Kate Middleton and Prince William's most challenging tour

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published 17 November 2023

Kate Middleton and Prince William's most challenging tour has been revealed by a royal expert who reflected on how the Prince and Princess handled this delicate situation involving topless images of Catherine.

Back in 2012, just a year after Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011, the Prince and Princess went on a royal tour around the world to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. However, unfortunately for the royal couple, this tour coincided with the release of topless photographs of the Princess by a French magazine.

In an interview with Hello's podcast, A Right Royal Podcast, journalist Kate Mansey, who covered the royal's jubilee tour, spoke about how difficult this public engagement was for the royal couple. The royal couple faced the press for the first time following this news when they took part in an engagement in the Borneo rainforest.

Kate recalled being there on the day, "So, for Sunday, journalists, I was one of them, went on ahead to the Borneo rainforest, where Kate and William were going to arrive by helicopter and be shown around. It was lovely to be there. We had a two-day trek and went on these 4x4s up these mountain roads. And all of a sudden, any kind of criticism that we had about them helicoptering in and out in their very short timescale evaporated because there's no other way to get there.”

She explained that the journalists who were covering the engagement hadn't had a signal for days before the couple arrived and had no idea about the pictures that had been released of Catherine.

"The night before they arrived, we're all in situ waiting for this. And our phones started buzzing in this one restaurant in the hills where we actually got one bar of reception, and some pictures had emerged in a European magazine of the then Duchess of Cambridge topless on holiday. Pap pictures, taken with a long lens, and clearly a massive breach of privacy," said Kate.

Although this would have obviously been completely devastating for Catherine who was still new to being a royal, the journalist revealed that the Princess handled it extremely well, with a stiff upper lip attitude at the engagement the day after.

"The very next day, Kate appeared at a mosque, and she pulled it off marvellously, she went business as usual. And they came in the rainforest, and it was clear to see that William, in particular, was rattled by it, she seemed quite calm. But William, for sure, it had really affected him," she said.

Kate complimented the couple's behavious and concluded that Kate is absolutely not a pushover."It was remarkable to see how it worked and see how their team supported them, and to see how he supported her, but also how the fact that he was clearly much more rattled than she was. And I thought that was telling as well. That incident for me showed that she has this kind of steel rod of metal running through her, she is no pushover."

"She's completely solid. And if anything, he was the one that was more worked up about it, than she was. That's telling, that's why they make a great partnership," she concluded.

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Laura is the Entertainment Editor for woman&home who primarily covers television, film, and celebrity news. Laura loves drinking and eating and can often be found trying to get reservations at London's trendiest restaurants. When she's not wining and dining, Laura can also be found travelling, baking, and hiking with her dog.