How many stories will I end up devoting to Sally Bedell Smith’s book Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life? I don’t know. But I do think it’s interesting, especially since Smith recently confirmed that the book is somewhat authorized, in that she had access to Charles, Camilla and their staff for a while. Which is what I’ve been saying all along: while this isn’t some “official record” biography/hagiography of Charles, it is definitely his version of events, and his perspective of everything from Diana to William’s keen wife. Speaking of, the Daily Mail had some additional details from that story about Charles not liking William and Kate’s first-ever royal tour to North America.
It was their first official overseas visit together as a married couple and newlyweds Kate and William charmed the crowds all the way from Calgary to California on their 10-day royal tour of Canada and LA. But while they may have won new legions of fans, Prince Charles was not best pleased with their efforts, according to Sally Bedell Smith’s biography of the future king. According to the writer, the Prince thought the trip featured too many ‘tasteless’ photo ops and ‘wasn’t pleased with the camera-friendly couple’. And he was ‘more than a little irked’ at the pair treating their overseas trip too much like a personal holiday.
Kevin S. MacLeod, Canadian Secretary to the Queen organised the visit and allowed the couple to make the itinerary a lot less formal than many previous tours. They traveled with a small entourage and made a visit to Prince Edward Island and Kate’s specific request, apparently mindful of the fact that Charles and Diana’s 1983 Canada tour was based entirely around the Prince’s interests and none of his wife’s. The Canada tour saw the couple pose up a storm in cowboy hats when they were given the honor of pressing the button to launch the legendary Calgary Stampede. But Kate made headlines for the wrong reasons as her feather-light Jenny Packham yellow frock was blown up by a gust of wind.
Some rather revealing photos of the incident published online led to intense discussion as to whether she was wearing any underwear or not, which was no doubt a source of embarrassment to the new Duchess of Cambridge.
Shortly after the tour, royal author Phil Dampier told The Mirror there was a certain rivalry between father and son following William’s marriage to Kate.
‘When Charles and Camilla visited Canada two years ago they were greeted by relatively small crowds. They are in their 60s and are not what you would call glamorous,’ he said. By contrast, William and Kate received a rapturous William from huge crowds with half a million people turning out to see them on one day alone. ‘Charles felt overshadowed by Diana and now it seems he feels overshadowed by their son. Some people may think he is jealous. I have always felt that as soon as William got married, Charles would feel sidelined.’
[From The Daily Mail]
All things can be true at once. It can be true that Charles felt irritation and jealousy at all of the interest in his son and daughter-in-law. It can also be true that Charles had some completely legitimate gripes about William and Kate. I remember covering Will and Kate’s first tour and it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. It was basically a harbinger of things to come – they only did light, breezy events, Kate made no speeches, she got to meet movie stars and wear pretty clothes and she got to flash everyone. It WAS a vacation. And that’s how they treat all of their royal tours – they’re constantly bitching about the press intruding on their “private time,” etc. So… yeah. I think I’m on Team Charles here.
Some photos from the 2011 North American tour:
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Source: celebitchy.com
1 total views, 1 views today
