For whatever reason (Royal Jewel-gate), I kind of missed the fact that Duchess Kate and Prince William got the cover of People Magazine this week. It’s basically a rehash of two royal stories we’ve already covered: one, that Will and Kate were affectionate and cute together during the Olympics, and two, that Kate and Will are completely normal and low-key as they putter around Wales, making their own jams and sausages. For their cover story this week, People interviewed Katie Nicholl of The Daily Mail, who is pretty much Kate’s official spokesperson at this point. Nicholl gets ALL of the pro-Middleton dirt, just as long as she promises to only publish the pro-Middleton stories. So, what is life like for Will and Kate?
How’s this for the royal treatment? No housekeeper. No chef. No stylist.
More than one year after their epic wedding, Prince William and wife Kate are reinventing royal marriage for the modern age.
At their cozy farmhouse in Anglesey, Wales, where William is stationed as a search-and-rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force, Kate enjoys fulfilling her role as an officer’s wife – which means handling her own cooking and cleaning.
The domestic duchess – who also styles her own hair, makeup and clothes – whips up “recipes learned from her mother,” royals author Katie Nicholl tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “She brings a sense of ordinariness that William has always craved.”
And unlike royal couples in years past, William and Kate, both 30, are not afraid to publicly express their marital bliss, from date nights to see The Avengers to their recent PDA at the Olympic Games in London.
“They are [touchy] like that in private – completely,” says a friend of the couple’s. “There is nothing contrived about it.”
Apparently, Nicholl also tells People that Will enjoys going down to the local pub for a pint, and when Kate joins him, she sips white wine. But is it just me or is this a really back-handed assessment of their marriage? “She brings a sense of ordinariness that William has always craved.” As in, she’s the embodiment of ordinary and average. And that’s why William loves her. Fascinating.
Meanwhile, In Touch Weekly has another nice little propaganda piece all about how brave and heroic William is and how Kate is just sick from worry. William is heroic – but this still reads as propaganda.
The rescue helicopter captained by Flight Lietenant Wales, aka Prince William, had only just returned to the RAF base in North Wales on the afternoon of Aug. 16 when another distress call sent the chopped and crew racing over waters off the coast. William, 30, made it just in time to save a 16-year-old girl – who’d been swept out to sea – from drowning.
It’s just this kind of situation that distresses Will’s wife, Kate Middleton, to the point that even the stoic royal admits, “I always worry when he goes off on a mission.”
Confirms a source, “Kate doesn’t hide the fact that she’s concerned about William when he’s on search and rescue missions. It’s a dangerous job.”
Her worried are well-founded, according to William’s crew member Harry Harrison, who said, “We never know what we’ll face when we’re called out.”
But courageous Kate keeps a stiff upper lip. A source tells In Touch, “She knows it’s his passion, and she’d never ask him to give it up.”
[From In Touch Weekly, print edition]
Oddly enough, I keep hearing stuff about Will’s superiors being kind of pissed off about how much time he’s taken off this year for his royal duties AND for his vacations. William still has to decide by the end of the year whether or not he’s going to continue his military career or begin to be a full-time royal, which is pretty much what I predicted would happen when William announced that he would be training for this helicopter position – the military would spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on his training and he would only be doing the job for a couple of years.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Boring.
RIP Diana. Unfortunately for her, and yes, I really like her, but Kate will never measure up to his mummy. On the other hand, she does in a way refresh the monarchy. I see William as completely entitled and spoiled ; hopefully she’ll ground him a bit, though grounded to “us” means Target and Walmart and Pier One Imports, and fancy for us is Starbucks; to them, grounded is being guarded at times and having a fleet of people looking after them, no matter what the story says.
I find it hard to believe she’s so normal considering how much she goes on vacation. Vacation for everyday people means going away, letting someone else cook for you, at the resort, on the ship. Letting someone else drive you as a tourist.
I find the hug picture so funny. Watching the video the moment is so short you blink and you miss it but it’s forever freeze framed in pictures to look like it was a genuine, more than2 second embrace.
It could have been Granny next to him and he’d have picked up the octogenarian queen purse, hat and all and swung he around.
It could have been Granny next to him and he’d have picked up the octogenarian queen purse, hat and all and swung he around.
That would have been awesome!!!
When’s the last time they went on vacation? I think they’ve only been 1 time since they got married.
They went on vacation after the US tour, before Easter, and after the Jubilee. Hence William’s RAF gig being in jeopardy.
Okay it’s a slow day so I went back through the celebitchy archives (really slow day here today)
So there’s mustique in January and the ski weekend in france (after William was in the falklands so he had leave), but they didn’t take a vacation after the jubilee or after the US tour.
He’s had off for both of those short trips, zara’s wedding, a couple of polo matches, and all the rest were for royal work.
I don’t think he’s getting any complaints about time off for his holidays. My brother is in the army and has had as many vacation days as William seems to have had. If anything his second job of royal work is getting in the way this year-and that’s what they are going to address. But that’s his job-so they can’t really fault him for that.
And 2 vacations a year doesn’t seem like taking ‘vacation all the time’ Heck-I went on just as many last year and I work a regular 9-5.
I like Kate, I think she is a very sweet girl, yes she has to be submissive and very quiet but she has a genuine smile on her face all the time and i love smiling people. I think Will has found his perfect match marrying her, she is not a famewhore and she seems to go along very well with the rest of the royal family. She might not be the prettiest out there but look at Princess Charlene, she might be the model type but she has no personality, sad eyes and a freaky smile. Plus her husband his gay..
Oh I think she is a famewhore, but I also think she truly loves him. which is good for him. I don’t know why they try to sell her like the typical woman who is cooking and cleaning and doing everything herself when she is clearly not. I’d say she’s a good mix of a rich and down-to-earth-girl, but she’s not a housewife who’s just buying Zara clothes and wearing ponytails – let alone being ordinary!
Do “ordinary” British people make sausage and jam or do they buy it at the grocery store like us lazy Americans do? I have a feeling it’s the latter but hey, it’s William’s fantasy so why not?
!
I think they’re sweet and cute.
But ‘ordinary’ and ‘average’? Her family are still multi-millionaires (even though they are ‘commoners’!) and has she ever really had a real job?
Also, I thought she traveled everywhere with her own personal hair stylist, although this story suggests otherwise… I love her hair. Even though we always complain about it being in her face and her playing with it like a shy teenager, girlfriend has great locks!
I buy it, the only other major female figure in his life brought a lot of drama. It would make sense that he’d want the opposite of that. I also think her, by all accounts, “Leave it to Beaver”-style family is what attracted him as well.
I read stories in the past about how formal life is in the palace, even for children. Those apartments in the palace do not contain kitchens. There is a main kitchen or kitchens and dining areas. No one goes to the kitchen between meals for a glass of milk or a snack. Everything is very ordered,including things like how far you can raise or lower your shades in the windows. That kind of regimentation would be hard for children. So living in a place where you can prepare your own meal and make what you want would be a big deal.
The other thing is that it is a family tradition for the men to spend time in the military and even the queen drove an ambulance during WWII. But he’s not expected to make it a career, because there is another plan for him. I don’t believe the story about his supervisor complaining. He’s the future king and everyone knows it.
That’s really interesting! I guess everyone has a difference sense of “freedom.” I can’t imagine going through protocol just to get a snack from the kitchen =)
For what it’s worth, the amount of attention Wills has brought to the RAF has probably resulted in their getting a lot of money and talent, especially since his service has been without major scandal. I think they’d consider it a win-win even without a long career.
@littlered-he has given them attention alright. So much that they have to keep explaining themselves to the media. So much that they are giving him an Ultimatum about his duties to them.
It was really cool to not see any kate headline after the olympics… but unfortunately that didn’t last so long.
anyway- who cares if she is normal or abnormal. does anybody believes she is doing her own hair and stuff. how can someone put in all the extentions, without any help?? or how is a normal girl, without any income supposed to go on so many vacations….
I was just at Barnes & Noble and saw People by the register so I flipped to this story. It’s beyond ridiculous. I mean, it’s only two pages, and you’d obvs expect more for a cover story, right? But like 3/4 of those two pages are just pics and little blurbs like “The Queen loves Kate!” On the left-hand page, there’s one column with three or four paragraphs. I guess you can count the two pages before that, which are just two giant pics of Will and Kate and the headline in like 74-point type. But that’s it. That’s People’s cover story. I kept flipping past that, thinking, “There’s got to be more, right?” Nope. If that’s your cover story, why do it at all?
You are SO right. It’s ridiculous, the stories are all filler, maybe one line of real news.
The best stories in People are about real people like you or me. Every other other gossip mag rags on about only celebrities when sometimes the most interesting news could star your next door neighbor.
To the point about expensive training without putting it to good use: I’m not sure how the military works in GB, but I am very familiar with it in the US and it wouldn’t be crazy to do a ton of training that costs a fortune and then be done with your contract. My brother is an Infantryman and he has been to many schools, but when his contract is up, he can be done. It doesn’t matter if he deploys or not, they just need their soldiers to be prepared.
He should stay in the military. If he doesn’t he only will be waiting for the Queen and Charles to die. That just seems really depressing.
On a completely unrelated and superficial note; I can’t stop looking at her stomach. Are those stretch marks or creases in her control top pantyhose/under-leggings or just really bad photoshop?
I know eh? Im pretty sure its from
Sitting down and having her jeans/belt dig in a bit.
I think it’s just from sitting down.
But then again, shouldn’t they be red from the friction between the fabric and the skin? It’s like wearing too-tight socks that leave reddish marks on the skin.
Stretch marks have silver/white linings which is more similar to what Kate has on her stomach in those photos.
But I doubt it. She didn’t have those in the honeymoon photos, so it’s probably just from sitting down.
Along with the multiple diseases on her feet from too-high heels and too-tight shoes, her stomach looks like it has a disease on it from too-tight clothes. Vanity, plain and simple.
I disdain this woman primarily for two reasons: 1) her disinclination to do any serious charity work, and 2) her excessive, narcissistic vanity. Even though she is “ordinary” in the sense of plain and dull, in absolutely no way is her life ordinary. Ordinary people work for a living, clean their own toilet bowls, vacation once a year, contribute to society in some way, and do not spend four hours getting Disney/Barbie-doll curls, makeup, and spray tans every day they go out in public. This woman is a pure waste of space — unless you count selling tabloid newspapers or magazines.
“sense of ordinariness”
I think it’s something he has looked for, for years: after his parents messy divorce, and the tragic loss of his mother, needin orinariness it’s something is comprehensible.
What strikes me the most is the Duchess cooking and eating real food.
I’d say Kate’s more “stable” and “grounded” than ordinary. She came from a close, loving family, in contrast to William’s upbringing: his parents’ divorce, mother’s emotional instability and affairs, his father’s coldness and affair with Camilla, and the trauma of Diana’s sudden death.
No wonder he married a woman who offered him love, support, devotion — and skip the drama.
Katie, Katie, Katie…..what bullocks you write.
“Ordinariness”-awkward-how about “a sense of normal life”. Besides, “ordinary” is a bit insulting.
Just go make that baby, kids.
I think it’s less about ordinariness, and a lot more about normalcy. They are not the same. You grow up in his world and I’ll bet normalcy looks pretty damn good.
LOL People magazine. I like their reliability when it comes to celebrities, but they are trying so hard to sell William and Kate.
Maybe they believe that if they rehash the same things over and over again, they’d convince people to believe it? It’s been two weeks and it was a bit quiet on the W&K front. Time to sell them again to the public lest they forget their love and adoration for Kate’s hair!
Kate is ordinary? Yeah, she’s basic alright.
But ordinary as in “normal”? She’s probably more out of touch with the real world than William is. She’s never had an actual job, nor has she ever been reported to be doing anything else but shopping, vacationing, and partying. She lived the life of a spoiled, lazy, trust-fund baby.
The royals are an anachronism in this day and age. But Kate and her family, especially their ambitions and social climbing, are straight out of the Victorian era.
We only ever hear stuff about Kate’s supposed normalcy from her mouthpieces like People magazine and The Daily Mail, especially Katie Nicholl.
They should stop selling Kate as normal and ordinary because she is not. They should stop selling William as some burdened person who is stifled by his privileged background and is just looking for love and acceptance. Utter bullsh*t.
All these write-ups about how amazingly normal and ordinary Kate is, yet so little proof to show for it. It’s hilarious when they write stories of her normalcy and ordinariness but then it all gets debunked when reports about Kate’s lavish lifestyle come out and Katie Nicholl looks like a fool. 😀
Ordinariness? He’s a prince. Life will never be ordinary. If he wants ordinariness, then abdicate and become a RAF pilot full-time, live on that salary, in that little mini-mansion on Angelesy.
Does he really believe a normal, ordinary woman would have put up with everything he put Kate through over their 10 year courtship? She’s not normal. She’s a social climbing fembot that wants to be Queen Consort. Who modeled her life to be the perfect geisha bride. She has no outside interests, no friends, nothing of her own, except her hair & wedges. She’s not normal or ordinary. She’s a glorified WAG of the highest order.
Well you didn’t have to be Freud to figure that one out. It’s not just Kate’s “ordinariness”, it’s Carole playing mother hen to a mother-less child. It’s Mike sitting up watching football or whatever he does on the weekend instead of having to go have dinner with whatever statesman is in town. Or puttering around his garden talking about saving the environment. That’s why it always a giant family vacation.
DUDE has issues!
The thing is, she isn’t ordinary. She grew up in the same circles he did. She’s an extension of his own world but to a lesser degree. Meaning less money and no media glare so to him it’s “ordinary”.
Blimey!
@Reece
You said: it’s Carole playing mother hen to a mother-less child. It’s Mike sitting up watching football or whatever he does on the weekend instead of having to go have dinner with whatever statesman is in town. Or puttering around his garden talking about saving the environment. That’s why it always a giant family vacation.
DUDE has issues!
I say: Yes! Yes! A thousand times Yes!!!!! This so Psych 101 textbook that it’s insane. It just kills me.
I believe Catherine is a lovely woman, educated and EXACTLY the type of woman Charles needs. YOu are right, he does have some problems, coming froma loveless marriage and living in a formal castle that felt more like a fortress than a Home. William wanted a wife that wasnt a trophy wife;he wanted a wife with common sense and he had a lovely family. And you are right, he does crave the love and ordinariness kate and her family can provide. He does have some needs, and her parents are helping him heal; something Prince Charles and the Queen, cant do. I do believe Kate enjoys buying and wearing clothing and I would too, if had had her looks and body. But she is in NO WAY, buying the type of clothes Diana wore or spending the amount of money she did. I think diana rarely ever wore an outfit more than once, and I believe she had her own hair stylist and probably makeup artist on call at the palace. I imagine she even had a dresser since charles does. She came from an aristocratic family and probably never did any housework or cooking. She and William will be the future King and Queen and she is doing her best to provide what William needs, and what the Queen Wants!! I think she is doing a superb Job and some of you are just either jealous or in a bad mood!!
She’s the right girl for that boy, lolz
Gag Me! Please!
I did not even read the article the headline was more than enough!
PR spin in overdrive.
Please more pics of PH- these Waity stories are dull, numbing, and insane… much like her persona.
Duchess Dude is the Dan Quayle of the British royal family. Someone who asks if you can “test the smell [of tea] by smelling it” reeks of ordinariness, all right. *snort*
As for that mealy-mouthed People article – why not live dangerously and write a headline like, “Duchess Kate is the quotidian to Prince William’s abnormal”? Such a headline has got to be more exciting than writhing around in the Middletons’ collective butthole. (No, Ms Nicholl, you’ll never get the brown off.)
But isn’t that how you hook em? Give them what they secretly desire and/or never had. She and Moma Middleton strategized well.
She is still only going to do what he wants her to do when he wants her to do it. She surrended herself for over a decade to win this prize . . . all of her ambition went to winning and keeping him. She knew/knows what to do. If ordinary is what he wants, ordinary is what he’ll get. She does have discipline and focus. Capricorn traits. (By the way, I don’t even think either of them know what ordinary means. Her parents, perhaps, but not her and defintely not him.)
I need to stop commenting on these threads and will try to discipline myself in future. I am biased. I do not like her and I never have. I don’t care for him either but I definitely do not like her and what she exhibits and how she comes off.
No don’t stop. Help keep it real eh!
It makes sense to me. Don’t we always want what is different? As for her not being “ordinary”. Compared to whom? Compared to him she is quite “ordinary”. She could do what she wanted without guards following her around. Also wasn’t she in her teens when the family became wealthy. Weren’t they originally middle class? I thought that was why the mum was such a social climber.
Reece says:
August 24, 2012 at 10:53 am Well you didn’t have to be Freud to figure that one out. It’s not just Kate’s “ordinariness”, it’s Carole playing mother hen to a mother-less child. It’s Mike sitting up watching football or whatever he does on the weekend instead of having to go have dinner with whatever statesman is in town. Or puttering around his garden talking about saving the environment. That’s why it always a giant family vacation.
DUDE has issues!
So right Reece, this is so true. Pr.William was played,played and played by those Middleton’s on all fronts. Kate had to put on underwear and model in front of the whole school, to FINALLY get his attention at school after being in his presence for a year with clothes on and NOT getting anywhere with him BECAUSE he was pursuing other girls who turned him down(She’s a total fame-…ho)imo and she did not come from his circles, the Middleton’s were middleclass climbers who knew how to stretch a buck and Carole smartly knew to put that money into education where the Aristofolds went to school. Carole is thee brains behind this relationship and Kate is the the physical, while daddy-Middleton just does what he’s told his needed as Carole instructs. PrWilliam has major issues and was totally played by this family and I truly believe it will all come out in a major midlife crisis for William. I don’t like either Kate or her family, these people are no better than the Kardashians, except Kim K. actually works pretty hard for her fame and money.