It’s safe to say Prince William and Kate Middleton have been together for a very long time. They met for the first time while students at St. Andrew’s University, and after beginning their relationship as friends, William and Kate fell in love. Despite a minor breakup in 2007, the Prince and Princess of Wales have been one other’s steady rock for decades. And, of course, getting to know each other also means getting to know each other’s families.
For Kate Middleton, spending time with the royals must have been overwhelming initially. There were certain things to consider regarding how to greet or bow, such as when meeting Queen Elizabeth II, William’s grandmother. This must have been stressful for Kate, who also found her name in the national papers as the future king’s girlfriend. Not all the coverage was positive, and at one point, William was left furious.
Needless to say, Prince William also got to spend time with Kate Middleton’s family, consisting of her parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, and siblings, Pippa and James. Michael and Carole are said to have had an excellent relationship with William from the start, but could that possibly have changed of late? A new report suggests that the prince has made excuses to avoid seeing his inlaws – for one particular reason.
It’s difficult to believe that William and Kate have been married for more than a decade now. They met for the first time in the early 2000s while they were both students at St Andrew’s University in Scotland, and after a period of being friends, they began dating. Eventually, they fell in love, with the future king keen on keeping Kate Middleton out of the public eye. Of course, the secrecy could hardly last forever.
In April 2004, news of William and Kate’s romance became public knowledge. The now-Princess of Wales had joined her boyfriend on a family skiing holiday – and as they cozied up on the slopes, a camera caught them. The next day, pictures of the pair were all over the British newspapers, leaving William enraged.
Speaking on Channel 5’s documentary William & Kate: Too Good To Be True, royal expert Rebecca England said: “Unfortunately for them, a paparazzi photographer took pictures of William and Kate clearly very close on the ski lift together. A red top tabloid newspaper slashed it all over their front page.”
She continued: “William was furious, and he was also genuinely worried for Kate and her family about what this would now mean for them.”
Prince William’s relationship with Michael and Carole Middleton
While William and Kate’s love flourished, the papers weren’t convinced. The tabloids questioned whether she was suitable to be William’s future wife because of her relatively humble background. This, in particular, made William angry.
“William does not believe that anyone genuinely — or even remotely — connected with him would say such things and is horrified that these reports have emerged,” a source told the Daily Mail. “He suspects there is a great deal of mischief-making going on… and thinks it is extremely unfair and totally unnecessary, particularly for Kate and her family.”
Prince William and Kate Middleton split up in 2007, but it didn’t take long before their romance was back on. As the couple had been dating for quite some time, Kate’s mom, Carole, started worrying that William wouldn’t propose to her. According to royal expert Katie Nicholl’s book Kate: The Future Queen, Carole Middleton decided to have a secret meeting with William to learn his intentions.
“Perhaps it was the constant references to Waity Katie which got to William,” Nicholl wrote. “Possibly it was the words of his soon-to-be mother-in-law which rang in the prince’s ears. Before Christmas 2009, Carole Middleton had anxiously asked him when he planned to make an honest woman of her daughter.”
Prince William didn’t ask Kate’s father Michael Middleton for his permission to marry her
William assured Carole that he would propose to Kate, which he did while the couple was in Kenya. Some argue that – traditionally at least – a man should ask the bride’s father for her hand, and William thought along the same lines. Ultimately he didn’t talk with Michael, Kate’s father, beforehand, instead telling him after he had already proposed.
“Well, I was torn between asking Kate’s dad first and then the realization that he might actually say ‘no’ dawned upon me,” William told ITV News. “So I thought if I ask Kate first then he can’t really say no. So I did it that way round. I managed to speak to Mike soon after it happened really, and then it sort of happened from there.”
Still, Queen Elizabeth II was the one who had to give William permission to marry Kate, and with that, the future prince asked Michael to keep the secret of their proposal a secret until she had. We all know that the now-late queen said yes, and in 2011, Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the knot at Westminster Abbey.
Michael and Carole Middleton were in attendance to watch their daughter get married, and their relationship with William had grown into a very close one over the years. For William, the Middletons weren’t jist Kate’s parents. Ever since that tragic day in 1997 when Princess Diana, passed away in a car accident in Paris, the prince hadn’t had a mother figure. To him, the Middletons became his family, and Carole like a second mother.
“Carole relieved William of such burdens by accepting him for who he was rather than what he was,” royal expert Angela Levin told The Sun. “She made him feel secure, comfortable and protected and he didn’t have to worry about what he said or be responsible for her emotions.”
“It always has William in hysterics”
Royal podcaster Rachael Andrews added in an interview with OK!: “He, of course, lost Diana when he was very young and probably looks up to Carole because he’s lacked a mother figure for so much of his life. With Carole and Michael he’s got people to confide in who are removed from the monarchy.”
Months before Prince William and Kate’s wedding, friends of the prince spoke to Vanity Fair about his relationship with his inlaws. The fact that they are much more relaxed than the Royal Family, which can be understandable, meant William loved to go on vacations with them.
“He’s always saying how much fun Carole is,” a friend of William’s said. “She’s very young in spirit and a great entertainer. One of her and Michael’s favorite after-dinner party jokes is announcing the flights coming into Mustique in their best air-steward voices as they dine alfresco. It always has William in hysterics,” the friend added, referring to Carole and Michael’s former careers in the airline industry.
In the following years, Carole and Michael saw their daughter and son-in-law welcome three children: Prince George in 2013, Princess Charlotte in 2015, and Prince Louis in 2018. Kate’s parents have been very close to their royal grandchildren, hosting sleepovers and other fun activities, and the William and Kate’s move to Adelaide Cottage at Windsor put them even closer to them.
“I want to run down the hills, climb the trees, and go through the tunnel at the playground,” Carole told Good Housekeeping about how she wants to be involved as much as possible in George, Charlotte and Louis’ lives. “As long as I am able to, that’s what I’ll be doing. I cook with them, I muck around dancing, we go on bike rides.”
Prince William made a “direct request” for Kate’s parents before Charles’ coronation
While little is known about Carole and Michael’s relationship with King Charles and Queen Camilla, when the king was crowned in 2023, it wasn’t a certainty that Kate’s parents would attend. William, though, was “insistent” on ensuring that his inlaws participated in the coronation and played a prominent role.
According to author Robert Hardman’s book Charles III: The Inside Story, Prince William stood his ground to ensure Carole and Michael Middleton would be included in the ceremony. Ultimately, Charles had to give in after William made a “direct request” for them to be seated in a distinguished position.
Hardman stated that it clearly indicated that the dynamic within the Royal Family was shifting after Queen Elizabeth’s seven-decade reign. For example, the Queen Mother’s lineage, the Bowes Lyons, was only represented by two individuals at the coronation. The Middletons? Four, with James and Pippa also joining their parents.
While the Middletons and William have had some fantastic times together, this year has been challenging for the entire family after Kate Middleton received her cancer diagnosis. Carole and Michael Middleton stepped in to help William care for their children and put a “safety blanket” on George, Charlotte, and Louis to keep them from worrying too much.
Royal commentator and biographer Duncan Larcombe told the Mirror: “They’ll have rallied around her, especially her young family. Carole and Michael will have essentially thrown a safety blanket around the young children to help protect them. In times like this for Kate, it is hugely important. It is crucial the children are looked after carefully.”
“William is very much like the adopted son”
He added: “William is very much like the adopted son to Carole and Michael Middleton – and he always has been. One of the things that has clearly strengthened William and Kate’s relationship from the beginning was the fact that Kate came from a very tight-knit family. It is something that he has kind of lacked in his life, obviously losing his mother. So it is only natural [Carole and Michael] will step into the breach and support [the Waleses] throughout this in every way.”
It’s clear that Prince William has a great relationship with his parents-in-law. In April, he was spotted enjoying a drink at a pub in North Norfolk with Carole, with an insider telling the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden that it was “all very low-key.”
However, recently, it has been claimed that William has made “excuses” to avoid seeing Carole and Michael on one specific occasion. According to royal author Christopher Andersen, the future king isn’t a big fan of game nights, at least not with his family-in-law.
“Competition runs in the royal blood. No one enjoyed a spirited contest more than the late Queen Elizabeth II, whether she was cheering on her horse at Ascot or watching a tug of war at the Highland Games,” Andersen told Fox. “Prince Philip was a world champion four-in-hand carriage driver, and Princess Anne competed in equestrian events at the Olympics. And King Charles was such a passionate polo player he suffered countless injuries in the process.”
Prince William makes excuses to ‘avoid’ Middleton gaming nights
Sadly, the Middleton family appears to have taken their competitiveness to a different level. Andersen added that the Royal Family looks like “pikers” compared to Carole and Michael Middleton, who have “taught Kate that winning was pretty much everything.”
“William and Kate’s card games are so heated and all-consuming that William makes excuses to avoid being sucked in. But away from his win-at-all-costs Middleton inlaws, William has never shied away from going up against Kate in a contest,” Andersen continued.
The royal expert isn’t the only one who’s revealed details of how competitive the Middleton game nights can be. Kate Middleton’s younger brother, James Middleton, has witnessed firsthand how they can turn out. Appearing on The Dog Podcast, James revealed that his family is quite competitive and confirmed that William made up an excuse to skip gaming nights.
“It was after family dinner, we would be sat there, and the cards would come out, and [he would] perhaps see if Ella needed a walk or make an excuse to get down from the table. Racing demon is probably the most fast-paced, competitive one that we all play together,” James said.
