Prince William went 'to war' for Kate after 'insulting' request from King Charles
An alleged conversation about royal branding left Prince William ‘fuming’ at his father
What’s in a name? Well, when it came to the spelling of the Princess of Wales’s name, it was enough to leave Prince William "fuming".
In his biography, Kate! The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen, author Christopher Andersen details an alleged disagreement between the King and Queen after they requested Kate change the spelling of her name.
The reported furore over having too many royal cyphers beginning with the letter C - Charles, Camilla and Catherine - led to the request that the Princess change her spelling to Katherine. A request that William was quick to fire back about.
In his book, Christopher alleges, "Charles and Camilla each had a royal monogram that consisted of interlocking C’s beneath a crown, and they expressed concern that a third royal cypher with a C was overkill".
This led to a strange request. He wrote their majesties asked, "Would Kate mind if she changed the spelling of her full name from ‘Catherine’ to ‘Katherine.'"
He continued, "Offended by yet another command from on high essentially aimed at placating Camilla, a fuming William replied on his wife’s behalf." The Prince of Wales is reported to have called the request "insulting, not only to Kate but to her entire family".
It’s important to note that this is all alleged and the palaces rarely, if ever, comment on claims made in royal books.
The author spoke about the alleged incident in more detail when he appeared on Fox News Digital, where he shared the dispute speaks volumes about how the monarchy treats branding and can often think like a business.
He said, "The entire nature of Charles and Camilla’s request - that Catherine was adding too many C’s to the royal crests - shows just how much image and branding means to members of the royal family. The monarchy really is a giant game of one-upmanship".
He added that this was just one more example where "William has gone to war for Kate", with the royal biographer referencing times the future king has made protecting his wife a priority ever since she joined the Royal Family.
Bringing up the invasion of privacy that saw topless photos of the Princess taken during a holiday in 2012, Christopher said, "He angrily ordered Palace lawyers to sue and even wanted to see those involved prosecuted criminally under French privacy laws.
"When they started a family, it was William who made sure that Kate was not forced to take on too heavy a royal workload if it meant that she would have to spend too much time away from their children.”
As for the family dispute over royal cyphers, things didn’t escalate for the family, who still remain deeply “fond” of one another. Christopher said to Fox, "Besides, it wasn’t long before they were having to deal with their simultaneous cancer diagnoses, which put everything else in stark perspective."
