Prince William has reportedly “gone to war” with members of the British royal family for his wife Kate Middleton.
When there was family drama surrounding her name, the heir to the British throne stood up to his father King Charles III.
He believed they were giving him commands “aimed at placating” King Charles’ second wife Queen Camilla. And since then, Kate has allegedly taken steps “not to outstage them.”
Prince William has reportedly “gone to war” with members of the British royal family for his wife Kate Middleton.
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Ahead of Prince William’s 2011 wedding, King Charles III and Queen Camilla apparently asked Kate Middleton to change the spelling of her given name from Catherine to Katherine.
The pair were reportedly concerned that adding another royal cypher, starting with the letter C, would be “overkill,” and hence, asked if she would be okay changing the name given to her by her parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.
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“Charles and Camilla each had a royal monogram that consisted of interlocking C’s beneath a crown, and they expressed concern that a third royal cypher with a C was overkill,” Christopher Andersen wrote in his new biography Kate! The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen.
“Would Kate mind if she changed the spelling of her full name from ‘Catherine’ to ‘Katherine,’” Andersen wrote in the book.
The request apparently left William “fuming” as he found it insulting not only to Kate but also to her family.
William was allegedly “fuming” at King Charles and Queen Camilla over their request to change Kate’s name
“Offended by yet another command from on high essentially aimed at placating Camilla, a fuming William replied on his wife’s behalf,” Andersen wrote.
“The request was nothing less than ‘insulting,’ he told his father, not only to Kate but to her entire family.”
While speaking to Fox News, the author said “William has gone to war for Kate” from the beginning of their relationship, which began in the early 2000s when they were students at Scotland’s University of St Andrews.
The request for the name change also reflected how much importance the royals give to their “image” and “branding,” Andersen said.
“The entire nature of Charles and Camilla’s request — that Catherine was adding too many C’s to the royal crests — shows just how much image and branding means to members of the royal family,” Andersen told the outlet.
“The monarchy really is a giant game of one-upmanship.”
The request showed how important “image” and “branding” are to the British royals, Christopher Andersen said
The Prince and Princess of Wales
As for Kate’s reaction, Andersen said changing her formal given name for “such a bizarre, almost comical reason” was a “bridge too far.”
She is “very secure about who she is and how she wants to be perceived by the outside world,” Andersen said.
The concerns about the name, however, were quickly brushed aside, as most of the world knew her by her nickname Kate.
Charles and Camilla were thinking with a “business head,” but the issue was a “nonstarter” and a “lost cause,” British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told the outlet.
She said the concerns were “brushed aside” as it “wasn’t important enough to cause a fight.”
“They had bigger fish to fry,” she added.
“Kate has managed to stay one step behind when Charles and Camilla are around so as not to outstage them,” the author said
William and Kate saw their friendship blossom into romance when they became roommates, living off campus with their friends in their second year of university. He proposed to her in 2010, and they tied the knot in 2011.
When Kate joined the royal family, it was a possible “volatile moment” between her and Camilla, Royal broadcaster Ian Pelham Turner claimed to the outlet.
“But nowadays, William was there to protect her. Since then, Kate has managed to stay one step behind when Charles and Camilla are around so as not to outstage them,” he said.
He also noted that, over the years, Kate has managed to build a “stronger brand in her own right,” while her husband prepares to become King someday.
William’s priority has always been his wife’s “safety.” And he once defended her with “guns blazing” when topless photos of her sunbathing were published in France in 2012.
At the time, he “angrily ordered Palace lawyers to sue and even wanted to see those involved prosecuted criminally under French privacy laws,” Andersen said.
Even when they started a family, William ensured that Kate wouldn’t be forced to take on “too heavy a royal workload” if it meant she would be away from their three children, Prince George, 13, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8.
“I think they have more important things to address,” one commented online
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