After Queen Elizabeth died, it threw the royal family into chaos. First, they had to perfectly carry off all of the rituals associated with a monarch’s funeral. Second, they had to transition to a new era in which the family and all of England are now led by King Charles III.
As Charles settles in, though, he has made some changes that ruffled a few feathers. This included slimming down the number of working royals and effectively creating a more streamlined public face for the Royal Family.
However, it looks like there could be fighting in the family between Charles and Kate. And rather than skeletons in the closet, it looks like this latest family drama has been caused by…a frock?! Keep reading to learn about the dresses and jealousy making Charles’ crown that much heavier.
The shadow of Kate Middleton
This latest tea about Charles being jealous of Princess Kate comes courtesy of Katie Nicholl. She is a royal expert and biographer whose latest book, The New Royals, offers very unique insight into the Royal Family. And that includes some surprising info about how Charles feels regarding Kate Middleton.
As reported by Entertainment Tonight, the book gets into some of the previous incidents where royals were butting heads. “Charles was sometimes irritated that Kate’s frocks got more media attention than his good works. He also had been hurt by not seeing as much of his Cambridge grandchildren as he might have liked.”
The idea of the future King of England sulking over frocks is, frankly, quite silly. But Charles has always known he would be king and has taken both royal life and personal appearances quite seriously. He gets very annoyed when the public focuses on who was wearing what instead of the substantive actions royals have been taking. And Kate shouldn’t feel too bad because Charles has had this chip on his shoulder for decades.
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Charles: a lifetime in the shadows
A king freaked over a frock is a weird mental image. But Charles getting overshadowed by someone else’s fashion decisions goes all the way back to his troubled relationship with Princess Diana.
It’s an open secret that Princess Diana was a fashion icon. This is hardly a posthumous label but one that she earned through a lifetime of serving up amazing looks. But as Glamour reports, Charles never really understood the public fascination with Diana’s fashion.
In her book, Katie Nicholl writes that when it came to Diana and Charles, “Her star immediately eclipsed her husband’s, causing early fractures in their relationship.” Furthermore, “The diligent, sensitive, and status-conscious Charles found it hard to understand. He could not see that in the new media age, being a royal-born prince and future king was a lesser currency than his wife’s megawatt beauty and disposition.”
So, seeing the public going gaga for Kate Middleton’s fashion sense is dredging up all sorts of bad memories for King Charles. And this is especially tragic considering how quickly he formed a bond with Kate when she joined the Royal Family.
The early bond between Kate and Charles
It’s almost impossible not to compare Kate Middleton joining the Royal Family to Meghan Markle joining. Allegedly, Meghan faced many obstacles early on, including William telling Harry not to marry her. Fortunately, Kate had a far easier time, especially when it comes to her relationship with Charles.
According to The Mirror, Charles was warm and welcoming toward Kate from the moment that Prince William brought her home. And she would later describe how Charles was “very, very welcoming” and “very friendly.” She summed up entering into the Royal Family by saying “It couldn’t have gone easier, really for me.”
The strength of their bond was really exhibited after Kate married William. As Hello! Magazine reports, Charles used a wedding toast to express that Kate was nothing less than the daughter he never had.
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Earlier clashes with both Kate and William
While this exact tension between Charles and Kate is relatively new, this family is no stranger to such tensions. In fact, Charles had previously expressed jealousy toward Kate and William which resulted in rude actions on his part.
According to PopSugar, another royal biographer, Tom Bower, has written about this before. One of Bower’s claims is that Charles previously felt overshadowed by the popularity of William and Kate, and that made him feel threatened. While it was hardly the younger royals’ fault, it is true that those two consistently ranked as more popular in various online polls throughout the years, with some people going so far as to suggest William should immediately take the throne!
Another, somewhat sadder issue is that Charles allegedly felt anger and resentment that Kate’s parents were the preferred grandparents rather than Charles and Camilla. This went so far that Charles allegedly snubbed Kate’s mother at various public events.
However, it’s important to note that Charles, Kate, and William were all about to move past these earlier tensions and clashes. And we feel confident that Charles will get over this current bout of jealousy. If nothing else, he could start wearing his own frocks to public events. At that point, we can guarantee Kate will be the last royal everyone focuses on!