The British press is still freaking out about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s ski holiday last week. William and Kate managed to slip away undetected, have a holiday and return without anyone being the wiser. Then they released photos from their holiday in the hopes that everyone would be grateful to see Charlotte and George. Did it work? Eh. From what I’ve seen, most American sites are covering the ski trip as a pleasant family holiday and LOOK AT THE BABIES. Most British sites are throwing shade though. The Daily Mail did yet another takedown of the trip and William’s increasing paranoia about British taxpayers wanting to know just where he is and what he’s up to. The Cambridges’ press office still hasn’t confirmed where they vacationed (“bizarrely,” as the Mail writes), but the Mail says they were in Courchevel, the “upmarket playground of the oligarchs.” Apparently, there were some sightings by some locals. Royal aides are still refusing to say how the Cambridges flew to Courchevel (privately or commerical), but a “senior royal source” told the Mail that they “booked and paid for themselves.” Do you believe that?
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail is also previewing what will inevitably be a larger story this month – whether or not William will attend the wedding of Jecca Craig. Jecca was one of William’s first girlfriends and they’ve been friends for half their lives. Many believe that Jecca is William’s “non-negotiable,” or his Camilla. It’s also been said that of all the women in William’s life, Kate cannot stand Jecca and Isabella Anstruther Gough Calthorpe. Notably, there was a big kerfuffle in 2014 when Kate took George to Mustique with her family, all while William traveled to Spain to go boar-hunting with Jecca. So… yeah, there are rumors. There have been rumors for years. Here’s Sebastian Shakespeare’s piece about Jecca’s wedding:
The Duchess of Cambridge managed to avoid attending the London wedding of Prince William’s first university girlfriend, Olivia Hunt, at the weekend because of a conveniently timed family skiing trip to France. But Kate may struggle to prevent her husband joining friends at another wedding at Easter, even though it will take place more than 6,000 miles away.
Jessica ‘Jecca’ Craig, 34, who became so close to William when they were teenagers that they reportedly had a ‘pretend engagement’, is to tie the knot with conservationist Professor Jonathan Baillie in Isiolo, Kenya, on March 26. While the trip to Africa might seem unlikely for William, 33, whose daughter, Princess Charlotte, is just ten months old, his relationship with Jecca’s family is so important that he attended her brother Batian’s 2008 wedding in Africa, rather than that of his own cousin, Peter Phillips, the same day.
The wedding will take place on the 55,000-acre wildlife reserve run by Jecca’s father, Ian Craig, in the foothills of Mount Kenya. It is where William spent part of his gap year before university and where he returned for the holiday on which he proposed to Kate.
Jecca has the distinction of being the only woman before Kate Middleton to have provoked an official bulletin about Wills’ love life. In 2003, Prince Charles’s staff issued a statement in which it was denied the couple were in a relationship. They had never done this for any of William’s other alleged girlfriends, prompting speculation there may have been some truth in the rumours. Shortly after, Jecca was seated next to the prince at his ‘Out Of Africa’ 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle. In an interview, he insisted he did not have a steady girlfriend at St Andrews, where he had first met Kate two years earlier. It was not until 2004 that he was happy to be photographed with Kate.
Jecca’s family helped encourage the prince’s commitment to saving endangered African wildlife, which continues to this day. Her Canadian fiancé is director of conservation at the Zoological Society of London and worked with William on one campaign. A Kensington Palace spokesman says: ‘We have no comment to make.’
I bet William would actually love to go down to Kenya for the wedding, but will he? William does whatever he wants, regardless of the consequences, so the question is… would William want to watch one his great loves marry another man? And if he does go to the wedding, would he bring Kate? And if Kate doesn’t go, what does that mean?
Update: The Daily Mail and the Sun are now pointing out that the Cambridges flew on the Duke of Westminster’s private plane. They’ve flown on his private plane before, and I seriously doubt that the Duke makes them pay for their usage.
Photos courtesy of WENN, KensingtonRoyal Twitter.
Panic just shot through me at the name “Jecca”. Please don’t let any of the Duggars have google alerts for “J” names. I couldn’t take it. Will is very toolish these days.
The name Jecca sounds so British and posh to me. The whole summary of the wedding is hilarious to me, actually—only girls named things like Jecca get to marry a man with a profession like ‘conservationist’, in probably the most bucolic, protected foothills in all of Kenya.
I seriously can’t believe that sort of life even exists in 2016. It sounds like it comes straight from an Elizabeth Gaskell novel. Or Out of Africa.
AND I misread it at first glance as Jecca’s future husband being a “conversationist”.
Speaking of names …
Isabella Anstruther Gough Calthorpe ??
Who are these people ??!!
Wait – it gets better. Apparently her full name is Isabella Amaryllis Charlotte Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe. How in the actual hell did that fit on the birth certificate?
Their holiday fund must have grown quite a bit since they were newly weds. I thought the Mids paid for all their hols!?
My guess is he’ll go and we’ll never find out about it. This holiday shows it’s easy for them to sneak away without us finding out about it.
My take.
Airfares for the four of them paid by the Duchy out of the 4 million a year “allowance”, airfares for the raft of RPOs paid by taxpayers, overtime for RPOs paid by taxpayers, rooms and meals for RPOs paid by taxpayers, rooms for W&K possibly comped. If W&K’s rooms were not comped, paid by the Duchy.
No, Bill and Kate did not pay for this jolly themselves.
William had his allowance in his pocket to pay for lunch. No, he had a card…or it was a free gift from his waiter?
I wonder where he is stashing his mom’s money – but then it wasn’t really his mom’s – it was in his dad’s pocket first. But time Will tell, about all of this.
All this money was stolen with human troubles in the first place..
It’s the wealthy who want Will to remain, not necessarily William.
They have been friends for a little nag time, and she is marrying someone else. I don’t see a big deal if he does go.
I thought she has been engaged before and the wedding ended at the 11th hour. Maybe it was another one of his exes.
Jecca was engaged before but not married. Melissa Percy (daughter of the Duke of Northumberland) and Thomas van S are divorcing after a short marriage. Maybe those were the ones you meant?
Nota: Tiffany is correct. IIRC, Jecca has had 3 engagements. The current engagement being the third.
She’s good at under the radar. I didn’t realize there were two ex-fiances. No wedding from either though, right?
I think he will go alone, even if Kate wanted to go I don’t think Willybwould want her there trying to take attention away from the bride which she has done at the weddings of his other female friends – Kate wears a look at me outfit and her family tip the laps off. And while he’s there she will prob attend a few engagements in an expensive and badly tailored frock with the winglets to take press attention away from Willy being away.
Of course he’ll go. It’s not like he’s working or anything.
😆
Doesn’t the current situation in Kenya with Al Shabaab make a royal visit very problematic from a security point of view?
Jecca’s family own and live on a 62,000acre property away from the major towns. Al Shabaab seem to operate in the border areas near Somalia as well as coast and major cities. This property is much safer than staying in Nairobi or Mombasa [as an example] if you want to avoiding terrorists.
True but he does have to get there. Kenyatta airport in Nairobi and the Mombasa airport are the ones that handle larger planes for longer distance travel. I’m not sure that even Wilson airport, a smaller but nice airport in Nairobi, handles anything more than travel to neighboring countries. There’s a private airstrip near Mt. Kenya, if I remember correctly from my last visit, but I suspect you would have to go to one of the major hubs before landing there.
That’s a good point paleokifaru.
ETA:
He could land at Entebbe in neighbouring Uganda and take a small plane to Mt Kenya. Uganda is frequently used by many organisations as a safer staging post [is that the right term?] these days and small planes to other small airstrips in neighbouring countries fly out of Entebbe all the time.
There might be a private airstrip on that 62k acre of land. I’m thinking a private plane could land there without all the hoopla.
A photo I’ve seen of William and friends, including Jecca was with the group next to a private plane.
Yes LAK many of my friends and colleagues who work for the government and get jammed up in their research when there are threats have often “worked around” it by flying into either Entebbe or Kampala in Uganda or in Tanzania and then gotten a smaller connecting flight. You’re right that it may be a solution. I’m sure we won’t get details if/when he goes but I’d be interested to know the logistics.
Well, maybe he’ll just land his helicpoter there. 🙂
William pay for the holiday???? LOL. if that were true, we’d have found out about it. Everytime William has paid for anything, including flights, he has gone for the cheap option which usually put him amongst the plebs who duly take photos and post to social media.
They frequently sneak away. They sneaked away in January and came back with faint tans. This was simply another of their undercover holidays, except they managed to shoot themselves in the foot by showing the pictures at a time when they were being called lazy and work-shy.
Where Jecca is concerned, William will go. Perhaps this little trip and the lovey dovey staged pics are the compromise to Kate for the wedding trip.
ps: Tanna tweeted last winter [?] that Jecca was married. Perhaps this is a bigger celebration.
He’ll go – and he’d probably prefer to go WITHOUT Kate.
He’s playing cat and mouse with the press, isn’t he!
They did look a little sunkissed in January. I suppose the use of Westminster’s private jet helps them duck under the radar. Wouldn’t surprise me to see the media escalate their surveillance of William – and/or more leaks from senior palace informants.
I think that with the number of successful of secret vacations he’d gotten away with, he might think he can do a secret trip to Jecca’s wedding too without it getting reported on.
At one point, I was thinking that maybe Pippa would be used to escort or chaperone him to this wedding, but he should know by now that if he took her, then the Middletons are going to leak the news to the paps.
LAK, it’s interesting you classified it as “faint tans.” It’s like while they were away K&W kept reminding each other to avoid much sun or else upon the (secret) return to UK, the jig is up.
I read this article this morning and was hoping you would cover it. 🙂
Would be a touch shitty to miss his daughter’s first Easter- I think he will go alone.
He missed his son’s first holiday in favour of hunting with Jecca + friends.
I think he will defenetly go. I wonder if Kate will go or be jelly over it..?
In favor of HUNTING with Jecca, who’s family has apparently encouraged him to save African wildlife. I cannot handle the saga bullish!t that is this man’s life.
If he goes, I hope Kate stages some sort of photo op of just her with the kids.
@Green Girl,
If Kate does stage a photo op with her kids, it will please certain news outlets as it will save them the effort of cropping William out. 😛
The devoted father missed their son’s first Middleton Normal Family Mustique Holiday (TM) to go hunting with Jecca. Missing their daughter’s first Easter? Tough to tell. He could always declare they celebrated a day or two early. The Middletons traditionally skied over Easter holiday, they didn’t stay home and attend church.
Their daughter seems more important to him than their son. He says nice-but-sexist things about her while his comments about their son revolve around him being destructive, loud, and disruptive. William goes ballistic about her photos in magazines and has them removed from online, but pap photos of their son are allowed to stay.
*grabs popcorn*
May I have some Emily? I can provide the drinks.
Missing his daughter’s first Easter to go to Kenya would definitely send the message of which family is closer to his heart.
We already know Peter is lower on the totem pole.
Not to defend him, but really? Charlotte won’t remember her first Easter. Do you remember yours?
He’s the future leader of the Church of England and with the Queen having to give up more aspects of her job to her successors, one would think that William would step up and help with the BRF PR image during major events including major religious holy days.
But then this is William who has basically declared that even the non-secular portions of his job aren’t of any consequence to himself.
I would think that staying home would be for his family’s benefit. Or they could all go- that’s what well-off plebs do.
Babies don’t remember their first holidays but parents sure do. I treasure the memories of my little one’s firsts and we had so much fun finding new ways to celebrate with her. Is Will such a committed family man he can’t work but not so committed that he misses his kid’s first Easter?!?
It wouldn’t be as much for his daughter’s benefit but rather for his wife’s.
…and maybe for him, if he has the capacity to enjoy his children and wife during a big holiday…
I think William may have also skipped out on Peter’s wedding, last minute I think, because he learned of the Hello mag deal Peter did which featured many photos of Kate and Chelsy with Harry. Knowing William’s disdain for all things paps it could be why he didn’t go. I always thought it was odd that Kate went alone considering they weren’t engaged or married at the time.
And I do think he will be in Kenya for this wedding alone. I also never bought the story about him and Kate getting engaged at Jecca’s home in Kenya.
Wasn’t William a groomsman in the Craig wedding? That wouldn’t be a last minute switch.
I can see William going because he is close to the family – he chose to go to Jecca’s brother’s wedding in Africa a few years ago rather his cousin Peter’s (Anne’s son) wedding.
British press was reporting they took the Duke of Westminster’s private plane, no? Ugh makes me so mad that these two work shy losers are living off our taxes while I’m sat here grading yet another stack of assessments. Grumble.
Yeah William seems to take advantage of every perk available to him.
I noted a DM story last night about HM and Philip ie historical info. I wonder if perhaps it was an attempt to divert attention away from the lazy Cambridges? Though, since HM is nearing 90, more individuals are willing to talk, disclose info.
No matter how much of the trip they pay themselves, isn’t their security paid by the tax money? (Security is not technically part of the Queens allowance which is why is hard to estimate how much the royals actually cost)
So tax payers paid for security’s (2-3 RPOs?) Flight, Room, and Food. Or is that incorrect?
No, that is correct. It would have been far more than 2-3 RPOs. She took a rumored 9 with her to a cousin’s wedding. For those who would say, “The RPOs would be paid even if they stayed home”, they’re not counting things like overtime paid. And there would likely have been an earlier trip by security to do an assessment and sweep, which means two trips for some of the RPOs.
The kids have their own RPOs, don’t they? So, if they are with one of the nannies, there are RPOs there and with both Kate and Will if they go in different directions. Plus, they would need extras for round the clock protection.
Thanks for the info about the nine RPOs.
I looked it up just now on Hello and saw that the wedding was in London. So why does she need nine guards? The article said the other Middletons arrived separately, so it’s not like they were assigned two to each Middleton if they had arrived in a group and though it’s not like they’re supposed to be used by the MIddletons either.
She wasn’t pregnant, so it’s not like they had to protect a future heir.
Sounds like she wanted to show off in front of her relatives and family friends, and that it’s part of her entitled nature.
There is traditionally 2-3 RPOs on rotation per royal when there isn’t any concern for security. In that scenerio, they would have a minimum of 8 RPOs for a family of 4.
When there is a security alert, the number of RPOs goes up exponentially eg the time Kate took 9 RPOs with her to a wedding in central london.
What’s really sad is that out of the family, Kate is the expendable one. The other 3, particularly William and PGtips are assessed and guarded differently, with extreme prejudice i might add, from Charlotte and especially Kate.
Oh what fun, what a lark! Let’s get together and shoot some animals. Yay!
I don’t get it. I support hunting, I support eating animals. But I don’t get the entertainment aspect of it and I never will, I suppose.
As for Jecca, I think she is the one who got away. They may be friends, but I’m sure Will had wished it was something more. She is slim, naturally pretty and sporty. What man could resist?
well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder…I would disagree on the”natural pretty”. She’s very similar to Kate but quite rougher looking IMO. I guess they might simply be good old friends, they know each other since forever.
I also don’t see the fun in shooting animals for entertainment and find it pretty colonialist and tacky looking. If it’s around Easter it would also be tacky from him to go without his family but I think that’s what he’ll do anyway.
Correction, Kate is very similar to her. Kate has copied Jecca’s look, right down to being very thin with that lank mop of hair.
I’ve always thought it was the other way around – that William was the one that didn’t want to marry Jecca.
I would not be surprised if William is the one behind why the relationship did not go very far, because while he seems very fond of the Craigs, they, well really Jecca’s father, talked to the media, and that’s a big no-no.
Jecca seems like a women who knows her own mind and knows herself. The William of today wouldn’t be a good enough man for her, and the person he is today couldn’t handle a woman who demands to be a equal partner in life.
If they’d been together for 15 years, instead of him being with KM, we’d see a different William today. He’d still be obsessed with privacy, but he’d have his life in gear and be working hard (think Melinda Gates and her impact on her husband vis-a-vis global charity).
ITA with ur 2nd para – if he’d been with someone else or Jecca he would be a different man today. The Middletons have helped make him the ‘man’ we see today – look at the woman child Carole raised. James and Pippa are not much better.
I google imaged this jecca craig. Wow, sun damage!
And toothy.
Yeah she looks about 50 years old and she appears to have poor posture.
Now we know where Kate gets it from -copying Jecca.
I bet he would love to go, but he won’t. Obviously Kate would stay at home with the babies.
That story though she goes to Mustique and he goes hunting well strange it was, to say the least.
Didn’t they go to the Maldives soon after he arrived home from that hunting trip? I always thought it was the deal Willnot made to make it up to Kate for seeing Jecca and not going to Mustique with her family.
Also, I think he’ll go to the Jecca’s wedding and take Harry with him. Then, to get back at him, passive-aggressive Kate or “palace insiders” will post pictures of a happy Middleton Easter egg hunt with the kids. All without William because he’s such a devoted dad.
I think they did. Which caused a stir too if I remember well.
After your suggestion now I am very curious how he decides.:-))
Yes, William is likely to attend Jecca’s wedding and Kate will, as usual, run home to mummy and daddy.
If they did go away during January, I hope we find out the destination on that too. William doesn’t get it. The more he tries to hide, the more people talk and will chase after him to get the info.
If Bill goes, we’ll see Kate out shopping. Or more photos with her mom and kids at the playground.
The DM is posting contact info for anyone willing to spill the beans on the Cambridges. Wow- heating up for sure.
RPOs apparently were very good at coercing people into not taking photos and tweeting about seeing them when they were there. How the heck did they achieve 100% compliance though? Any theories?
Charles’ credit card is going to be melting from being put through so many machines while William’s away at Jecca’s.
Also, I expect the Middletons to retaliate by ‘accidentally’ getting G&C photographed by the press and public and thereby ending up in the media and all over the internet. Maybe photos of Kate acting as a single mom or Carole as the doting grandma.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if Kate wore skimpy skirts and accidentally flashed the paps. Just to remind William of what he’s missing while he’s at Jecca’s.
I think he’ll go and try to claim prima nocta.😊
I think that while there, he’ll be making a lot of passive-aggressive remarks about what Jecca could have had if only she had married him, but more aggressive than passive, followed by a quick ‘I’m just kidding!’
LOL. I can see it now: “I am going home to my castle, which could have been yours, too!”
I think I’ve asked this before, but why do people in this subset seem to keep inviting their exes to their weddings? Is it because you’ll probably run into your exes a bunch of times in business and in your personal life when you are in this circle, so you may as well be on good terms?
I think he will follow that age-old tradition of having a married mistress, Jecca. His friends and associates will aid and abet him. I doubt he is monogamous even now. He’s had the heir and the spare, so now he’s free to discreetly do what all upper class twits have done for centuries.
Yes, he will go to Jecca’s wedding, alone. I wonder if Kate wants to go. In her shoes, I would.
You might be right about him following this ‘tradition’ of a married mistress.
I can see why Kate won’t go. She isn’t socially capable of standing up to people in his circle. She’s not quick-witted, she’s not thick-skinned enough, and she’s not socially adept either. She’s out of her league when it comes to handling grown women who are independently strong. All she is capable of doing is high school mean girl stuff, like the time when she allegedly went after one of the York sisters.
I think he will definitely have side pieces. But I doubt he has cheated since the wedding because Carole’s enjoying the peak of her power right now and has had him on a really tight leash.
I think he’ll start cheating around the time he succumbs to pressure to give up playing heli pilot and do more royal work. But the thing about Jecca is she is too far away to be his Camilla. He’ll need some aristos in London.
Jecca lives in London and her fiance is employed at the London Zoo.
“Yes, he will go to Jecca’s wedding, alone. I wonder if Kate wants to go. In her shoes, I would.”
Yeah, I was thinking I would want to go too. I actually find the view that she wouldn’t want to go a little stranger. Who knows what her actual relationship to any of these people are, but if the relationships are problematic, the fact is, if I’m the wife, I’d lord that over everyone (I don’t care if that sounds petty). Heck, I would have done that if I were Diana, and lorded my married relationship to Charles over Camilla if I deemed her a pest. There IS power in being the wife.
During their pre-marriage break-up William dated a tall blond woman. One of his very loyal friends has since married her. It was one of the Van Cutsem brothers, the gay one. This couple now live on a country estate in Norfolk and are part of Williams trusted inner circle. He even made them God-parents to Prince George.
Rumours: i’m beginning to think the same thing 😉
It’s curiouser and curiouser…..
MinnFinn,
I don’t think he cheated after the wedding. But I do think, given that upper twit culture, now that he’s had the heir and spare he is free to discreetly set up an alternate life with the help of his friends. The friends who were happy to procure for him when he was a single prince about town. As I understand it, that’s the way these aristos roll and have for centuries.
Of course it’s possible but I doubt if the Cambridges went on a lengthy away vacation in January, but January is shooting season and I think that’s what the Cambridges and Harry were mostly occupied with during the month.
Would be sad if he puts het through what Charles put his mum through. I think all 3 are on good terms seeing as Jecca helped arrange for the surprise engagement (went camping to mt. Kenya last yr and was shown the spot from a distance, lovely). I hope they both go. The kids can stay with the grandparents.
It was very strange how William’s engagement story was an exact replica of his friend’s engagement story. He either has no romantic imagination, or he co-opted his friend’s as his own.
@Beckybecks,
Oh that’s right, William proposed to Kate in Kenya! Yeah taking that into consideration, Kate may accompany him and I agree the kids will stay behind, but I predict that when the kids are older they will be introduced to Africa, IIRC William said as much in a previous interview.
She’s not one to turn down a vacation, after all!
So Jecca is Camilla 2.0?
Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Prince’s Trust. Big gala celebration to highlight all the work Charles has done.
Taking another page out of his mother’s book, William releases baby photos that day. Anybody talking about The Prince’s Trust now?
Hmmmm, interesting.
GREAT observation. You think Will is punishing his Dad for trying to get his son to tow the line?
Wills has been punishing dad for a long time – they could have released them on Sunday and got on the front pages but yes it is odd that they were released on a Monday. Now we know why – he also took attention away from the Swedish RF, not that CP Victoria cares.
Chuck needs to do something major to get his son to either toe the line or make permanent decision about his future.
Wow. That’s interesting notasugarhere. Thanks for informing us of that connection.
W&K, but especially William’s thinking is so weird. He knew his father’s Prince’s Trust celebrations would be yesterday and today, with the Queen attending the offices today to cut the cake, but he went on a vacation last week making sure to take a PA photographer, and then released the photos on the same day as the Prince’s Trust celebrity-studded event. What kind of timing is that?
Does he think that his deigning to give out photos of his family is as important as crowding the news cycle when his father’s event is so much more important and pertinent to the public?
Did he have to take a photographer in the first place and did he have to release the photos yesterday? The vacation was already over, so he could have sat on the photos for another two to three days, since it was already old news anyways.
I wonder if he’s going to do something similar during the Queen’s 90th b-day celebrations?
Who thinks that the Midds have been fleas in W’s ear for years? Just like, I’m guessing, Carole is with George. Who loves you? We love you. Nobody else loves you. You have been so badly used just like your mother was badly used. We would never do that to you. They want to rule your life. The court is a nasty place. We just want you to be happy and normal. Here, have some cheese on toast”.
Oh GEEZ.
Who will take over the Princes Trust when Charles takes on more responsibility – Charles expressed a wish of either Wills or Harry taking over, I half expected Wills to grab the nettle this week with a hint of possibly wanting to.
William should but I don’t think he will. It is basically the Prince of Wales Trust and that will be William’s future title. Stubborn Wills doesn’t want to continue this good tradition; he wants to “make his own mark” and not do anybody else’s work. Take credit yes, do the work no. See William’s umbrella wildlife foundation that takes credit for the work of all the other organizations as an example.
Kate is jealous of any woman that comes near William ..
she has always elbowed out women by him and is always pictured
flirting with men in photos ….
hope William does go to jeccas wedding but i doubt he will be allowed as waity will be jealous …of situation that has happened years ago …between them
It will be more holidays for him dont know when he ever works at all just lives a lazy life and noone tells them to get off their bottoms and realise they are in the BRF….period … Dont know how long this debarcle of these two will go on as Public now getting annoyed by their spoilt childisness and arrogance..
It’s becoming more and more obvious that Will received or rather exhibits the worst traits from both parents and Harry got the positive ones.