Palace staff lift lid on Prince William and Kate’s private dynamic in new book

An explosive book lays out new claims about the private royal couple’s relationship behind closed doors.

IN LONDON

The Princess of Wales is skilled at calming Prince William down behind closed doors, as he’s “prone to tantrums”, Palace staff have claimed.

“Numerous” royal staff who have worked closely with Kate and William over the years have lifted the lid on their private dynamic to author Tom Quinn for his new book, Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants.

“[King Charles and William] both get irritated very quickly,” one former member of staff told Quinn, in an excerpt published in the UK’s Times.

“They are very picky. It comes naturally to them.”

In those moments with the prince, it’s Kate who knows how to handle the situation.

“I don’t know where William would be without Kate — she hasn’t had everything done for her throughout her life, so she calms him down when he gets a bit fractious,” the insider added.

“She said he sometimes has to be treated as her fourth child.”

Kate is best at calming William down when he gets worked up, a former staffer has claimed. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

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While he may come across as “formal” – as claimed by his brother, Prince Harry, and sister-in-law, Meghan – Kate inevitably sees the other side of him more than anyone else – and according to Quinn, “enjoys ribbing him” about his lineage.

“She insists that as he gets older, William looks more like his great-great-great-grandfather Edward VII and she likes teasing him about the fact that his stepmother, Camilla, is descended from Edward VII’s favourite mistress,” the author wrote.

And he’s served it right back: as one of William’s advisers told Quinn, before Kate had learned the proper royal fashion protocols, she’d gotten it badly wrong – and the prince, finding it “inappropriate,” joked that she “looked as if she’d just run through a charity shop in superglue”.

“Everyone thought this was very funny, including, to her credit, Kate,” he said.

The couple is very private, despite their public status. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

They shared a rare PDA in their emotional video message announcing the end of Kate’s cancer treatment in September. Picture: @KensingtonRoyal on X

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However, it’s previously-unheard details about their parenting dynamic with that have really shed light on the couple’s relationship, and how they approach raising their three children.

A former Kensington Palace maid reportedly told Quinn that “Kate had to explain many of the things that parents outside the royal family do with their children as a matter of course.”

“She had to show him how to give the children a piggyback, for example,” their ex-employee explained.

“William said very quietly, ‘My father never gave me a piggyback.’”

Other sources spoke of Kate’s ability to navigate the internal politics of the Palace – and how it differed dramatically from Meghan’s, despite them both initially receiving similar treatment from “snooty” staff.

“Kate is someone who slowly and carefully absorbs the atmosphere of a place, the relationship between people and the rules,” the former Kensington Palace staffer told Quinn.

“She doesn’t jump in straight away and try to change everything to suit her way of thinking. She bides her time and is very intelligent and intuitive about other people, what they do and how they behave. She was also coached — not just by William, who wanted Kate to avoid the problems his mother had encountered, but also by the staff.

“Kate was always happy to accept advice both from the lower staff, with whom she got on very well, and from the courtiers, even though some of them were initially very snooty about her.

“It was the same kind of backbiting gossipy criticism that Meghan had to put up with, but Kate is actually a much stronger person than Meghan in many ways. Yet what Meghan saw as Kate being pushed around, Kate saw as an essential part of being a member of the royal family.”

Originally published as Palace staff lift lid on Prince William and Kate’s private dynamic in new book