Prince William spirals as Kate Middleton fears grow
The Prince of Wales has set off new fears over how serious his wife’s health condition is.
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COMMENT
It’s proverb-o’clock somewhere, so here goes: Numbers don’t lie.
46 minutes. That’s how long before the start of memorial service for King Constantine of the Hellenes was due to start at St George’s Chapel at Windsor on Tuesday that it was revealed that Prince William had pulled out due to a “personal matter”, cuing a press and social media meltdown. (‘Tino’ as he was known to the Windsors, was William’s godfather no less.)
Or how about four minutes, which is how far away of a drive the prince actually was from the Chapel, making his absences even more of a twitchy, strange turn of events.
Then came a genuine and horrible bit of bombshell news. Only hours after the service, which gathered together the Greek, Spanish, Danish and British royal families, the Palace announced the sudden death of Thomas Kingston, the husband of Lady Gabriella Kingston, the daughter of King Charles’ cousins Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
Kingston’s passing, at the age of only 45-years-old, caps off what has been one of the strangest and most unsettling chapters in modern royal history – and things are from over yet.
Crown Inc. has stopped making much, if any sense. Up is down, down is up and Queen Camilla has decided to give up all animal products and overproof spirits.
After nearly six weeks now of shocking Palace statement after startling Palace reveal – that Kate the Princess of Wales’ had undergone abdominal surgery and would disappear from public life for months on end; that Charles’ would go under the knife for an enlarged only for him to then be diagnosed with cancer – the events of Tuesday, UK time, only amplified things to a new nerve-jangling peak.
Few details are known, at the time of writing about Kingston’s death beyond that he was found dead at a property in Gloucestershire on Sunday evening and that this death is not being treated as suspicious.
The last photo of Lady Gabriella and Thomas was only taken on Valentine’s Day, at an event celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s first folio with Queen Camilla. According to Daily Mail columnist Richard Eden, “Tom seemed happy and chatty at a party with his wife last Wednesday at the National Gallery in London.”
Charles, along with Queen Camilla, immediately expressed their sorrow at Thomas’ death, putting out a statement saying they were “grieving a much-loved member of the family” and were sending “their most heartfelt thoughts and prayers to Gabriella and to all the Kingston family.”
Tragically, the Palace has had far too much practice in the last three years at releasing these sorts of heartfelt communiques.
Alongside the sorrow of Thomas’ death there is also the absolute and utter weirdness of la situation William. As far as I’m aware, the prince has never backed out such a high-profile and important engagement for a “personal matter”, nor has ever had a dramatic change of heart or mind, less than an hour out, from attending such a major event.
Immediately concern shot sky high that the prince’s withdrawal might be down to some situation involving Kate and her convalescence, though the Palace popped up to ‘stress’, according to the Times, that her recovery is “continuing well”.
However, William must surely have been all too aware that such a last minute pulling of the plug would immediately spark fears about Kate.
The official messaging on this has been a bit all over the shop.
The Mail’s English reports that, on the nature of the prince’s “personal matter,” a Palace spokesman “refused to be drawn any further…when the prince became aware he would have to pull out. Nor would they say if it had anything to do with his wife’s ongoing medical issues.”
However, English also writes that “sources insisted to me – emphasised in capital letters – that there was ‘NOTHING to panic about’”.
Let me get this straight. The Palace is trying to tamp down fears and telling the world that Kate’s recovery is on track but … nor will they rule out Kate’s health being the reason for William’s no show?
Despite this all, William is still expected to, later this week, visit a synagogue to meet young campaigners in connection with the rise of anti-Semitism and undertake another official engagement. Huh? So this is a very quick “personal matter” then?
The Palace’s opacity around this all and the just under the wire of the prince’s pulling out make this all just plain bizarre. William might be the scourge of dog bowls and enjoy 20 weeks of holiday leave a year but this 46-minute backing out is very much out of the ordinary.
Consider the moving parts and meticulous planning required for a Windsor service that brought together two Kings, five Queens, 29 princes and princesses and more stray trans-European royal cousins than a Christie’s garage sale. (Doing the seating chart alone would be enough to qualify the Palace aide responsible for a nice long seaside rest cure.)
Also, Constantine was William’s godfather and the prince did not attend his funeral in Athens in January last year. (He asked Lady Gabriella, also one of Tino’s godchildren, to represent him at that event.) Surely the Princes of Wales would have wanted to pay his respects after a lifetime of biannual book vouchers arriving in the second class post every birthday and Christmas.
Even odder still, the royal family could not have found a location closer to the Waleses’ home Adelaide Cottage unless they held the service in their front yard with Prince George offering the musical accompaniment on the recorder. The property is an estimated four minute drive from St George’s Chapel.
The Prince of Wales could have left home, delivered the reading he was meant to give (and which was printed in the order of service) and been back to coddle an egg for Prince Louis’ supper in less time than it used to take Princess Margaret to get out of the bath.
Even if Kate was feeling particularly poorly and all three of the Wales children had the mumps and the dog badly needed deworming, William truly couldn’t spare the less than 90 minutes required to make it there, look sombre, and get back? (And … they have staff.)
I don’t understand how the seasoned professionals of the Waleses’ household, of which there are about 60, could manage to bollix up things to such a degree. Have senior staffers left this year’s crop of Alice band-loving interns in charge and all gone off for a midweek pub jolly?
The climate right now, concerning the royal family, is one of heightened sensitivity if not downright antsiness. Should Queen Camilla sneeze twice in public I think the British press would roll out their breaking news banners, the alarmist big fonts and set off a rush on generic Prozac.
Things are all very on edge, doubles-at-lunchtime, jumpy and William suddenly going over all mysterious-like is hardly helping nerves.
After such a sad, weird 24-hours, I really hope that the Palace comms team don’t have to use their ‘with great sorrow’ template again for a long, long time. Hear that universe? That or we are all allowed to go to the seaside for a nice break.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
Originally published as Prince William spirals as Kate Middleton fears grow
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