Prince William and Kate’s 13th wedding anniversary is coming up on Monday. Do you think we’ll get a new photo?? Hahahaha. Considering we haven’t had a verifiable sighting or a public outing from the Princess of Wales in over four months, it’s remarkable how little conversation there is about when we’ll actually see Kate and what’s going on with the Wales family. I wonder if we’ll even get the customary “the Wales marriage is totally fine, because Kate looks after the children while William is a global statesman” stories. Probably not, because that’s not their brand anymore. No more global statesmanship for Huevo! So, as the Wales marriage seems under significant strain, the British papers are leaning heavily into Kate’s relationship with her father-in-law. Kate Mansey at the Times has a new piece called “The King and I: Kate and Charles’s very special relationship.” It reads like King Charles laying down the law that there will not be a divorce. Some highlights:
Kate totally filmed the cancer announcement video & then had lunch with Charles: At that stage only a handful of people were in Kate’s circle of trust, including the BBC Studios camera crew who filmed her announcement. With such high stakes the princess had chosen to work with the team who filmed Queen Elizabeth’s Covid address to the nation. While the lunch was a private moment between the two, it is understood that for the King it was an opportunity to tell his daughter-in-law that he was “so proud” of her “courage” in speaking out.
A keen star power: On Tuesday the ever growing bond between the King and Kate became official when he appointed his “beloved daughter-in-law” a Royal Companion of the Order of the Companions of Honour. It is a unique award — this is the first time a member of the royal family has been appointed to the Companions of Honour. And it comes with historic grounding, having been founded by King George V in 1917 to recognise outstanding achievements in the arts, sciences, medicine and public service. Contemporary recipients include Paul McCartney, JK Rowling, Delia Smith and Elton John. Yet even those names would struggle to reach the star appeal that the Princess of Wales brings to the British monarchy.
Close contact: Since the princess and the King’s cancer diagnoses a Palace source says that the King has “remained in the closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law throughout the past weeks”… Palace sources say their conditions have brought them closer than ever.
Kate is a keen bridge: William hasn’t always followed his father’s lead, preferring to run his own office his own way. Kate, however, provides a bridge between father and son, their relationship appearing to give an insight into what sort of a father Charles might have been to a daughter.
Meghan could have been like Kate!! Without the age-old father-son dynamic with which every family is familiar Charles might have been able to be more gentle to, or at least a little less demanding of, a daughter than his sons. The same might have been true with Meghan, had the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to stick around. Charles was proud to walk Meghan down the aisle on her wedding day when her father was too ill to attend. And there was a part of Meghan’s 5am-email-energy that no doubt appealed to the hard-working King.
Charles likes that the Waleses moved to Windsor: The King is understood to be thrilled that the move to Windsor, driven in part by Kate’s desire to be closer to her and William’s family, means that he can see more of his grandchildren. In Norfolk too they can easily spend private time together if they so choose, with Kate and William’s rural retreat Anmer Hall a short walk from the big house at Sandringham.
The wedding anniversary: Monday will be the 13th anniversary not just of Kate marrying William but, as a consequence, of her joining the Firm. In royal terms she has earned her stripes. In that time Charles has been able to see his daughter-in-law’s great personal strengths, particularly when senior members of the royal family rallied around Elizabeth over the “Harry issue”. Now, with her extraordinary determination not only to bear the slings and arrows that come with the job but to bravely face her health crisis, Kate has become the daughter Charles never had.
Sometimes I have these moments where a cold shiver runs down my spine and I can really feel how evil these people are. Kate was a huge part of the “Harry issue” – she and her mother were behind some of the most despicable attacks on Meghan, and Kate used her position to share her “concerns” about the color/darkness of Archie’s skin. Of course, Charles apparently had “concerns” as well, which is probably what united Kate and Charles even more. Far from calming down William, Kate has been revealed as the family sh-t-stirrer. That being said, it’s hilarious that Charles, William and Kate are all so f–king miserable right now, and that Charles has been publicly throwing his support behind Kate. I believe that Charles took over all of the messaging and comms for Will and Kate a month ago, after William’s clownish antics threatened to bring down the whole institution.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.