Prince William is especially angry over attacks against his wife, Princess Kate—and not just for the obvious reason. As any husband would be, William is upset about damaging accusations leveled against his wife (specifically in the Dutch translation of Omid Scobie’s Endgame) as well as criticism over her work ethic (leveled in Endgame) and his brother Prince Harry’s comments about her in Spare, Harry’s memoir released almost one year ago exactly. Anyone who loves someone—as William loves Kate, his partner of over 20 years—would be upset at any disparaging words said about them.
But it apparently goes even deeper than that. The Mirror reports that critiques of Kate—especially ones as harmful as Endgame’s—break a promise William once made to Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton. As Kate merged from being a private citizen to marrying into the royal family in 2011, William promised the Middletons he would look out for and protect their daughter—and, a royal expert said, he feels angry and guilty over the unflattering portrayals of her as of late, feeling that because of them he hasn’t kept his word to her parents.
“William feels guilty and angry because he promised Kate’s parents that he would protect and look after her,” former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said. “The attacks from Omid Scobie were vicious, so William will feel guilty because all she’s done is fall in love with someone who happened to be a future king. There’s obviously a lot of baggage that comes with this—it’s a unique and different life which you’ve got to have a very thick skin for.”
That said, though William may feel responsible and to blame in some capacity for bringing Kate into this, Bond said Kate is resilient and can handle it. “Kate has demonstrated that she’s the real deal and William constantly shows that he’s hugely proud of her,” Bond said. “Kate’s strength is drawn from the fact that she was given such a long apprenticeship—those nine or 10 years [that they were together before marriage] that she was allowed to see a little bit of what life would be like in the royal court were completely invaluable.”
Together for over two decades, body language expert Darren Stanton said their bond is closer than ever: “William and Kate are a very strong couple, and their relationship has continued to evolve and grow even stronger over the years,” he said, per The Mirror. “They started off as independent students who found true love. They were sweethearts, and we still see that side to them now. An important thing I have seen over the years is that both their levels of confidence and independence—in public and private—has really developed. We have never seen senior members of the royal family be so affectionate with one another in the public eye. If we look back at photographs of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, we would never have seen them holding hands or being tactile with each other.”
William and Kate’s public displays of affection have increased within the past year, and “This shows how in tune William and Kate are with each other on an emotional level,” said Stanton, speaking on behalf of Betfair Bingo. “They’re also not afraid to be open and honest through their body gestures about how they feel. They’ve really broken the mold and there’s a level of humor, playfulness, and mischievousness to them when they want to be—which is really refreshing to see.”
