Kate Middleton’s Respect for Charles III
Kate Middleton’s always perfect image is at risk of stealing the spotlight from King Charles III, who was already overshadowed by Princess Diana during their marriage and even after their divorce. Royal expert Ingrid Seward told the Daily Mail: “The Princess of Wales with her youth and beauty will always overshadow a 74-year-old man”. However, Seward continues, we should not think that Kate is like Diana, “who consciously managed to sideline her husband”. Middleton “would never try to eclipse Charles like Diana did. She is very respectful of her father-in-law”.
Charles’ Unfortunate History of Overshadowing
Yet, as an insider told the Mirror, the sovereign would be “worried” – especially after an episode that happened just days ago. Charles and Camilla’s first official engagement after the coronation was a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show. A visit that had been planned and announced in advance. At the last minute, Kate Middleton arrived, to everyone’s surprise. All the headlines in the newspapers were dedicated to her. The presence of the king and queen went almost unnoticed: “Charles’ first royal duty after the ceremony on 6th May was completely overshadowed by his daughter-in-law”. History, it seems, is repeating itself. Charles, who has already spent a life in the shadow of Queen Elizabeth, after his marriage to Diana in 1981, found himself with a leading wife who was much more popular with the people than he was. The then heir to the throne realized this, to his great displeasure, in 1983, during a six-week tour of Australia. Photographer Ken Lennox, in the documentary Inside The Crown: Secrets of the Royals, recounted that during the entire royal tour, people made it clear to Charles that all the affection was for the Princess of Wales: “It was as if they were telling him: ‘You don’t interest us, we want your wife'”. Things, as we know, did not improve over time. And Charles, according to royal biographer Andrew Morton, “was jealous of his wife’s popularity”: “Used to having everyone’s eyes on him, he felt pushed aside”. Sally Bedell Smith agrees, in her biography Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, who recounts that the then prince “in various letters complained to his friends about the ‘obsessive and crazy’ attention that his wife was receiving from the masses”.
A Different Princess of Wales
Today there is a new Princess of Wales: Kate Middleton. Who, according to royal experts, unlike Diana, has no desire to overshadow the sovereign king. History, however, seems destined to repeat itself. The presence of the king and queen went almost unnoticed: “Charles’ first royal duty after the ceremony on 6th May was completely overshadowed by his daughter-in-law”.
