More excerpts from Robert Lacey’s Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult in the Daily Mail. As I said, this is the last Daily Mail excerpt and it’s all about then-Kate Middleton and Prince William’s early years, meaning the first decade they were together, and all of their assorted breakups and more. Lacey borrows heavily from Katie Nicholl’s narratives, set out in Nicholl’s books, but Lacey does approach things with a more matter-of-fact (dare I say royal-historian) energy. Where Nicholl tended to gloss over W&K’s on-and-off relationship status, Lacey does what I’ve always done: point out just how many times William dumped Kate because he wondered if the grass was greener on the other side. This part of this excerpt also has that 2006 Christmas-invite story.
Refusing the Queen’s Christmas invitation in 2006: Pressurising William, however, was not the way to make him change his mind. Indeed, the newly commissioned officer had begun to worry whether he had not found the right girl at the wrong time. His fun-loving fellow cadets at Sandhurst had demonstrated how much living he still had to do before he settled down. Plus The Spectator had run an article cheekily anointing Kate as ‘The Next People’s Princess’, raising all the old anxieties about his parents’ over-rapidly-arranged marriage.
William dithered: William turned to his father and grandmother for guidance. The Queen had grown very fond of Kate, but she told him he shouldn’t rush into a commitment — and his father advised the same. In any case, William was enjoying the life of a hard-drinking Army officer. Not for nothing was his new regiment known as the ‘Booze and Royals’.
Openly cheating: In 2007, he was spotted in London dancing wildly at various nightclubs and also in Bournemouth, where one of his dancing partners described the experience vividly. ‘He has big, manly hands,’ reported 18-year-old Anna Ferreira, a glamorous Brazilian brunette. ‘And certainly he knows what to do with them. . . I was a little bit drunk myself.’
Dumping Kate: On April 11 that year, Kate excused herself from a meeting at Jigsaw, the fashion store with which she’d recently started working, to take a call from William in a room out of earshot of the other buyers. She shut the door for more than an hour. When she came out, she was single.
Once again, Kate trying to get Will’s attention: Guy Pelly proved an unexpected ally, quietly advising her to give his old friend some space. There were soon reports of William’s ‘ex’ being sighted enjoying herself on the London party circuit. Ms Middleton was not going to be seen as defeated. She started heading out for the Thames to practise with an all-female ‘Dragon Boat’ crew…It was undoubtedly a good cause, but from Kate’s point of view, her mission was to convey a very definite message to the world, too — and to one particular person.
No one but Kate wanted William: William had found dating difficult, for a start, when a surprising number of young women from his circle turned him down flat. They could suss out the truth about where his heart lay, even if he himself could not. Suddenly girls from Brazil no longer seemed so glamorous, and the prince missed his family — which by now meant the Middleton family. One pillar of William’s year at Sandhurst had been his regular Friday night escapes to Bucklebury, where he could collapse and be mothered by Carole — and also fathered by the quiet and affectionate Michael who, whisper it, could provide a better ear for confidences, on some issues, than Prince Charles.
Getting back together: Small wonder, then, that the phone calls between William and Kate should resume. Then, just ten and a half weeks after the Jigsaw conference-room call, the couple were seen kissing and dancing closely at a party in the prince’s barracks in Bovington, Dorset. A friend of the prince’s was happy to reveal that ‘William hasn’t stopped pining for Kate since they split up. He keeps saying she’s an amazing girl and the best thing to happen to him.’
Clever argument by Lacey: “William had found dating difficult, for a start, when a surprising number of young women from his circle turned him down flat. They could suss out the truth about where his heart lay, even if he himself could not.” Yeah, I’m sure that was the reason! Why would a posh aristocratic girl want to date a future future king… who also has anger issues, a bad personality and a penchant for infidelity? What a catch. I remember the stories at the time too, 2006-07, that William completely threw himself at various artisto girls who wanted nothing to do with him, and it wasn’t because they thought he was hung up on Kate. Do you think Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge would exist today if one of those aristo girls had been up for it back then?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
IMPO, Kate looked better in her University days with the 10 extra pounds.
And William had hair! How badly has he aged in 10 years?
Both have aged horribly. Just goes to show even a lazy lifestyle and the best creams and injections can’t fix what surfaces to the top from the inside.
Like I said on another post: it is the Windsor Curse. In his youth Edward was even more handsome than William – and look at him now. You wouldn’t believe it was the same person when you put “then” and “now” photos side by side.
Actually a reply to ArtHistorian, but OMG Edward used to be SO hot. Reminds me of that Roald Dahl quote: “If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.
A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
I had SUCH a crush on Prince Edward when I was a teenager.
Yeah she did and with her natural darker hair.
@DU – I must agree about the hair BUT, as I have aged highlights and a lighter hair shade has help to diminish the visibility of wrinkles around my eyes and on my forehead.
I mean, who doesn’t look better at 20? But physical aspects aside, you can see more personality in her young pics. That personality might have been a prince-chasing party girl, but now she seems to uncertain of what her vibe should be.
She seemed so vivacious back then. And confident. Kate seems ever thinner and more tentative now.
For her sake, I hope she takes an emotional break from William. Realizes her power and who her natural allies are. Cough, cough – Charles, Harry.
Maybe Kate can get her weight back up and establish “particular friendships” with attractive men.
I wouldn’t say it was 10 “extra” pounds but the 10 more pounds that seem to have been her natural norm.
She looks like Monica lewinsky with the fuller face. It’s actually a compliment (Monica is beautiful, much more so now than when she was younger imo). She looks much better in her natural weight.
“Kate excused herself from a meeting at Jigsaw, the fashion store with which she’d recently started working, to take a call from William in a room out of earshot of the other buyers. She shut the door for more than an hour”…ugh.
Who gets the privilege of taking super long personal calls at their job?
In the middle of a meeting with buyers, no less. Skipped your responsibilities just to be unceremoniously dumped.
Well nobody in the real world but she was given that job specifically because she was dating William. It was free PR for Jigsaw. I probably would have done the same thing, with regards to employing Kate, if I owned Jigsaw and especially if Jigsaw was trying to break into the USA-Canadian market.
That stood out to me too. The only answer is “someone who was only there as a favor and wasn’t really working anyway.”
Right? If I did that during a meeting it had better be bc somebody died. These people live such a charmed life. Slso, Kate was so cute when she was young. She looks frail and brittle now.
Someone who is hired to bring publicity to the company? It was reported that Kate was hired with an understanding that her schedule will be quite fluid.
Of all things in this article, that’s what stood out for me the most. Not only who takes a personal call while in a meeting, for an HOUR, but it tells you so much about William that he called to break up with her while she was at her job!
If she had been less desperate, she would have not taken his call and stayed at the meeting.
I don’t think someone with a very part time gig as an assistant buyer is exactly essential to the operations, much less a meeting.
Then if she isn’t essential she doesn’t need to be there at all. Of course it was a made up job but leaving a meeting for a personal call is massively unprofessional and says a lot about Kate’s priorities as a woman in her mid 20s. She also should have been fired when she took the call too, but her privilege protected her. Years later we can see how she has been indulged and remains unable to understand or fit in with responsible adults and understand the responsibilities they have.
See, William has always been incredibly stubborn. He freaked out about the papers pushing Kate as his future wife. Which makes me think he is furious about the Kate the Great story and Kate soothes him when he’s throwing a tantrum. I’m sure she’s been working like a top CEO to reassure him these pieces are rubbish and no one would believe them, and certainly she and her family don’t feel that way. I’ve been in that place, and she must feel panicked that she can’t stop what is probably the one thing that could drive a wedge between them, other peoples gossip. He could turn from her to spite the papers and there’s nothing Carole can do about it.
This was in the William and Kate movie. And yes, I do think there would still be a Kate. The issue here isn’t that Kate is amazing, but that William was not emotionally healthy enough to process a breakup and move on. He was used to Kate and addicted to that dopamine cycle.
Had he given himself three more months and gotten some therapy, though…
From what I have read he is an abusive bully. Reminds me of all the worst qualities of his worst family. I don’t envy her. Blegh.
I don’t either. And TBH, I’ve grown a lot since my college days. Who knows how I would have reacted if my boyfriend at the time was the future king. I’m not going to judge her by her foolish actions then.
But her current behaviour has her stuck with a man who doesn’t treat her with respect almost 20 years in. Most women who did dumb things with guys in college have since moved on from those guys. She hasn’t.
Word. I’m grateful for the romantic mistakes I made in my youth. Helped me learn about myself and find what I really wanted. Problem is, she wasn’t in it for a fling and it seems like he probably was. Did Wills lie to Kate, tell her she was the one while he screwed around? Or was it more like . . . he was into Kate and happy to let her hang around as long as she didn’t cramp his style?
It saddens me. She looked so much healthier then; what a horrible life, really. Groomed by Mrs Bennett to land a rich man – the sum of her ambitions – and then put up with his tantrums, rages and cheating.
Dying that she took an hour-long call from her boyfriend in the middle of a work meeting.
That’s how top CEOs are made.
Your comment made me spit coffee all over my laptop. How brilliant, how true!
I’m with Alexandra – brilliant comment!
None of this is particularly new as I said in the other article but what is interesting to me is that this being published and talked about in 2020. After 2017, there’s been a massive PR campaign to whitewash the Cambridges’ work ethic and history so for a writer in 2020 to go “Hmm. It’s not /quite/ a love story.” makes me wonder
It is VERY interesting in my opinion. This book is starting to read like “lets not forget what REALLY happened”
How nice that Kate could stop in the middle of work, leave a meeting, and talk to her boyfriend for an hour to break up.
And how nice of William to call his girlfriend during her work day and spend an hour calling it quits with her.
These two lovely, hard working people deserve each other so much.
Apparently that was part of the ‘deal’ when she ‘took’ the job – that William would come first at any time. Mummy called in a favour and got her that job to counter bad press and a comment from TQ about what ‘does Kate do?’.
Smokes and mirrors.
@Digital Unicorn
It’s not even an “apparently” it’s fact haha. The founder of Jigsaw, Belle Robinson confirmed it. She had loaned Kate, Will and their friends her house in Mustique, and afterwards Kate did events for Jigsaw. Later when she wanted to pretend she did something other than chase William, she called Belle to ask for a job. And Belle herself said, “ “[Kate] rang me up one day and said: ‘Could I come and talk to you about work?’ She genuinely wanted a job but she needed an element of flexibility to continue the relationship with a very high-profile man and a life that she can’t dictate.” Robinson recalled. “She’s going to be dictated to when she’s needed and not needed.”
Most of her life has revolved around pleasing and chasing William.
And I side eye the part where Lacey said the Queen was fond of her while they were dating. She thought Kate was lazy and wanted her to work. I don’t think she was ever fond of her.
“She’s going to be dictated to when she’s needed and not needed.”
This is literally William expecting to be at her beck and call – and she would never have kept him if she had had a real job. He’s probably one of those guys what can’t stand if the their girlfriend has interests outside doting on him.
That she chose to accept this speaks of a sad lack of self-respect.
@mtec Belle is my friend’s mum! And i don’t believe kate did an awful lot there from the sounds of things. Worked for everyone though
No truer love story has ever been written.
Exactly!
There’s always different rules for people in the rich/posh toff set, and the rest of us commoners. They get to take as many hour long breaks in the middle of meetings as they’d like. But if any of us do it? Phew.
All of the aristos who “work” basically work like this. None of them are putting in 10 hr days, especially not the aristo women. The money they earn is just pocket change to them. Their mindset is that you shouldn’t be working a trade anyway, because only commoners work for a living. Aristocrats have wealth, inherited or otherwise, which frees them from having to work a day job, and that matters to them.
After reading all of these comments, I feel a bit sick to my stomach. To be dumped over the phone and while at work has got to be a new low. Wills is w*anker. I now understand why the aristo girls said no.
And IF Guy turned out to be an ally, that was accidental. He doesn’t come across as someone who was concerned about Kate and her fate.
@ Seraphina, you are right. Imagine having a guy that you are in love with that calls you at work to break up with you. To add insult to injury, a job that you called in a favor for just so that you could impress TQ that you actually can hold a job down but that there were limitations as to your work schedule! WTF? I can only work to show that my potential family that I am desperate to marry into, will be able to see that I can hold down a job. Oh, but don’t expect me to do actual work or to work the hours that you expect me to work since I will need to be the beck and call girl to William. Plus, if I need to excuse myself during a meeting with buyers, and I take a call from my boyfriend, they can wait while I take these calls or run out in the middle of a meeting to cater to him.
My gosh! Desperation on levels that I have never seen an actual woman take.
William’s a worm. He probably called her specifically at work to get her off the phone as soon as he could and it over with quickly.
Like some high school break-up. (Well, obviously, as he broke up with someone he had been living with over the phone and not even in person.)
Also, no. I think if anyone else had been really interested in him, she she wouldn’t be the future-future-queen regent (or whatever).
No shade on her. I think she committed to chasing him (the way a lot of girls would/did), and she landed him. That said, if HE had any other, better options he would probably with someone like Megan.
He wouldn’t be able to handle Meghan! She’s articulate, passionate, deeply involved in human and civil rights, and is infinitely more intelligent than he! He’d either bully her so that she was afraid of her own shadow (though I can’t see her putting up with that: she has a spine of steel) or go back to willing, pliable Kate.
I kind of don’t think he would have treated some of his other options as badly as he treated and still treats Kate. Or at least not right away? I think it was the perfect storm of Kate being not an aristo, not wealthy or powerful or socially strong on her own, and Kate being willing to literally follow him around the world to keep him happy and be with him all the time, constantly giving him everything he wanted and only doing the things he wanted them to do, plus her entire family felt the same way about coddling him and bagging him at any cost. I don’t want to say she “let him” use and abuse her because that’s victim blaming, but he didn’t respect her at all and knew she would always roll over and come back. He can treat her like shit and do literally anything to her and she will still be there happily and desperate to hold on. I think he feels comfortable being as entitled, angry, asshole-ish, controlling, and sadistic as he wants around her, and that probably grew gradually, he would push a limit and then another and another to see what he could get away with. And it spiraled.
I think he would always be a jerk and a have anger issues probably, but maybe it would have taken much much longer for him to show those characteristics and flaws to a different woman that he actually respected and who was fine with leaving him because she had other options in her life. Maybe he would start to get bad, and a woman would dump him, and then he’d start over with another woman, and have to go back to “nice Will” for awhile, so that the constant trajectory from bad to worse to rage monster would keep getting interrupted and reset, whereas with kate, he just kept progressing down the awful path with no resets. Maybe eventually he would have learned that this behavior keeps losing him romantic relationships and he would have sought therapy or changed. But he has zero incentive change for Kate.
He wouldn’t even be attracted to a woman like Meghan, other than for her beauty (and maybe with the sicko idea of wanting to “dominate” her or “put her in her place.” ). She would make him feel stupid, intimidate him, which would make him feel resentful. It’s textbook really. How many of us WOC have made an inadvertent adversary out of a white man because he felt threatened by our intelligence or ambition? How many careers of women of all backgrounds have been derailed by white men who resented their abilities, their intelligence, or their leadership? It’s even worse if said man is attracted to you, because now he’s tied his own sense of masculine pride to your defeat. Smart woman that he would want to sleep with makes him feel stupid, so now he has to create a dominance fight for himself to win. He has to cut you down to “prove” that he’s a “real man.” We saw that play out on the “Fab Four” stage. Anyone really paying attention to William watching Meg speak so confidently could see signs of his anger rising.
JC lanne you just described my work colleague situation. LOLZ he even copies my writing style/ emails with clients. I am waiting for him to forget to redact my name off one of his emails one day….
Harry’s prior girlfriends said no to a life in the tabloids and it’s fair to think a lot of the girls William chased said no for the same reason.
@ Amy Too, what incredible foresight that you have put forth. I never thought of that. Had Wil realized early on in his teen/adult years and an extensive dating history that his bullying behaviour and infidelities were not acceptable, he may have had some insight that his behaviour was not acceptable or healthy to have any type of emotional and mature relationships and women would have pointed that out.
Given the enormous pressure to get it right, combined with his pin up status, I am surprised that William didn’t make a bigger mess of it with Kate. It’s a big deal even if you are not Royal to find and keep the right mate, especially when you are young. He found the security that he needed with her, after the dysfunction of his own family. Meghan is from a dysfunctional background too and I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that William really would prefer someone else, more like Meghan. I think W and K fell in love young and it took what it took till the time was right. No biggie. I met my husband at 24 and we didn’t get married for 15 years. Thankfully we aren’t Royal and didn’t have all that scrutiny and pressure, but we both dealt with trauma in our childhoods and it can take time to be ready. People prefer the love at first sight narrative but it’s not the norm in my experience.
Is it really security though? Because it seems to me he does whatever he wants whenever he wants and the Middletons are there (particularly Carole) to just accept what he does and go along with it.
Is this actually good for everyone involved in this situation? Or is this simply a false sense of security created so that William doesn’t direct his rages at them and keeps him around for Kate to be Queen? Which then in turn creates an unequal power dynamic between William and Kate?
PS: There’s nothing wrong with taking your time to get married but when you don’t have a real job other than “_____ girlfriend” and you’re literally waiting for him to marry you to the point it becomes a nickname for you and his grandma aka the monarch is apparently side-eying your lack of career, I don’t think it’s great so to say.
I think Kate and William dated in college and “got on” well. William, like many men, wanted to get out in the aristocratic sets he had known all his life and see if he could “do better”. No one “any better” than Kate wanted anything to do with him. with regards to life in the BRF and all servitude that entails. William married the best he could get that would make him somewhat happy, be an excellent mother, provide acceptable in-laws and make the BRF VERY happy.
IMO, Will didn’t find security, he found another environment where he could avoid the difficult and uncomfortable job of facing himself and tackling the issues stemming from his dysfunctional family and his mother’s death. Maybe the Middletons were kinder and more sympathetic in contrast to his relatives but they had just as ruthless an agenda as the RF, and their coddling further reinforced his worst tendencies and helped turn him into the unhappy, unpleasant person he is today.
It’s obvious Will preferred someone else, because there’s examples of his serious interest in other women. He didn’t wait 10 years for the time to be right. Kate is where she is because he had no better option, and because she tolerates his affairs. He has near zero respect for her. She’s a reasonable match because she was on board with his picture of royal life – working as little as possible – and had an acceptable background for mother of a future heir. Yes, I think he would’ve liked someone with more of Meghan’s qualities, more interesting, that could be a challenge. When he was younger, he might have been able to handle that, with someone who really loved him. Might in fact have turned out differently if he had a partner to reinforce what better impulses he had, as Meghan has done for Harry.
Could he handle someone like Meghan as she is now, and as he is now – I’d say no. Baring some serious personal work, he’s too set in his ways, and much too controlling, to be comfortable in a relationship with a mature, fully realized woman, outside of an affair. But I think he’s attracted to her (and jealous of Harry) and that’s a factor in multiple ways in what’s happened the last few years. Will is a louse, but how ultimately boring and empty it must be to live a life where you can get anything you want, can get away with anything you want, and are truly committed to nothing.
I agree with you. Sometimes it just takes a while for young people to be in the right ‘place’ for each other. My husband and I met in our early twenties. Kind of tried to date here and there, but it didn’t work out. We remained friends. 4.5 years later, it finally worked out. We have been married for years now and have a beautiful child together. Sometimes it just takes young people some time to find themselves or whatever. As corny as that sounds. Especially if they’re immature and/or have had past childhood struggles.
William might have preferred someone he had a passionate romance with like H & M do, but definitely not Meghan specifically. A low maintenance aristo girl who hunts and parties – and whose family he enjoys spending time with.
This is a burn book by Lacey. The Cambridges do not look good.
Yes and I wonder who else will be burned by it. I think the Middletons are next up to the pry.
I imagine that Carole and Uncle Gary each have a chapter – and it’s going to be really good. For years, rumours about Mrs Bennett’s temper, her inability to keep domestic staff and the appalling way she treated her workers have been floating around, crushed by Carole in one of her tantrums. She won’t be able to escape this time.
Popcorn and margaritas, anyone?
This is just a small thing: ” The Queen had grown very fond of Kate…”
Isn’t the timeline for meeting the queen later than this breakup – like, 2008 (while Billy was on a trip with his “friends”, didn’t go to a family wedding, and so Harry actually introduced them – or some such)?
You’re right. Kate met the queen for the first time on 5/17/08 at Peter and Autumn’s wedding. I remember the date specifically because it’s the same day I got married.
For a “respected historian” it seems he’s gotten a number of details wrong.
William chose to attend the wedding of Jecca’s brother instead of his cousin Peter Phillips. Supposedly he “sent” Kate to represent him at the Phillips wedding. ANd it was there she met the QUeen. I found that scenario very odd.
Queen grew fond of Kate? Huh?
Queen that asked what she did? No goals or ambitions besides marriage to be seen. Or the way the Queen was over it with Kate’s wedding dress display?
Also, wasn’t it reported the Queen and Charles just wanted William to make a choice, marriage or break up because stringing her along and all the cheating was making him look terrible in the papers.
I think Carole had a number of talks with William about Kate. She would swoop in and try to get them back together during his cooling off periods and the major breakup. The Queen was alleged to ask why Kate did not work and asked “what she did.” It was then that Kate rushed to get the part time Jigsaw job.
The girls in William circle knew exactly the type of person he was and the type of family he came from warts and all and no amount of tiaras (well I presume these sorts of girls have a family tiara or two anyway) and titles will make them give up their privacy and life. Not especially for an entitled, spoilt and petulant prince. Being thrust into the spotlight will be anathema to them and for what, to end up like his mother did? You just have to look at Kate to see how well it’s all turning out for her.
If I grew up in aristocratic circles and probably heard the inside scoop on the royal family and Diana growing up, I wouldn’t want to touch William with a 10 foot pole either. Kate clung to his ass like a barnacle and was basically his only choice.
delete
Sorry! Typo! IF I grew up…
Oh you got me excited! But yeah I agree with your comment then. There’s a reason why all the aristo girls said no we’re good
Spill the tea.
It’s amazing to compare the engagement pictures to pre-engagement ones. She had a total transformation, not just regarding the clothes and her physical appearance but personality-wise too.
If Isabella Calthrope or Jecca Craig had said yes, then no Kate would not be the Duchess of Cambridge.
Yup.
I don’t know if they turned him down because of his personality, or because of the firm, but either way, he had no options.
I think it’s why I have little sympathy for her – this is exactly what she bargained for, so she can’t exactly complain.
If Jecca Craig has said yes it would be Jecca Duchess of Cambridge.
I’ve always wondered about that name… Jecca?
Is it pronounced just how it looks? Jekka? Odd….
It’s her nickname. Her real name is jessica.
Wow,she really looked much better back then.
In recent years,she seems like she has been tortured.(though I guess she still gets what she wants)
That’s the look of hollowed out soul whilst allowing your husband to be community d*ck.
Whilst I can empathise, I do not feel sorry for her bc she creeped so hard for this. She deserves what flows from this level of manipulation.
OMG this is payback time from the courtiers to the Cambitches for allowing them to become embroiled in the War of the Wale’s Part 2 !!!
Chuck must be chuckling into his gin. Lacey appears to be Chucks agent. Notice how the Rat Reporters are not commenting on this because it makes their paymaster Bill look horrible so now all that commentary of skipping Chuck is over.
I am guessing that Meghan and Harry’s exit has created a monster of Bill after wielding all that power to isolate them. Chuck (who has played both sides of this battle) is now reminding Bill that he knows where all his dead bodies are hidden….
I want to know the overlap between those who spoke to Lacey and those who spoke to Tatler. It may be a flat circle.
Yes, Charles and Camilla are sipping tea! First the demotion at commonwealth service now this. Who’s the boss now?!!
The bit about “they could suss out where his heart truly lay even if he could not” or whatever the exact quote is, made me laugh out loud. Legitimately.
Those noble, aristocratic girls, sending him back to his one true love<– I'm laughing again
Those aristocratic girls probably knew what an absolute shit show the Windsors are and said “thanks but no thanks, I already have a family tiara”.
And a title that is older than yours!
Lol!
“they could suss out where his heart truly lay”
With himself, right?
Bingo!
What I haven’t seen mentioned is that breaking up with a long term partner over the phone while she is at work is the act of a coward. It’s designed to spare the dumper the stress of having the dumpee become emotional in front of them (thereby making the dumper feel uncomfortable) and means the dumpee has no privacy to deal with their upset. He could at least have rung her at home so she could react in private.
In this case, Kate had to leave the room and immediately face a number of people all of whom probably assumed a ring was imminent and tell them William had broken up with her. There were probably at least 2 or 3 journalists on the street outside who would have been delighted to catch her looking like she’d been crying. Even if she didn’t love him (and I think she certainly at least thought she did at that time even if she wouldn’t have felt the same about him if he wasn’t a prince), that was cruel, particularly as she hadn’t done anything awful / dangerous to deserve being dumped by phone in the first place and I don’t think he was out of the country and couldn’t see her in person. He just couldn’t be bothered.
He is cruel and cowardly. This is the same man who got her to do a photo op with his rumoured mistress around the time of her birthday.
@Tia He definitely was a coward and still is. Will couldn’t even be in the same country when H&M came back for the farewell tour and he couldn’t face Harry at the last meeting for Sussexit. He’s been raging and running away from his problems for a long time.
The guy just does not seem to have enough regard for her well-being. That picture of Harry yelling at William to remind him to come back and help Kate off the barge in the rain during QEII’s Jubilee flotilla says everything.
I think Kate would have still married William actually. But it depends on how those relationships with any of the aristocrat women would have panned out. If it had gotten to the point of marriage with any of them, I have no doubt in my mind that Kate would be in the same position that Rose Hanbury is in today. She would have been William’s Camilla, but I don’t think William would have been interested in divorcing whatever posh girl he married and had a family with. But I doubt he would have been very happy for the long run with any of them.
Otherwise, I actually think William would have stayed single. Or married late. If any of those other relationships worked out, and became long term, but they broke up after all that time (similar to Beatrice), then I think that William would have just crossed over into his 30s without having gotten married at all. I don’t know if Kate would have waited that long for him, maybe yes, maybe not.
Carole is very persistent though. She was a huge factor in them getting back together. Any normal parent would not have wanted their daughter to lose all self respect and go back with a guy who treated her as a convenience, but Carole wants that title. There is no possible way for that to be a healthy relationship when one is so clearly in control and the other one just takes it and self medicates with obsessive shopping. And there is no way that dysfunctional dynamic won’t affect the kids.
I’m kind of assuming in my very imaginary alternative universe that, if Kate hadn’t made it work with William, Carole would have loosened her hold somewhat over Kate, which would have left her freer to be her own person, somewhat. Not so free that she would turn down an opportunity to still be with him (and the potential clout it could bring), but free enough that she might have forged her own way in certain respects. But at the end of the day though, as you said, they are very persistent, and they would have done whatever it took to get the job done.
Given what we know about the brothers and how their characters have developed (progression for Harry, stagnation for William), the fact that the aristo girls wouldn’t hang around for Harry says a lot about why none of them wanted William. Sure the ‘prize’ is bigger but they have their own status in their little bubble and William just didn’t offer anything enticing enough.
I got the impression that Cressida (who is a classic aristo girl) would have stayed as long as Harry wanted her to. All the ‘my career is too important to me’ was to save face on her part when it was clear the relationship wasn’t going to move forward. Certainly journalists known to be close to her family were pushing the ‘perfect princess material’ narrative in the press.
Of course, that probably annoyed William even more. Isabella had no interest in him. Her little sister was very interested in Harry. I don’t think William takes (what he sees as) losing to his little brother very well. Look at his reactions whenever Harry and Megan’s charity work got attention.
Oh she definitely would’ve. People always forget/overlook Ingrid Seward (close family friend of Cressida’s mother) begging Harry to take her back in her editor’s letter. Cressida also pulled an 07 Kate (dressing up and conveniently getting spotted living it up post-breakup) but it didn’t work for her. She talks a big game now about feeling too intimidated by the pressure, but she was definitely gunning for the ring back then.
Yeah I think she would have said yes to a ring and like Beach Dreams said, your godmother (I think Ingrid is her godmother or at least is very close) doesn’t beg your ex to take you back if you didn’t miss him/want a future with him.
But it’s all worked out in the end in terms of marriages. Harry is happily married to Meghan and Cressida herself recently got married to another man (also named Harry and is an aristo himself)
Cressida is why Hag Ingrid hates Meghan so much. She lost her chance to get “in” with the RF through her close friend’s daughter. Cressida marrying Harry would have been a goldmine for Ingrid and her Magesty magazine. She would have gotten the “welcome to our home and meet our babies” exclusives that the rota wanted so badly from the Sussexes and racisted themselves out of getting. But even they would have been subjected to William’s jealousy, and Cressida would have been Fergied. It’s a good thing that Cressida married, so she’s no longer seen as a credible “back up” for the end of Harry and Meghan that all the royal worshippers are hoping for.
Cressida to harry is like what kate is to William. I think Cressida always wanted the gig, she would always make herself available to him at the drop of a hat and basically follow him around. I think he only would have wifed her if no one else came along. She was more of a plan b. I don’t think he ever loved her the same way he did chelsy but he would have probably put up with her as long as she let him do his own thing.
Harry apparently did not string Cressida along. He often looked bored or uninterested in her and would rush ahead of her to get to a car. There was one picture where she had the ‘look of love’ and he ignored it and looked straight ahead. I think though Cressida would not have been reviled (had she married Harry) as being an actress like Meghan is. Cressida also had the misfortune of being photographed with Weinstein at the premiere of Tulip Fever (she had a bit part). I can only imagine the outcry had Meghan posed with Weinstein. Kate would probably have intensely disliked the idea of Cressida marrying Harry because then Isabella would come to call on Cressida with William in proximity.
It occurs to me that the whole ‘aristocratic girls don’t want the public role’ is a backup story put out by the RF.
They’d rather we believe Will and Kate are true love eternal but if that isn’t accepted, it’s nothing *personal* against William that means the pool of women he’d normally marry into wouldn’t go near him, it’s down to the demands of the role.
The fact that Harry had no trouble dating at least one woman from this group is discreetly brushed under the carpet.
I never truly believed that all aristo girls ‘don’t want to be Royal’ line because all of these women have been bread to marry upwards and marry rich. That’s kind of their purpose in life. Doing royal engagements is just the same as them swanning around doing their own charity work, which is what rich housewife say they do, when they don’t really do anything.
All those girls around William and Harry have all gone out of their way to marry upwards. Non of them would have married a broke ass guy for love. I’m pretty sure William and Harry between them have shagged and dated literally every girl within those circles. I think a lot of their conquest just didn’t work out for a number of reasons.
And a lot of those girls are desperate for fame too. Look at Cressida, kitty Spencer and Amelia Windsor, they all turn up to the opening of an envelope.
What woman with self respect would let herself be treated like dirt by William for years? The answer is Kate. It wasn’t a romance at all but a sign of psychological issues in both sides. The RR are constantly trying to create a false story but anyone with eyes can see he still doesn’t treat her with respect. Women really shouldn’t ever put up with what he does because no title is ever worth it. It’s not like we didn’t see what happened to Diana even before her tragic accident. The Princess myth is actually quite dangerous for women and girls because they are encouraged to put up with a lot of garbage for material things and made up social power. Would anyone truly want to trade places with Kate at this point? Not any woman who respects herself.
Okay…with all of these excerpts out, there’s definitely some knives out for the Cambridges and Lacey seems all too willing to help out. It HAS to be Charles/his people at this point. The “William will be a better future king, Charles should step aside” narrative has been at a fever pitch this year. Combined with what went down with Sussexit, I wouldn’t be surprised if CH wanted to slap Will and Kate back down to earth and saw Lacey’s book as an opportunity to do so. Lacey’s going so far as to rehash what’s already known about the Cambridge “love story”, which is very interesting. It’s like all the sappy PR pushed by KP & the Middletons for the past 3-4 years is being carefully deconstructed in this book.
If Charles is indeed behind this, I hope that he at least has been giving the Sussexes support behind the scene if he’s too cowardly to do it openly. The Sussexes leaving has seriously hampered Charles’s plan for his reign with his sons at his side. It seems like he’s the one who needs Harry to come back to keep William from stabbing him in the back. But Charles has now exactly what he has earned. He has to deal with his spoiled, narcissistic son all on his own. Harry and Meghan must be breathing huge sighes of relief that they’re away from that hellhole.
For all CH gets away with Harry still seems to have a decent relationship with Charles. As well as Megan. There’s been nothing linking Charles to disapproval of Megan and instead direct approval. It’s all CH indirect at best.
And loads of stories Charles wants Harry back in the fold and to knock William down.
I doubt Charles was allowed or capable of disciplining William as the boy heir, but now? Yeah, William thinks himself untouchable.
I feel like doing it quietly isn’t enough at this point, because it seems like Charles couldn’t be bothered to give quiet support while they were actually there. He definitely earned this fiasco he’s now found himself in. He deserves to handle his rage monster heir all alone; we know the queen won’t be lifting a finger after all.
William reminds me of my ex and I love the armchair psychology in the comments. You’ve opened my eyes to some news thoughts.
Just an FYI, I am a strong, independent women. A “Megan”. I work, I’m intelligent, and I let no man walk all over me. In fact I’m the one to put them in their place. But then I met a William and at the end of two years I had turned into a Kate. Don’t diminish women because the actions of a man have turned them. If anything this article made me feel sorry for Waity. She was emotionally abused since before she was old enough to know better. I don’t like anything about her, but I can’t overlook that had she been dealt a different lot in life she might have turned out different. But as it is she is what she is so my empathy abates.
However to the other posters; yes, it’s possible for a Megan to turn into a Kate if the monster in question is a William. I don’t think that makes me any less intelligent or strong. I think I was forced into this by a tyrant bully who took every opportunity to “wind me up” until I eventually lost all of my self confidence and emotionally abused me so I could never leave him until he decided that he had has a enough. Now I’m being hit with a lawsuit for writing about that bully on my blog. But no I will not back down. Slowly I will become a Megan again and I will eviscerate him. It’s a shame Waity never got the opportunity to learn how to be a Megan. She might have been happier in life.
I see pink elephants, is that you?
I’m glad you got out from that abuse.
I don’t see Kate as the same. I think her abuse started with her mother. Marry well at all costs, even yourself respect. What she turned into was a bully. Meaning she chose to stay and this is how she copes. She could have been like Diana and throw herself into work and being a mother. Not coddling her husband. And William couldn’t divorce a working royal and dedicated mother to their children. It would ruin him.
Toxic family do not define us. Others don’t choose our personalities.
Even in my worst relationship I knew I had to get out and the things he yelled to bring me down weren’t true. I think we can have slips and forget ourselves. I think we can not realize we’ve allowed others to have too much power in our lives. And I think some people will see it as an acceptable price going in eyes wide open.
Yeah that’s me. My credentials used to be saved and then they disappeared I guess. But iseepink was my username
In a way I agree, she’s very much a product of her environment, but I wonder if things had been different if she could have become more. But as it is I think she enjoys her Stepford role. It’s maybe all she’s ever wanted. I don’t like her as a person but I can’t help feel sorry for her. As someone who has been with a dominating William type (English, bald, Oxford snob, throws it in your face that he’s better than you) I feel sorry for her. I’m trying to get my self worth and self esteem back and it’s hard. I think it would have been much easier staying with him and enduring it than having to come out of it. As it is I am now being told by his lawyer “ I have reviewed your text messages and e-mails in their entirety and am aware of your baseless and meritless allegations of abuse and harm. The seriousness of these allegations, especially in light of their flagrant falsity, must be addressed”. Have I overreacted? Him, his brother, this lawyer all keep saying that no abuse occurred, maybe I’m being too sensitive?
Anyway Waity has her comfort zone maybe that’s all she wants from life. Maybe she was never strong enough to ask for different. Either way I’m glad the facade is coming down because I remember those early years and the British press HATED her. Then the engagement happened and suddenly she was Catherine the perfect future queen, role model for all women. It was like those 10 years of bad press never happened.
Kate has zero self worth and is incredibly insecure. I think growing up she probably felt invisible and that non of the boys fancied her and that all the other girls around her were either prettier or smarter than her. After finally bagging status as williams GF she finally became ‘someone’, people knew who she was and it probably made her feel special. People used to always wonder who williams ‘future wife/queen’ would be, like she was the special ‘chosen one’, and it was ‘her’.
She only receives this ‘special’ treatment through the press And public, without them she is back to being nothing again, so she not really sticking around for williams love, that ship has sailed, but that of the public’s. The aristos don’t like her and treat her like crap, and even the man who ‘made’ her, her husband doesn’t really love her. All she really has left is the idea that she was williams dream girl and they have the perfect relationship. Once that illusion is shattered, she’ll go back to nothing.
Between this and the other piece about putting her education on hold and basically dumping her friends to stalk this guy, I’m just so sad for her. Carole is a fcking monster.
Oh please. This is not only carole.
Please stop infantilizing kate, ffs! She’s not an innocent victim in all of this.
I feel like lacey is basically re publishing tabloids gossip of the last decade. I’m glad he’s doing it for the fake keenstans who only joined the royal watching scene because of their hatred for Meghan. This book is shining a light into saint Kate’s history before the embiggening campaign
Back in the real world……………..Brits are not the tabloid press and aren’t too bothered either way about Meghan or Kate and probably rarely give them much thought. Certainly hatred is far too strong a word, indifference would be a better description.
@Jolie, where exactly did Mariane talk about Brits? She explicitly referred to Kate’s stans and she’s absolutely correct. They hate Meghan to the point of attacking anyone and anything associated with her (including charities, how very classy indeed). Sorry that bothers you as an obvious Kate stan yourself. Deflecting to the Brits isn’t good enough to distract from the point but nice try anyway.
I think the way William acted at his wedding says a lot about the nature of their relationship. To me, he seemed to be playing a role. He did not appear solicitous to his bride or “in love” at all. He was the prince having the big wedding that was always penciled in for someday in the future, and that day was here.
I remember watching Will enter the carriage after his wedding and watching Kate struggle to climb in behind him. After she was seated, didn’t lip readers catch William asking Kate, “Are you happy?” If this is true, I find it odd that he would pose that question to his bride since it is an event that people usually classify as one of the happiest days of their lives. He seemed so emotionally detached from Kate.
I thought Kate asked William “are you happy?” William looked awkward. I’ll have to go rewatch it to remember.
The only reason this relationship worked out is because they were both very immature and her mother was “helping” them navigate the normal deal breakers of your early 20s. They sound codependent and not in a good way. The only way I would still be with my boyfriend from freshman year of college is if I were very stunted emotionally. As the adult in the situation, Carol knew that if you just stick it out, a guy won’t leave you. He’ll just make it impossible for you to stay. Carol made sure Kate stayed. It’s kind of tragic in a way, your parents are supposed to hate your bad boyfriends, not nudge you to stay with them. She wanted the title bar none, and whored out her daughters, always encouraging them to be tan and skinny, with no other achievements.
I wonder how many times Carole has had to bring William and Kate back together…during their engagement interview, the interviewer asked about their breakup. He was obviously referencing 2007, but Will started to talk about one that happened earlier and Kate looked *pissed* when she realized it. I imagine there had to be multiple splits or little “breaks” that were kept quiet.
Carole and Mike are really such failures as parents and yet the media pretends they are normal. I mean compared to the Windsors they might seem so, but whoring out your girls for social status and pushing your daughter back toward a man who treats her like a beck and call girl is really quite disturbing. I don’t know where the Cambridge kids are going to go for a non dysfunctional adult but they don’t have any around right now.
This sounds accurate. I remember after the engagement was announced it was trumpeted that Carole had put herself , Pippa, and Kate on the Dukan diet to all lose weight for the wedding. Which was strange as they were all already fit and slender. Then Kate ended up dropping a ton of weight and getting frail. It seems creepy to me that Carole spearheaded that. Never too rich or thin I guess?
It was reported that after the 2007 breakup and reunion Mike and Carole sat William down and told him he needed to promise that he would marry Kate… someday, on his own timetable, of course. After that they could waity with confidence (for 3 plus more years).
She was the barnacle who clung to the side of the Royal Yacht the longest. It’s as simple as that.
So, he was a scumbag.
Oh wow, in this picture she looks like a mother with her child.
The thing is if a man who was not a Prince and heir to heir did that to Kate she would have hung up on him and moved on. But with William she played the doormat and despite the treatment from him promoted herself to win him back with weekly photo ops at nightclubs seen with other men.