!
ETA: I cannot get “WAG’s sprog off a baller” out of my head!
Olenna, for years I’ve worked on and off with a Brit top company exec who is from that world, and he basically talks like a few of the imaginary characters all the time, When he is drunk on the phone, omg. So I am cribbing his rhythm and some of his phrases, and making it a more stupid to try to be funnier to go with the imaginary fan fiction plot and imaginary characters. Wish you could hear this guy talk, my stuff pales.
FLORC — some of it is slang probably used incorrectly, and some made-up nonsense, sorry But 🙂 that you can laugh at some bits anyway! !
OH Liberty. You had me with Charles George and their matching linen suits!
hi bluhare! How’s your day? I’m hallucinating after working into the wee hours.
Wouldn’t you DREAM of seeing them in matching gear? With Charles’s sense of style, and such a cute feisty little boy with so much presence, and it would be off the charts. THAT’S the potential money shot. That’s the swoon-maker.
I want to see George side by side with Charles in a mini replica of that snazzy white suit complete with purple boutonniere swatting at the peasants with his mini polo mallet. That’s would be a great money shot for me.
Feeshalori!!! This this this!! Lmao, Peasant-chasing, by swinging his mini polo mallet!!!!
From this moment forward, I’m going to refer to Charles as ‘is Nibs. I’m going to us it as a nickname for him. I just love it.
William is increasingly coming off as a spoiled brat who has been brainwashed by the Middleton cult. Not suitable to be king. Harry should have been the one.
We just don’t like him.
Just a quick question – how many of us (like me) are actual grandparents? There is a vast difference between being a parent and being a grandparent. A parent is responsible for raising a child to be a productive member of society with correct manners, a proper sense of morals, and overseeing their education (or hiring a nanny who can). On the other hand, a grandparent does not have that complete level of responsibility that belongs to the parent (their own child). Grandparents are the ones who love a child without expectations and allow them more leeway. My own mother made my children swear they would not “fink” on her until after she was dead and they stayed true to their word. When Mom had been gone for about 6 months, my grown children started telling me stories about what she let them do and what she did with them. I was stunned – same woman with two different sets of expectations in a young charge. Or, as my son put it, “Mom, your mother was a tough cookie but my grandmother was wonderful and spoiled us rotten.” Prince William seems to be involved in teaching Prince George what is expected of him as a future monarch (much like Prince Charles did as a father to William) while Charles can be more relaxed as a grandparent to George.
You had me until “Prince William seems to be involved in teaching Prince George what is expected of him as a future monarch “. Not happening.
Lol.
For all of you who think that Wills is an idle wanker as a prince: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgyLl062b4g.
Not, I suspect, that he really will pull a Prince Hal, but for historical context on the fine art of prince-ing.
Fascinating parallel.
And oh my, the gorgeous voice and delivery of Hiddleston. Thanks for posting this.
I haven’t watched the video, but must comment . . . . isn’t “idle wanker” an oxymoron? Because, by definition, the person is wanking therefore not idle! 🙂
Oi, hoist by my own petard, me with a graduate degree in English literature and all….
Charles is a dip.
Amateur hour. Charles has nothing on my mom, who is a ninja at guilt, manipulation, and shade throwing. By the time you realize what’s going on, the deed is already done.
A co-worker of mine came to work livid one day. She said her son, who was seven at the time, started out an explanation to her by saying “this is how grandma explained it . . . ” I thought I’d die of laughter.
My mom announced she and dad were moving down to live in our neighborhood, so I could help take care of my dad, who had advanced Parkinson’s (he passed earlier this year.) I told her I would help her when I could, but could not help her every day, as I cared for my adult son who has intellectual and other disabilities. I also work from home. I ended up doing stuff for them at least a few times a week. However, that wasn’t enough for Mom. And she let me and everyone else know it.
At the Neighborhood Christmas Party 2 yrs ago: I brought my mom with my son and I to attend the party and see Santa. (My husband stayed home and cared for dad.) I’m waiting in the Santa line with my sweet excited son, when mom walks up with a neighbor I’ve never met. Mom promptly introduces me as, “This is my daughter, Leah. She works from home, but she’s too busy to help me care for her father.”
So Charles, I am happy to fly my mom over on a one- way ticket to give you lessons on guilt, manipulation, and shade. In the meantime, I’ll be moving to an undisclosed location.
Whatever possesses people to think boarding school is a good idea for a seven year old?
Depends on the seven year old. Some are very social, while others are very shy and clingy.
In William’s case, I think Diana saw early on how pig headed he was and changed course.
Queen EII is the last decent monarch of this dynasty. Both Charles and William are disappointing. Actually I’m not sure the monarchy will survive that long now.
My only takeaway from this article is can I play in that treehouse too??
And like clockwork, the second there is talk of Charles spending time with the grandkids, we get photos of Grandma Carole playing on the beach with PGTips. On the wedding anniversary. Probably on a beach where Diana used to play.