London: Royal break-ups are notoriously difficult to dissect. As gossip swirls around the separation of Prince Harry and his long-term girlfriend Cressida Bonas, we may never know the reasons behind their split.
Was Cressy, 25, “too clingy”? Was the publicity all too much, as a friend told the Telegraph, with Miss Bonas, a dance graduate who had been dating Harry for two years, unable to withstand the “full glare” of the press? Or, did it all blow up over the cost of a flight to Harry’s friend Guy Pelly’s wedding in the States, as has been reported?
Whatever sparked the split, Cressida’s reluctance to join the royals doesn’t come as a complete surprise. Until recently, life as wife to a member of the senior management of The Firm meant dreary duty, glad-handing, ribbon-cutting and boring speeches; frumpy outfits guaranteed not to shock; and always playing second fiddle to one’s emotionally stunted prince.
Nor is the Windsors’ idea of fun for everyone — holidays in draughty Scotland huddled around a one-bar heater, endless pheasant shoots and damp picnics out of the back of a Land Rover. No wonder the late Diana, Princess of Wales — whose first taste of disappointment as a royal bride was her husband reading the musings of Laurens Van der Post on a honeymoon that included a lengthy stay at Balmoral — complained that life as a princess wasn’t “all it’s cracked up to be”.
Fast-forward 30-odd years, however, and being married to a prince in 2014 is surely one of the best jobs around. Since she wowed William with that see-through frock on the catwalk at St Andrews back in 2002, the former Kate Middleton has revolutionised the role, first of royal girlfriend and now of royal wife, on her own terms.
Yes, duty is a priority; that’s the job she signed up for. But the Duchess of Cambridge seems to be enjoying every moment of it. Take the wildly successful tour of Australia and New Zealand last month, with shot after shot of her smiling, laughing and teasing her husband, the crowds seduced by her obvious delight at being there.
Family holidays
While Diana Spencer and Sarah Ferguson became distanced from their families on joining the House of Windsor, Kate’s closeness to hers has, if anything, strengthened.
The Middleton family home in Berkshire, where Baby George spent the first six weeks of his life, remains a bolt-hole for the couple. Family holidays remain a fixture, with Kate and George enjoying a sunshine break with her mother to Mustique earlier this year. William’s commitment to Carole and Michael — it was unprecedented for a future heir to spend Christmas not at Sandringham, but with his in-laws, as William did in 2012 — is a non-negotiable part of his marriage.
And press intrusion is not such an issue now: Diana was stalked by the paparazzi, but not so Kate. Young royals can expect a degree of privacy, certainly in Britain. Abroad it is different, but any prospective royal wife-to-be can now expect protection.
When photographs of Kate sunbathing topless were published in a French magazine in 2012, lawyers acting for the royals sprang into action, with the photographer arrested and the editor now facing trial. When it comes to clothes, Kate’s style has evolved to equip her with a perfect working wardrobe, mixing designer and high street in a way that is admired the world over.
Yes, Diana set the bar high, with her Versace suits, Catherine Walker tailored dresses and dreamy Bruce Oldfield creations, but she was berated in some quarters for her focus on fashion.
Now we talk about the “Kate effect”, as whatever she wears or carries flies off shelves or causes the Internet to crash in a frenzy of buying. A princess today is encouraged to revel in her role — as long as she does so in a seemly fashion — so that she becomes an asset to The Firm on the world stage.
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2014
