Good lord, I just fell into the rabbit hole of my past coverage of Jecca Craig and Prince William. To recap, Jecca Craig and Prince William have always been close, ever since they were kids. Some say that Jecca was William’s first girlfriend, and some say that he was obsessed with her even when he began to date Kate. What I know for sure is that William and Jecca have always maintained a friendship, so much so that William often chooses Jecca over anything involving his family. In 2014, William got in “trouble” when reporters learned that he flew off to Spain to go boar-hunting with Jecca… while Kate vacationed with her parents. Then in 2016, William once again chose Jecca over spending Easter with his family. We later learned that Jecca had given birth to a secret baby at some point in 2016 as well.
Why this recap of Jecca and William’s relationship? I don’t know, I guess I was just thinking about it because William has announced that he’ll be making a big trip to Africa later this month, and wouldn’t you know, he’s definitely going to be in Kenya, where Jecca lives.
The Duke of Cambridge will return to Africa for a conservation-led visit to the continent later this month, he announced tonight. William, 36, revealed he will be making a working visit to Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya later this month during his first speech as patron of the Royal African Society (RAS).
Royal watchers will be hoping for an appearance from his wife Kate, who has kept a low profile since giving birth to Prince Louis in April. However it is unlikely that the Duchess will join; she has attended just a handful of official appearances in recent months – including Trooping the Colour and Wimbledon – during her maternity leave.
Dates of the Duke’s Africa visit have yet to be announced. MailOnline has contacted Kensington Palace for further detail.
When William dumped his family and flew to Jecca’s wedding in 2016, it was super-shady because he didn’t want it to look like he was *just* going to Jecca’s wedding. He tacked on a couple of meetings at the last minute so it would look like “work,” and like an obvious cover story. I’m getting the same vibe this time – he wants to spend time in Kenya with Jecca and he’s just going to do a few “work appearances” as cover.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
And given how tight he is, tagging on some official business means the taxpayer picks up the tab for his ‘tour’. It’s guaranteed that there will be some down time where he’s off hunting big game.
Jecca has a toddler and a baby with her husband. How embarrassing stories like this have to be for her family.
Thank you. Not to mention Kate and kids
It reminds me of when I would go to church and the boys and girls were forbidden from ever being alone together, or literally from even standing together. Two of my best friends are former boyfriends. It’s almost like we date people we like, and still like them when we don’t date anymore. Anyone who would try to sully my sincere, loving, affectionate, and entirely platonic friendships by insinuating (or accusing) me or them of being unfaithful gets cut out of my life without question. I’m sooo finished with this kind of crap. Also, doesn’t she live in London? She’s working on a PhD and her husband is kiiind of a big deal. Her fam has a farm in Kenya, but she doesn’t.
I agree – this feels rather cheap and downright archaic.
Men and women can be friends…it’s true!
Umm, would it be so difficult for him to find other places in The Empire to visit if he weren’t seeking her out?
Or for her to ask him not to visit, if that was what she wanted?
@Agenbiter What are you taking about? Is this some Tumblr fan fic?
Short summary: Kenya is where William’s charity Tusk Trust operates. I’m sure he will visit the Craigs. He is very close to the whole family. Jecca’s dad Ian Craig is a known conservationist and founder of the Lewa Wildlife Conservatory. He was the one inviting William to live with them for a gap year before he went to Uni (manys moons ago). That’s how William met the family. As patron of Tusk Trust William works with Ian and son Batian.
Jecca is currently back at uni and working on her Phd. Seriously guys Jecca (plus her Dr husband and kids) don’t even live in Kenya right now.
William and Kate spend several holidays with the Craigs over the years. William proposed to Kate at the Wildlife Conservancy founded by Ian Craig. Something the Craig’s are very proud of, it’s part of their official Park tour.
@Clarisse I was reacting to the notion that stories like these on gossip sites must be “so embarrassing for Jecca and her family”. If so, there are things they could do to prevent them from coming up.
But your point that Jecca lives in London and will not be in Kenya is a great way to shut down the rumors, if true. Or maybe the stories just aren’t an embarrassment, and everyone involved just brushes them off.
For royalty though, it was a super common situation to have married mistresses, that way any ‘accidents’ would be looked after by another dude and his family. I dunno how plausible it is in present day, but then the royal family is so old fashioned.
I wonder if he will go on about how the dangers of hunting and of having more than one child again..so much hypocrisy with these people.
You can be a conservationist and yet support hunting.. There are certain animals that have no natural predator left.. If they are left uncontrolled, they can destroy the natural balance. I’m generally not in favour of the “safari”, safe, controlled hunts people do. Uncontrolled hunting can destroy, like the kings and brits did to the tigers and lions in India-nauseating.. But, again, to be human, we can support two contradictory ideas:-)
but, oh yeah, about the one child. totally agree!!!
I had forgotten about William LOL
He’s been surprisingly “busy” lately. It’s been good to see I think.
I am not in any way a Will/Kate apologist, but I have noticed that over the past two weeks, Will has been working, usually multiple events/speeches on the same day. So that’s Good??
William does seem to have stepped up a little compared to his usual efforts. He doesn’t generate the same level of publicity when Kate isn’t with him so some of his events have slipped under the radar. But in answer to your question, yes, it’s good that he is out and about.
William’s number of engagements picked up last year, once he went “full time” for real.
His numbers this year are higher than Camila’s and Sophie’s for example, who are always used as examples of hard working royals
I was surprised to see his numbers higher than Harry’s (to date) for this current year.
The bar is set so low for me that I was actually shocked to read how many engagements he has done.
I feel like Camilla has worked less this year than in recent years, which makes me wonder if there are some health issues at play (not anything serious, but maybe something that makes her unable to do as much walking or something?)
William should work harder than Sophie, and Harry, so I’m glad to see that his numbers are in keeping with his role as future king. It will be interesting to see what Kate does when she comes back.
Camilla has severe back problems, I believe. Some sort of painful and chronic condition, at least. So yes, she has ongoing health issues. I’m just a gossiper so have no idea if that is affecting her at the moment, but it’s completely plausible that she’s experiencing problems.
Or maybe she and Charles are just on their usual two-month extended summer vacation.
William had a busy June and has picked it up again in September, but a lot of these engagements came from his 5 day tour of the Middle East. He’s still a lot closer to Sophie’s and Camilla’s totals than he is to Charles and Anne, or even Andrew.
Is Kate ever going to work again? She’s far exceeding her previous ‘workshy’ label.
Maternity leave….three small children…..hands-on mother……etc. You know the drill, lol.
Must be nice to get 6 months of maternity leave and not worry about anything.
In Canada (at least where I work) we get a full year off for maternity leave. Yes, it is nice.
The US has an atrocious maternity leave, but the UK and other countries are far more reasonable, thank God.
And I’m sure that if Kate had gotten back earlier, she would’ve been accused of being threatened by Meghan…
In fact, I remember reading posts here saying that she would be out everywhere trying to steal the spotlight from Meghan, etc.
Also, imagine thinking maternity leave is a holiday lol. Have you ever had a child? It’s not only about taking care of him/her. It’s the changes in your body, your emotional state… There’s a reason maternity leave exists, and why in some countries you can even get a year of it. It’s not a holiday.
I have two children. Does that matter?
@Jess Thank you. About before I experienced it, I thought my maternity leave, only 10 weeks, by the end I would be taking pilate classes while my mom watched my sleeping baby…
… Reality, after healing which took longer than expected, it was trying to figure out why she wouldn’t stop crying: heartburn and food sensitivities and it took forever to get everything covered in the right medication and diet to get to a good place where she wouldn’t be in pain. That is one baby. Add on 2 more.
I think in the US we have this warped expectation of everything getting back to normal immediately. And it really does not.
And to clarify, since I think some missed my point and what I think was Jessica’s – no one begrudges Kate time off after having a baby. But her “work” is not what the average woman does, and the help available to her is not what the average woman has. So “maternity leave” is not the same thing for her that it is for other women – she’s not going to be the kind of job that most of us go back to.
Exactly. She is not going back to a 35+ hour per week job. Two or three engagements per week is not going to affect any bonding time with her baby once she has recovered from the birth.
There’s really no reason why she can’t be working right now. Her kids are back at school. Nanny Maria is there to help as well as the second unnamed nanny who has been there to watch Louis. She managed to spend two full days watching tennis back in July so it’s safe to say she could handle a few hours here and there.
Don’t agree with the narrative that if a parent travels/vacations without their kids this equates to ‘dumping’ them. I know lots of parents who travel without their kids, it doesn’t make them bad parents. William going to Kenya to attend a friend’s wedding is not that big a deal & it’s not like being absent at Easter is the same as missing Christmas or first birthdays. Harry missed Charlotte’s christening, does that make him a bad uncle? The Queen & Philip missed Louis christening, does that make them bad great-grandparents? Some times things happen where you have to miss certain family events.
The only controversy I see here is that he tagged a private trip along with an official visit which royals aren’t supposed to do, but they all do that including Harry with his Caribbean tour which was then followed by a personal trip to Canada to see Meghan.
He announced the tour at his African patronage and caught people off guard. It seems to be some sort of response to the recent poaching crisis in Botswana and have nothing to do with a holiday at all. “I’ve heard all these news reports and I’m flying down to get with the Tusk Trust [which I’ve also helped with a new initiative this week] on site to put some pressure on the local authorities via publicity.” Jecca doesn’t have anything to do with it. And William is dim (see today’s Chinese food gaffe) but he’s hopefully not dim enough to go hunting while he’s there.
Is Jecca his Camilla?
Yep in the Tumblr-verse.
Just here to say that his expression when looking at the rainbow rhino statue is awesome. And pretty much how I would look at it.
My immediate guess was that Kate is pregnant again, but the Windsors aren’t ready to admit that, “Yeah, her maternity leave is about to be extended indefinitely”.