On the surface, Prince William and Princess Catherine may seem like a match made in heaven.
But once you pull back the curtain, cracks start to show. From family disagreements to
downright exhaustion, here's why the royal couple's marriage isn't picture-perfect.
Prince George's arrival still seems like yesterday to us,
but the future monarch's parents are already thinking about where to send him to boarding
school. Prince William went to Eton and, as an insider alleged to OK! magazine,
"[George] wants to be just like his father."
Princess Catherine, on the other hand, may not be so sure that the high-class
school is right for her oldest son. The source went on to claim:
"Kate thinks sending him to such a stuffy,
upper-crust institution goes against all of their efforts to modernize the monarchy."
That wasn't her only reason for wanting Prince George to be kept at home. According to the
source, Catherine would also simply miss her son if he were to go away for school.
Even though George won't be old enough for Eton until he turns 13 in 2026,
the school requires students to commit years earlier, including taking entrance
exams. As People reported, the family has already visited the college together. So,
this could mean Eton is very well in George's future.
Ever since Meghan Markle began dating Prince Harry, royal watchers began speculating about
how Princess Catherine really felt about the "Suits" actor. Now, of course, Prince Harry
and Meghan have left the monarchy amid a bitter turn in the relationship between the brothers.
"It never needed to be this way."
William and Catherine, on the other hand,
remain the face of the royal family's next generation. The relationship between Harry
and William may have even caused issues in William's relationship with Catherine. The
royal couple reportedly disagrees about whether to mend relations. A source told Us Weekly,
"Kate has no desire to communicate with Harry nor
Meghan. There has been too much that has happened and she's not ready yet."
William, on the other hand, might want to patch things up with his
brother. Another insider alleged to Life & Style,
"William wants to extend an olive branch to Harry. It's a shocking about-face,
but he feels it's long overdue."
The source went on to claim that when William told Catherine how he was feeling,
it didn't go over well. The source revealed,
"She was incensed, and she and William got into a big fight. She'll never
forgive Meghan for what she did."
Disharmony may not be entirely new for
Prince William and Princess Catherine. Back in 2017, the Prince and Princess of Wales traveled
to Poland and attended a party in recognition of Queen Elizabeth II's birthday. In a speech,
Prince William told the crowd that he and Catherine were excited to visit the country.
But according to body language expert Judi James,
photos made it clear the princess was "furious" with her husband at the time. James told Express:
"When we see a photo of a royal looking angry or stressed it can often be a body
language 'flash' [...] a very fleeting facial expression that has been taken out of context."
That apparently wasn't the case with the Warsaw event — and it usually isn't the case
with Catherine, whom James said is very good at controlling her expression. James went on to add:
"There are several photos of the occasion that show her looking unhappy or even
throwing William some pointed looks while he tried to remain neutral."
It's unclear what the discord was about, but it was obvious to those who knew what to look for.
On St. Patrick's Day in 2023, Princess Catherine took over as Colonel of the Irish Guards. Prince
William used to hold the position, but various royal duties were rearranged when King Charles III
took the throne, leaving the guard in Catherine's hands. The St. Patrick's Day celebration was
Catherine's first event in charge of the regiment, and understandably, she took her duties seriously.
While there, the Princess of Wales gave her husband a stare that Judi James
said indicated a "power play" between the two of them. James told Express,
"She stands fully to attention as she fixes William with what
looks like a seriously cold, hard stare."
Calling Catherine's body language "military, rather than royal," James added,
"William's response to her stare is a very puckered-looking smile."
Body language expert and psychologist Darren Stanton told Marie Clare that
Catherine's outfit choice was an indicator that she was trying to exert power over
her husband. Calling her teal coat a "superhero" color, Stanton noted,
"It's clear she wanted to stand out from the crowd
and assert her authority over William and the other guests."
When Harry and Meghan sat for their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021,
they revealed that someone in the royal family had asked them what color their son's skin
would be once he was born. They didn't name the relative who asked the inappropriate question,
but that didn't stop royal watchers from speculating about who could have been so ignorant.
Royal expert and author Omid Scobie's book "Endgame" hit shelves toward the end of 2023,
enmeshing the Windsors with further scandal. A Dutch translation of the
book inadvertently named King Charles III and Princess Catherine as the royals who
uttered the now-infamous remarks. Although Scobie claims to know who made the remarks,
he explained on the Dutch program, "RTL Boulevard,"
"There's never been a version that I've produced that has names in it.
Unfortunately, I can't speak Dutch so I haven't seen the copy for myself,
so if there have been any translation errors I'm sure the publisher's got it under control."
The book was pulled from Dutch stores, but by then the news had spread, leading
to renewed questions about Prince William and Catherine's relationship with Harry and Meghan.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace revealed that they were "exploring all options" in
the wake of the error, though it's unclear everything that would entail. In late November,
a video taken by People magazine's Simon Perry captured reporters asking the couple
about the book's damning details — all of which William and Catherine ignored. In
an interview with Fox News, Nick Bullen said of the couple ignoring the press,
"I think a tiredness would probably be the
way it's being felt in the [Prince and Princess of Wales] household."