Prince William Can Play The Uncle ‘Role’ With His ‘Proxy Family’ That He Can’t With Prince Harry
Prince William and Prince Harry aren’t on good terms, to say the least. As such, they don’t do the occasional get-together with their wives and children. According to a royal commentator, that leaves the Prince of Wales to play the uncle “role” not with his brother’s children but with his in-laws.
William can ‘relish’ being ‘uncle’ to Pippa and James Middleton’s children
Speaking to OK! Magazine, royal expert Jennie Bond explained how William, 41, can’t seemingly be “uncle” to Harry and Meghan Markle’s kids, Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2. That leaves him to play the “role” with his nieces and nephews on his wife, Kate Middleton’s side of the family.
“Especially as it seems that William is unlikely ever to play a role in the lives of Harry’s children, he can relish being Uncle to Pippa and James’s brood,” Bond said, referring to the Princess of Wales’s younger siblings who have four children between them.
Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton, and her husband, James Matthews, are parents of three: Arthur, Grace, and Rose Matthews. Meanwhile, her brother, James Middleton, and his wife, Alizée Thevenet, have a newborn son named Inigo.
“It’s quite something to think they are growing up very firmly out of the limelight,” Bond said of the Middleton kids. “But they are the nieces and nephews of a future king. I’m sure William sees them as much as possible, but his life is incredibly busy.”
The Middletons are William’s ‘proxy family’ and his ‘model’ of ‘balanced domestic life’
Bond continued, saying the Middleton family is a remedy of sorts for “uncle” William when it comes to his royal childhood. William, the former BBC royal correspondent said, can unwind and soak in some “regular” family time with the Middletons.
“The Middletons have been William’s proxy family for more than 20 years,” she said. “In the crazy royal world he has been born into, Catherine’s family has been his rock, his solid foundation, his role model of a ‘normal’ balanced domestic life.”
William, Bond continued, likely appreciates having a “balanced” and “solid” relationship with his Middleton nieces and nephews. Meanwhile, Kate, the expert claimed, probably “value[s] and encourage[s]” the “friendship and support” the kids can give her and William’s children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether or not William, Kate, and their children have spent any time with Harry, Meghan, Archie, and Lili. In turn, she said, the Prince and Princess of Wales are likely thankful their kids have a close relationship with their Middleton cousins.
“Kate is extremely close to her brother and sister, and they all live fairly close to one another,” Bond added. Indeed, Kate and her siblings do live in the same area. Since relocating to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, England, Kate and William live closer than ever to Pippa and James, who also reside in the U.K.’s Berkshire countryside.
Kate Middleton’s family has given ‘uncle’ William ‘what he’s always needed’
Previously, Tom Quinn, the author of Gilded Youth, a book about growing up in the royal family, discussed how the Middleton family contrasts William’s own.
“In marrying Kate, William got what he didn’t have as a child,” Quinn told Express. “William was very lucky to get Kate because she’s not from that split, uneasy, emotionally distant background. She’s giving him what he’s always needed.”
“Kate has had a very structured upbringing, being very close to both her parents and her siblings,” he continued. “Everyone I’ve spoken to about the family says that that was a key part of it; they just made the children feel good about themselves. Especially Kate, who had this solidity that comes from having a good relationship with parents who don’t divorce.”
