When Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011, the whole world tuned in for what was almost literally a fairy tale wedding.
Of course, fairy tales usually come to a close after the princess lands her prince (Hey, it’s not our fault they’re so behind the times), and we all know happily ever afters are rare in the real world.
So while the stories we all grew up with depicted royal marriages as the ultimate source of bliss, everything from the Charles and Diana nightmare to the stories about the contentious early years of Queen Elizabeth II’s marriage has shown us that
Yes, he pressures of royalty seem to have a damaging effect on marriages, but there was a time when William and Kate were regarded as the exception to that rule.
Now it seems they’re falling into the same traps that ensnared William’s forefathers.
Last week, there rumors that Kate was (pardon the pun) royally pissed at William for the mini-scandal that followed his recent ski trip to Switzerland.
You see, Will wasn’t just hitting the slopes with his buddies.
He was day-drinking, “dad dancing,” and getting a bit too close with some women who were decidedly not his wife.
Now, it seems it’s not just Kate who’s feeling fed up with Will’s hard-partying, work-averse ways.
In a new piece for the Daily Mail, columnist Robert Jobson offers a frank assessment of Will’s royal career up to this point.
And it would be a massive understatement to say Jobson is less than thrilled by what he sees:
“The sugar-coated image he enjoyed for so long was almost too good to be true. For scratch the surface of William and what you find is a complex character,” he writes.
“There is an ‘over-confidence’ which some say is bordering on arrogance, and which senior Palace aides now fear is clouding the 34-year-old’s judgment.”
We’ve known for some time now that the public is turning on William and Kate, but Jobson says it’s not just those of us outside the palace walls who are getting tired of Will wearing his sense of entitlement like a badge of honor:
“He can be ‘petulant, capricious, even hostile’, I am told – words you might not readily associate with the second in line to the throne,” Jobson writes.
He goes on to say that Prince Charles has given up on trying to influence the behavior of his “headstrong” eldest son, and William has chosen to surround himself with sycophantic yes men.
Jobson says the added attention Will has received since marrying Kate has gone to his head, and the 34-year-old accepts criticism from no one.
“The Duke of Cambridge has some very good, innovative ideas. But the Duke can be a little unforgiving,” one royal insider tells Jobson.
“When he gets it right everyone is patting him on the back, but who is there to criticise him and warn against getting it wrong?”
It could be a dangerous scenario, as these days, it sounds like Will is “getting it wrong” more than ever.
