How many stories will I end up devoting to Sally Bedell Smith’s book Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life? I don’t know. But I do think it’s interesting, especially since Smith recently confirmed that the book is somewhat authorized, in that she had access to Charles, Camilla and their staff for a while. Which is what I’ve been saying all along: while this isn’t some “official record” biography/hagiography of Charles, it is definitely his version of events, and his perspective of everything from Diana to William’s keen wife. Speaking of, the Daily Mail had some additional details from that story about Charles not liking William and Kate’s first-ever royal tour to North America.
It was their first official overseas visit together as a married couple and newlyweds Kate and William charmed the crowds all the way from Calgary to California on their 10-day royal tour of Canada and LA. But while they may have won new legions of fans, Prince Charles was not best pleased with their efforts, according to Sally Bedell Smith’s biography of the future king. According to the writer, the Prince thought the trip featured too many ‘tasteless’ photo ops and ‘wasn’t pleased with the camera-friendly couple’. And he was ‘more than a little irked’ at the pair treating their overseas trip too much like a personal holiday.
Kevin S. MacLeod, Canadian Secretary to the Queen organised the visit and allowed the couple to make the itinerary a lot less formal than many previous tours. They travelled with a small entourage and made a visit to Prince Edward Island and Kate’s specific request, apparently mindful of the fact that Charles and Diana’s 1983 Canada tour was based entirely around the Prince’s interests and none of his wife’s. The Canada tour saw the couple pose up a storm in cowboy hats when they were given the honour of pressing the button to launch the legendary Calgary Stampede. But Kate made headlines for the wrong reasons as her feather-light Jenny Packham yellow frock was blown up by a gust of wind.
Some rather revealing photos of the incident published online led to intense discussion as to whether she was wearing any underwear or not, which was no doubt a source of embarrassment to the new Duchess of Cambridge.
Shortly after the tour, royal author Phil Dampier told The Mirror there was a certain rivalry between father and son following William’s marriage to Kate.
‘When Charles and Camilla visited Canada two years ago they were greeted by relatively small crowds. They are in their 60s and are not what you would call glamorous,’ he said. By contrast, William and Kate received a rapturous William from huge crowds with half a million people turning out to see them on one day alone. ‘Charles felt overshadowed by Diana and now it seems he feels overshadowed by their son. Some people may think he is jealous. I have always felt that as soon as William got married, Charles would feel sidelined.’
All things can be true at once. It can be true that Charles felt irritation and jealousy at all of the interest in his son and daughter-in-law. It can also be true that Charles had some completely legitimate gripes about William and Kate. I remember covering Will and Kate’s first tour and it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. It was basically a harbinger of things to come – they only did light, breezy events, Kate made no speeches, she got to meet movie stars and wear pretty clothes and she got to flash everyone. It WAS a vacation. And that’s how they treat all of their royal tours – they’re constantly bitching about the press intruding on their “private time,” etc. So… yeah. I think I’m on Team Charles here.
Some photos from the 2011 North American tour:
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Chuck, tell us something we don’t already know. The India/Bhutan tour was just the same, the Taj Mahal visit was an add on a Waity’s request, apparently when they got married William asked for a list of places she wanted to visit and that’s pretty much made up the tours they’ve been on. She’s not a well travelled person – her first visit to New York was on their official visit and they had private time to go sight seeing. Sight seeing/private time is ALWAYS included in their itinerary.
God they have aged a lot in the past 2 years – must be all that work.
So true. Mind you, I’m #teampastcaring.
I wouldn’t care but I haven’t had a decent holiday in about 5 years 🙁 So am just being grumpy and jealous of the amazing places they’ve visited.
But I can’t complain its the Easter weekend and is one of the few occasions the streets of London will be quiet as its only the tourists around – all the locals go away.
@Sixer, off topic sort of but on the topic of holidays, Patriots Day weekend is upon us. And it is going to be stupendous. Good weather ahead for re-enactors, runners and viewers of both, our baseball team is playing at home, our hockey and basketball team both have playoff games at home this weekend, the swan boats are in the water, Easter is in the middle and to get in on the fun, one of the local museums just opened a Matisse exhibit and will open a Botticelli exhibit this weekend. So, thanks for sending those troops out into the suburbs all those years ago.
OOH! We had a great Patriots Day last year, did we not? We should do it again on Friday! I could try and arrange for us to send you Boris, so that you could beat us all over again. Win, win. You have a victory. We are minus Boris.
(Betti – solidarity. Last year, I had a measly few days in Italy. More of a long weekend than an actual holiday. Determined to get my RED passport out so that it doesn’t happen again this year.)
And even further off topic, I saved that mumsnet thread and will be perusing the legendary threads over there. It was hilarious!
Yay! I made bluhare happy for an afternoon!
@Sixer, you sent us Boris two years ago and he got stranded here when the city shut down during nor’easter Thor (complete with thunder snow!) and subsequent never ending snowstorms. We had pictures of Boris by his lonesome trying to navigate through knee high drifts on the Greenway. We did our best to make his stay miserable. He won’t come back
Oh, he would come back. No setback discourages Boris. When I suggest your beating him, I feel you should have a Boris tea party and sink him for good.
@Sixer/LP – i’d buy tickets to your Sinking Boris Tea Party. Will there be a zipwire?
Well, we could make him run the marathon. Or, make him do a full reenactment of dressing up in a heavy military uniform and pack and walking the 25 miles from Concord to Boston with people shooting at him from trees and from behind fences.
All of the above, please. Then, we sink him.
You did, Sixer! I’m not even sure which one I liked best. I’m keeping it. That place is awesome.
Is it true that the India/Bhutan tour wasn’t well-received?
They annoyed the royal reporters and bored everyone else. Royal gossip people had fun analyzing Kate’s clothes, though. It was a lot of “Whaaa -?”
In Bhutan on the day they hiked up a mountain to a remote monastery they p!ssed the press/broadcasters off by demanding ‘private’ time i.e. times that they were not allowed to take photos or shoot video so Kate could have her hair and makeup redone and to hide their use of horses through part of the ‘hike’. The broadcasters kicked off and there was a heated argument with Jason and said broadcasters who said that they can’t demand private time on an official trip paid for by the host country. A compromise was made when photo’s were taken of them walking in the distance cuddling up and when they got to the top where they were allowed to film/take photo’s for a short period of time.
The press pack were making all sorts of snide comments on twitter about it.
As that Spectator reporter put it, they left India less popular than when they arrived.
They were so thoroughly unprepared for the trip they looked dazed and confused at the actual work events.
Thanks for all the answers!
They really have aged in five years!! Wow!!! Most people don’t age that much in their 30s, it’s the later 40s and 50s that get us!! LOL!!!
That yellow dress incident – really embarrassing. One would think kate would have learned from that to weigh her hems or wear straight lines without lots of extra fabrics if there is ANY chance of wind!! I did love that gown she wore, though. It was lovely.
They really are the Vacuous Pair. No substance there at all.
Wow has she aged in the past 5 years. Avoiding work must be harder and more stressful than we imagine.
really! how is that possible, she is rich and lives in the countyside! but i must say her clothes look nice(er), especially that white dress/ red hat combo, even though the hat is quite gimmicky.
Yeah because having 2 kids is a walk in the park
It’s a bit easier when you have a nanny and other staff, don’t work, don’t worry about paying the bills, have access to good health care, can afford the best private schools, have personal security 24/7, and your kids are healthy with no obvious disabilities.
She has a nanny to do the heavy lifting.
I had three kids under the age of 5, worked full time, my husband wasn’t home 4 nights a week and two of those nights I drive an hour and 45 minutes to get my graduate degree.
So please…I don’t want to hear how hard katie Keen’s life is.
I was just thinking… wow, William was still handsome 5 years ago. Not anymore. Kate looks the same to me, to be honest. Maybe a little younger, but I think it’s much more obvious with William.
That’s what I was thinking, too! Evidently the stressful schedule of a part-time helicopter pilot has aged him.
Their life prior to marriage was one long vacation, how could it be any different now? If Charles is not happy than he should give his precious son a dressing down and stop treating him with gloves just because he lost his mummy 20 years ago. I’ll never understand how William changed soo much! Windsor genes are just a part of the explanation! I’d really like to know a specialist’s opinion on how a heartthrob can turn into a frog in less than 10 years. It’s not just the baldness, his facial features are different. It’s as if a wicked witch put a spell on him. I always thought Charles is incredibly unattractive, but now his son is much worse.
She really aged a lot in such a short span of time! So did he but she looks like she aged decades! And please don’t say hecause taking care of kids is hard just don’t. Not applicable to her
They have always had a dysfunctional relationship and were never really ‘together’ for any length of time on their own (they lived with other people at Uni) so I think the reality of marriage life has been very stressful for both of them. Hence why they have both aged since they got married.
I personally don’t feel either of them were emotionally mature enough for marriage and kids. They can barely stand to be together – that much is obvious when you watch them together in public (the videos are very telling). He’s hardly ever at home and she’s at her parents most of the time with the kids. This is why they have always been reticent about living in London, their ‘separate lives’ approach to marriage will be exposed which ruins their ‘happy middle class family’ narrative that they’ve been pushing for years.
I think Will losing his hair aged him a lot. He used to be handsome when he was younger. He reminds me of the prince of Monaco. I think he is at least 50. As for Kate I don’t understand why she looks so rough. She has people that do everything for her so she shouldn’t be looking so old. These two are only in the mid 30’s. The “work” they do doesn’t look that hard so I don’t know why they don’t do more. The excuse that Kate wants to focus on being a mom is bullshit. Couldn’t they take the children with them I mean they are still very young. As for Charles I think he was probably a little jealous of how everyone seemed to love them in the beginning. It’s been said that he was jealous of all the attention Diana got when they did royal tours.
Gah, what a useless bunch.
Vile couple. Worthless.
Yes, all of them.
Come on Charles, withdraw their money!!
Agree. Totally #TeamCharles. Their tours are light weight. Most of it is sight-seeing, under the cover as promoting the country via tourism. Charity and helping the people come a very distant last.
Anyone know the engagement that half a million people came out for?
That was likely Canada Day on Parliament Hill, which gets a huge crowd on its own every single year, so I would hardly attribute that to them alone.
It was Canada day celebrations in the capital. I attended and although it was crazier than years past, the crowds are normally hundred of thousands of people over the day and evening. So I don’t think it was all to see Kate’s busted hat and William’s teenaged angst face.
I was just going to say this. I’m from Ottawa, Canada. It was a larger crowd because of them, yes, but Canada Day is why there are hundreds of thousands packed on Parliament Hill. They aren’t that popular!
During the first tour “vacation”, they went to Ottawa on Canada Day and to Calgary during the Stampede, both huge events that have tons of crowds every year. Their presence did not matter and you notice the difference with the much smaller crowds during the BC tour, where they were visiting at times that were not usual holidays. Outside of the initial reception, where Trudeau attended and got louder cheers than those two, they did not have large crowds at all.
Most Canadians have no interest in tugging the forelock to British foreigners who have little knowledge of our country and have no charisma.
Canada Day in Ottawa. Always packed, always a huge deal. The hilarious part was when we sang the anthems (O, Canada and God Save the Queen). O Canada was sung loudly because hey, more of us know it, right? God Save the Queen was barely sung and I suspect by the older members of the crowd.
And if you throw in the press complaining, and rightfully so, that Wills & Kate do not make a point to acknowledge the press – turn towards them to get good pictures, wave or say hello to them, do not walk to the back of the same plane they may be flying on as Charles & Diana would have, etc etc these tours or public engagements add to the point that these are mini vacations for the couple.
I wonder if Charles will stop treating them and the rest of the Middletons with kid gloves when he’s king.
I have often wondered that myself. I think we have evidence that it will happen. We know Elizabeth has memories of Princess Margaret. I suspect she doesn’t like interfering in personal relationships. Hence why Charles did not marry Camilla until after the Queen Mum passed away. She was an old school royal and had some definite influence. I hope Charles will make some changes when it’s his turn; we have also seen through the history of the BRF that the transition from one monarch to another can turn habits sideways.
Kate use to be somewhat stylish at the beginning but I guess over time being part of the firm can suck the life out of you.
She’s definitely aged a lot who knew doing next to nothing and having nannys take care of your children could be so stressful. Can’t decide which has aged Will more his lack of hair or his refusal to shave it all off? Will needs to let go of that comb over and grow some facial hair.
Oh Chuck it doesn’t take much effort to out shine soggy old blanket like you.
Say what you like about Charles, but he does have work ethic and passion. The two Dolittles, on the other hand, actually think they are superstars and that whatever they do or wear will impact the world. Hence the half arse attempts at everything. SMH.
This is out of topic, but has anyone seen this before and after photo of Kate?
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/490610953135068534/
She has a fake nose AND dimples?
The dimples come from weight loss. Idk about the nose
The dimples are a family trait, she takes after her father.
She had one nose job before the wedding (but I don’t know when exactly) and some people believe she also had one before India.
GOSh her old nose was bulbous!! It does look better now.
She’s also had new teeth – she got veneers sometime during the latter part of the GF years and then had them redone after she got married. There is a photo out there of a closeup and you can see where the veneer ends and the real tooth begins due to the gum reseeding which is common with veneers, hence they need to be redone every 5 or so years.
As someone who has spent lots of money my own teeth (straightening and replacing mercury filling with white ones), I am always drawn to look at another persons teeth – oral hygiene and good teeth are important to me, esp with men. I’m weird like that 🙂
I’m seeing nose job and brow lift. Anyone else seeing brow lift?
I think she may have had a second brow lift done. The photo on the right looks less…strained… in the eyebrow dept than her recent photos from the Paris trip.
Wow, six years does alot to the old hairline, huh, Will Middleton.
Even Charles and The Queen knows they are unfit for the future of the monarchy. I seriously think there is a back up plan they have in mind.
Charles is a jerk. He’s just a passive aggressive creep. He might be right about Will and Kate but the fact that he sniveled over to complain to his biographer after trashing Will’s mom tells me everything.
I have just read the book, and didn’t read any sniveling at all. Matter of fact, just about everyone was portrayed very positively. The only exception was Diana, and that mostly because Bedell Smith claims her problems started before she ever married Charles. I was surprised she didn’t have much good to say there although she certainly did praise her work. And she glossed over a lot on everyone too. Overall it wasn’t a bad read, though.
Charles is starting to look like an elderly white-haired lady … all he needs is a shopping bag and sensible shoes. He was unfair to Diana but he doesn’t want to own it.
First and foremost I don’t think Charles is jealous in any shape or form. Charles is a tradionalist and he would not expect a member of the royal household to wear a thong under a billowing dress in the wind when as the wind took the dress upwards made her look like a pole dancer. (I blame the wind). Secondly what shouts out at me on this tour is just look at William. William s dress code, he is in the Royal code of suit bespoke well cut and traditional he looks royal. No wonder the DM thinks he dresses like an estate agent trying to sell you something these days, and who is dressing him these days.
I blame her choosing to wear a very light dress on the tarmack, no slip, and no weighted hem. As it has happened to her multiple times, it isn’t the wind to blame.
Joke: I blame the wind
First time is a faux pas. Fourth, fifth, sixth time?
Nah. For Duchess moosecakes, that’s a lifestyle choice.
Happened again on the Australian visit after getting out of amhelicopter: flared dress, thong, strong updraft. Flash.
Kaz: twice on the Aus/Nz tour. Once walking away from the helicopter and the other time at the airport in Australia as she was greeting officials on the tarmac.
…intense discussion as to whether she was wearing any underwear or not, which was no doubt a source of embarrassment to the new Duchess of Cambridge…
NOT
Well Chuck if you are pissed off DO something about it….at the moment you’re the next in line so throw your weight about if need be. I am still pissed that their first outing “as a family of four” was to Canada – we’re still waiting to see them here in the UK …..we only pay for them after all.
Charles is a whiny, entitled, man-child who gets his ego bruised easily and is spiteful when he does not get what he wants. I believe this is the beginning of another war: Wales vs Cambridge. That is not to say that the Cambridge’s are not also playing into this by being non motivated to the point of laziness, entitled, and with another man=child whose ego is bruised easily and is spiteful when he does not get what he wants.
I’m no big fan of the Dolittles, but I do feel that they have an uncomfortable Catch-22 situation at the palace.
Here’s the thing: in a way, w/ Charles, they literally cannot win.
If they show up, the press is happy, Liz is happy. But Chaz gets petty the minute they’re getting “too much attention”, ie, any attention at all, because Chaz is basically a narcissistic troll doll in a double breasted suit. And if they half-ass it so that they’re not overdoing the photo-ops to please papa, it reflects badly on the entire Firm including Chaz, and Chaz can’t have that either.
If they *don’t* show up, Chaz is happy that they aren’t pulling focus from him… until the press/public are unhappy, and *that* pulls focus from Chaz, and also paints him as a parent in a bad light, which also makes his tendency to cattiness go nuclear.
I get that Wills is an arrogant little sh-t that is reluctant to do the job he was born to. But I can also see where being built up from infancy via the privilege of being first-born, and then subsequently being torn down/sacrificed in the press by his own arrogant, thin-skinned father, would *make* him reluctant to be a part of the firm. Charles demands his sons’ loyalty, but he doesn’t offer much of that in return, from what I’ve seen/read. Charles is quick to take offense and harbour a grudge, and happy to feed them to the wolves when it suits him.
Charles, in William, has an attitudinal mini-me though. I believe there will be a showdown between those two after Liz and Philip are gone. I think it will also be very ugly, to the point where it will be hard to keep that conflict behind palace doors. William can dig his heels in; in that, there may be a bit of Charles and QE2’s stubbornness in him (remember how she stood her ground over marrying Philip).
I suspect William has a lot of anger stored up re: his father. He witnessed the dissolution of his parents’ marriage along with the rest of the nation, and saw his mother publicly and privately denigrated by his father. One can only speculate as to how Chaz reacted to Kate initially. William had to deal with his father throwing his mother, himself, his brother, and now he and his wife under the bus to make Charles look good by comparison. Who wouldn’t be angry if that had happened to them? Who wouldn’t feel trapped in small hell in such an environment?
William has many unlikable qualities, it’s true. He may have been made a complete jerk by a combination of genes and upbringing; but if we’re being honest about it, Wills is a sour man in his 30s in no small part because Charles’ treatment of him has helped make Wills the unfortunate man he is today.
Why isn’t Harry as bad though? He seems to make more of an effort when he attends events and he will not be getting the lion’s share of anything due to primogeniture. We don’t ever hear about Charles having an issue with Harry being popular, or disliking what he has done with Invictus or Sentebale. That’s a hell of a lot more than William has ever done. Harry is much more like Diana in temperament and how he interacts with people at the various events and so there would be reason for Charles to have a bigger issue with Harry because of his charisma and popularity.
@nic19
Harry is not the heir though, William is. And not so long ago some media were pushing the story of how it would be best if Charles were skipped and the crown went directly to William. I bet Charles didn’t like that much.
Also, from my personal experience – my younger brother and I have a strained relationship with our father. I sometimes feel like it’s my duty as the older sister to confront him when necessary, speak the hard truths we both feel, and take the blow of the argument upon myself. My brother on the other hand is the mediator, he builds bridges after a fight. Perhaps Will and Harry have the similar dynamic with Charles. I bet there are lots of unresolved tensions there, and perhaps William as the difficult one dishes it out to Charles more often, while Harry as the good-natured one builds bridges.
He seems so petty in his royal ambitions – jealous of his ex wife’s popularity, jealous of his own son’s popularity. What an insecure little man.
I think that is probably true to an extent. But I was truly amazed at what he’s done as Prince of Wales. Not only that he’s a fund raiser par excellance and has made some real differences with some of his projects.
He’s not perfect, that’s for sure. Not used to hearing “no”, not willing to listen to other points of view necessarily, and certainly lives a pampered life. But he’s not been idle and that goes a long way with me.
Very true – people don’t realise how much good the Princes Trust has done. I fear for what will happen to that once he become King, he works tirelessly for it and his other foundations.
He’s a flawed person but will make a good King. No one is perfect but he does so much to help others and his legacy as PoW will last beyond him.
He’s done much more than the Prince’s Trust. I was amazed at how much.
And he is gearing up for the top job at an age when many other people are giving up work and able to relax.
No sh!T.
Charles will never have the warm welcome he wishes, because people will never forget the way he treated Diana, or the way his wife carried on with him behind the scenes and was the cause of great heartache for Diana. Marrying his mistress didn’t do a whole lot to dim the memories people have of his selfish and cruel self back then.
Lia, Ditto!!