Kate a schemer?
This issue has been going around since her relationship to Prince William became known in public.Â
Although public acceptance over their romance did not take long, it took years before Kate was fully accepted in the royal circle.
Her non-aristocratic background and being "lazy" were subject to intense public scrutiny and criticism. And not long after, the press and traditional royalists accused her and her mother, Carole Middleton, of being schemers to catch the attention of the future king.
Before her relationship to Prince William took high road, the mother-and-daughter tandem was often compared to Lady Elizabeth Boleyn and Anne Boleyn for a subtle scheme they devised to win King Henry VIII's heart.
Whether the accusation was true or not, the circumstances how the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met sounded too obvious to prove it was not just a rumor.
Let's take a look back how it started.
The scrutiny she had gone through
Though today, palace courtiers are working hard on publicity to build a steadfast, hardworking image for the Duchess of Cambridge and develop her reputation regally as a future queen consort, it was not all sweetness and well prior to the royal wedding in 2011.
Born to a working class family in Berkshire, whose blood flowed from the coal mining stock rather than from the elite world of the European aristocracy, Kate had to swallow all the ridicule and criticism thrown at her just to be with Prince William.
Unlike other women dated by British royal princes who gave up because of the pressure that came along with a high profile relationship, Kate stood her ground and embraced the pressure.
During her seven-year romance with the prince, she was subject to bitter public scrutiny, weighing her suitability as a future wife of the second in line to the throne.Â
It was unconventional because no future monarch in British history ever married a non-aristocratic person.
Her night clubbing, where she was often photographed tipsy and disoriented while stepping out of the bar, became a major concern among the royalists.
Unlike other Prince William's love interest before her, Kate was not part of "Glosse Posse", an elite club of well-connected individuals where Prince William and Prince Harry belonged, nor considered a "Sloane Ranger" like Princess Diana.
In the United Kingdom, a Sloane Ranger is referred to a person from the upper-class who embodies a refine upbringing and beguiling, charming looks.
As a non-aristocratic commoner, she was not considered a suitable bride for the future king of England. She was cruelly dubbed as Waity Katy and Lazy Katy for doing nothing other than wait for the prince to propose.Â
She was heavily criticized for not having a full-time career other than tailing the prince wherever he goes.
In 2003, when the news broke that Prince William was dating a classmate from St. Andrew's University, the inner circle of the prince just dismissed it as a college fling.
But the Art history student was determined to win the prince in any possible way she could and made sure they would end up together, thus, she earned the accusation of being a subtle schemer.
Her supposed scheme to catch the prince's attention was revealed in public by one of her closest friends and a room mate at Marlborough college.Â
She was so furious with her friend's revelation that she struck her out of the guest list in her 2011 wedding to Prince William.
How the scheme started
The scheme to catch the prince's attention was believed to have been the idea of Carole Middleton, who did everything in her power to put her daughter in a position where a possible meeting with Prince William can take place.Â
She sent Kate to finest schools where children of aristocrats attended and financed her education and expensive trips to build a lifestyle appropriate for a royal match.
By then, Kate had already put her heart for a possible romance with the prince. When she was still in high school, she kept a life-size poster of him at her bed room according to her room mate.
The chase started when Prince William took a gap year after graduating from Eton College. He spent ten weeks in Southern Chile as a volunteer for the Raleigh International program, a sustainable development charity.Â
Carole Middleton reportedly encouraged her daughter, who also took a gap year after graduating from Marlborough College, to go to Chile and do volunteering services for the Raleigh International program.
But since they lived world's apart and had no common friends, Kate did not have a chance to meet Prince William in Chile.Â
She went back to Britain around the time Prince William moved to Africa for the continuation of his volunteer activities. She then took a short-term course in Italy.
Prince William's next step of his education became the subject of public interest after announcing he would attend St. Andrew's University in Scotland and would take up Art History.Â
The choice of location was believed to have been suggested by Prince Charles to protect his son from the daily scrutiny of the media and the all-too present flashes of cameras.Â
St. Andrew's University is ideal. It's located in the quaint town of St. Andrews on the east coast of Fife in Scotland which guarantees safety and privacy.Â
It is one of the oldest universities in the United Kingdom with a small student population, heavily secured, and a bit far from London, making it a great place for the second-in-line to the throne to enjoy his privacy.
Alas! Kate Middleton was also sent by her mother to study at St. Andrew's University, instead of Edinburgh University, and enrolled in the same course as Prince William. Pretty coincidental.Â
Still no close encounter had taken place. Prince William was in a serious relationship with Arabella Musgrave, a member of his "Glosse Posse" circle. And Kate was being pursued by Rupert Finch, who eventually became her boyfriend.
Let's get to know more about Prince William's first love.
Arabella Musgrave
She was William's first serious relationship, daughter of Major Nicholas Musgrave who runs the Cirencester Polo Club, where Prince Charles often played polo.
A childhood friend of Prince William and Prince Harry, Arabella belonged to the royal brothers' inner circle called "Glosse Posse", a friendship club of the British elites who are well-connected in the London society, mostly descendants of British dukes, earls and marquesses, even kings.
The story of their romance was revealed by royal biographer, Katie Nicholl, in her 2010 book:Â William and Harry: Behind the Palace Walls.
The relationship was so serious, Prince William was considering of dropping out from St. Andrew's and moved back to England to be with Arabella.Â
They've tried the long-distance affair thing and Prince William would drive home every weekend to see her. He also told his father, Prince Charles, about the romance, and the Prince of Wales gave his approval.
However, the distance took a toll in the relationship, despite Prince William's avowal of love towards her, Arabella began complaining about his "roving eyes".Â
Reports had it that while at St. Andrew's University, the prince had some flings with girls in the campus. Arabella heard it from their common friends.
She ultimately broke off the relationship and Prince William left devastated. The prince hit rock-bottom and wanted to quit university.Â
Around this time, he became acquainted with Kate Middleton, they attended the same classes and had the same group of friends in their Art History division.Â
She was one of those who convinced William to stay at St. Andrew's. The prince reconsidered his decision and decided to remain in the university, however he switched to Geography.
The see-through effect
According to royal biographer, Katie Nicholl, Kate Middleton knew what she was doing when she "seduced" Prince William.
In 2002, during a charity fashion show at St. Andrew's University, Kate Middleton, made the first move by inviting Prince William and some of their classmates to attend the fashion show.Â
Though they have known each other in the campus as they both attended the same classes, it was not until she strutted on stage donning a racy see-through dress that caught Prince William's attention.
Whether silently Kate had in mind to seduce the prince on purpose or simply wanted to show her self-confidence, according to Nicholl, Kate emerged victorious as Prince William began noticing her as a "hottie".Â
When it was becoming clear that he could no longer win back Arabella, he began seeing Kate. But it was only a casual date as William had an eye for another socialite and aristocrat, Isabella Calthorpe.Â
By then, Kate Middleton had insisted to move to Prince William's cottage, Balgove house, whom he shared with other two male friends.Â
However, some leak reports claimed it was Carole Middleton who proposed to Kate to move to Balgove House, to forge a strong bond with the prince.Â
Still, Prince William did not show much interest on Kate. He was enamored with Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, his fifth cousin through the Duke of Grafton.Â
Reports had it that this is really the woman Prince William wanted to marry.Â
Isabella Calthorpe
Isabella Amaryllis Charlotte Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe is a British aristocrat, socialite, stage actress and model.Â
She is the daughter of The Honorable John Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, a property developer and a son of a British baronet.
The Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe baronetcy in the Hampshire is the title of the Baronetage of the United Kingdom.Â
Isabella's mother is Lady Mary Gaye Curzon, daughter of the 6th Earl of Howe, a descendant of King Charles II.
Unknown to many, Isabella Calthorpe's mother, Lady Mary Gaye Curzon, who is also a bank heiress, and Princess Diana were fourth cousins. Isabella is also the half-sister of Cressida Bonas, who dated Prince Harry between 2012-2014.
Like Prince William, whose maternal grandfather was a British Earl, Isabella's maternal grandfather was also a British Earl, Lord Edward Curzon, the 6th Earl of Howe. Her maternal ancestors had served in the British royal court as Lord Chamberlain and Equerries.Â
Isabella and Prince William came from the same circle in the aristocracy, and they are both descended from King Charles II.Â
In 2003, he started pursuing a romance with Isabella. However, she turned him down due to her dream of becoming a theater actress.
With nothing happened in his intention to pursue Isabella, he turned his attention to Kate Middleton who had been waiting patiently to catch his attention.
The royal romance began.Â
Prince William invited Kate to join him on a skiing trip in Switzerland. At the slope they were caught kissing, and so the first photograph of them together was splashed on the front page of every magazine in the United Kingdom.
However, in 2004, Prince William decided to have a trial separation from Kate. Many have thought his decision was partly influenced by the palace courtiers who might have advised the prince to take time off from his relationship with the woman who could never be considered a suitable royal bride.Â
He went back pursuing Isabella Calthorpe, this time the prince was very determined to win her heart. Isabella was the more ideal choice of a royal wife since she descended from the British aristocracy and had a royal pedigree.
He would frequently visit Isabella on weekends. By then, the prince made up his mind to choose her as his future wife. But Isabella was reluctant.
According to Nicholl: "Prince William had fallen for her (Isabella) in a huge way and wanted to be with her. He propositioned her several times that summer and although Isabella was single, she knocked William back and said it would be too damaging for her and her career".
Isabella, aspiring to become a theater actress and model, thought a relationship with Prince William would be too scary and she might not live up to the expectation for a royal girlfriend.
Customarily, royal girlfriends are not expected to pursue a career in acting and modeling. And this circumstance worried Isabella, who by then already attending acting and dance lessons.
She eventually turned him down.Â
Prince William was heartbroken. He went back to St. Andrew's University's cottage carrying a megawatt heartache. Around this time, Kate Middleton became a willing party to console the prince.Â
December that year, they got back together.Â
Another trial separation
In April 2007, assessing his feelings and intention, and whether he really loved Kate, Prince William decided to break up with her again through a phone call.
According to reports, the prince could not just commit for a long term relationship with Kate. He was stuck in a delimma if he really loved her.Â
Prince William was also torn between duty and personal choices. Top palace courtiers and close family members kept reminding him of his future duty as British monarch.
This duty includes choosing a suitable woman as a royal wife who could represent the monarchy well.Â
In British history, no future monarch ever married a non-aristocratic commoner. And Kate's background became a sticking point on William's decision whether to pursue or not pursue the romance.
He reportedly had an open discussion with Prince Charles and some palace courtiers who advised him to re-evaluate his intention on Miss Middleton.Â
The traditional royal staff became worried on Kate's suitability and her "unconventional" behavior of frequent partying, something that was never heard for a wife of a future British monarch.
Palace courtiers' main responsibility in life is to protect the prestige of the crown and upholding the royal tradition, they became worried with Kate Middleton's suitability to join the very public life of the royal family.
Waity Katy
Another huge concern for the royal family and palace courtiers was Kate's capacity to handle big responsibilities and the life of duty.
Since out of college, she was not heard pursuing a serious career other than night clubbing or joining Prince William on luxury vacations.Â
In courtiers' mind, a future queen consort should never spend too much in bars and expensive island hopping. A royal wife needed to have a thoroughly understanding about royal life and responsibilities and performing duties. Something Kate had not been exposed.
She was eventually regarded as lazy for doing nothing other than tailing Prince William. The only job known she had taken was in a store called Jigsaw where she worked as an accessory buyer. She also worked part time in her family business, Party Pieces, as a photographer.
The royal family and palace courtiers are worried Kate might never endure the life in the limelight, as she has not carved any career path on her own, she might yield into pressure doing the daily grind required from the working members of the royal family.Â
The chase
After the breakup, Prince William decided to focus on his military career, by then, he was serving at the Royal Air force as search-and-rescue operation pilot and was stationed in Anglesey, Wales.
However, Kate Middleton did not give up pursuing the prince. She went to Anglesey and lived for a time near Prince William's barracks.Â
She reconnected with Prince William's closest friends and relatives, most notably, Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince Michael of Kent, the Queen's cousin, partying with them.
She also attended the concert on July 1, 2007, organized by Prince William and Prince Harry to mark Diana's 46th birthday. She occupied a seat, two rows below the royal brothers.
According to reports, after the concert event, Kate followed William when he joined friends in a nearby tent, and requested for a quick talk. William agreed and told her to follow him in Anglesey the next day for a sit-down conversation.
Kate, who had done so much to win William's attention, followed him in Anglesey. The two had a serious talk in July 2007 but the prince still reluctant to rekindle the romance, thinking of his future role, his priorities, and Kate's suitability.
He might have recalled the words of Queen Victoria to her children when marrying, "Just close your eyes and think of England". Or Lord Mountbatten's advice to Prince Charles, "Love is not an option for the man who would be king of England".
Kate Middleton, however, did not lose hope. She shuffled back and forth traveling between England and Wales just to be with the prince.
By then, she stopped working at her family's business and moved to Anglesey.Â
With nothing much to do, she poured her attention to Prince William. Around this time also, the press dismissively branded her as Waity Katy for doing nothing other than painfully wait for the prince to propose.
Her effort, nonetheless, eventually paid of. Yeah, the prize of patience and perseverance.
Indeed, patience is a virtue
Kate might have read too much cheesy quotes to have gone that far in life. She might have breathed in this line from Winston Churchill "Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm", or from this thought-provoking quote, "Don't give up just because of what people said. Use it as your motivation to push harder". 😂
As hope for a romance with Isabella thoroughly dwindled and with no available aristocrat hovering in his horizon and Kate has always been too available for him. In September 2007, Prince William decided to rekindle her romance with Kate against the concern and worries of his family.
Reports at that time became even more harsh to Kate, "Miss Middleton is determined to protect her investment".Â
She did not waste time in winning back the prince's love, this, despite the criticism she daily received from the press and traditional royalists who ridiculed her commoner background, arguing that her family cannot be considered as middle class but more typically as working class.
Before they established a street party supplying business, Kate's father, Michael Middleton, worked as a dispatcher in the British airways, while her mother, Carole, worked as a flight attendant also in the British airways.
Road to royal engagement
In 2008, She completely moved in with Prince William in a small cottage in Anglesey. But the royal family still worried on William's choice of a girlfriend.Â
Their relationship became a matter of concern like a national interest, in part because Prince William is a future monarch and it was doubted whether a non-aristocratic commoner could live up to the rigor of a royal life.Â
Add to that was the concern of allowing a commoner with no aristocratic background to marry a future monarch. Something that has not happened in the history of the British monarchy. Â
This explains why Kate Middleton was never formally introduced to the prince's family until the late part of 2009. Although she occasionally joined Prince William on some royal activities like the Garter parade, and Prince William's graduation at Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, Kate has never been in the presence of the Prince of Wales or the Queen in a personal capacity.
It was no less than Her Majesty, The Queen who expressed great concern towards Kate's seemingly no direction in life. In her 2011 book "The Making of a Royal Romance", royal biographer, Katie Nicholl, revealed "privately the Queen had a grave concern and believed Ms. Middleton must get a job and have identity of her own before an engagement would be announced".
This supposed concern of the Queen towards Kate was shared by the Prince of Wales.
In the early part of 2010, Prince William sought his father's blessing over his plan to propose to Kate. Prince Charles initially refused, arguing that his plan seemed wrong timing. Prince Charles suggested to put on hold his marriage plan after the Jubilee celebration of the Queen in 2012.Â
The royal family will have a very busy year in 2011 due to the long preparation of Her Majesty's Jubilee year in 2012 and any interruption of planning a big day like royal wedding is unthinkable. As it will force a reorganizing of the royal calendar of activities/
The father and son reportedly had a bitter argument following Charles's refusal to give a go signal on his son's marriage plan.Â
Prince William insisted that the engagement should happen before 2010 will end, arguing that Kate had already waited long enough to be given another postponement and that they are already living together in Wales for two years.Â
Waiting after the Jubilee celebration to be married seemed long enough. Eventually, Prince Charles relented to avoid straining his relationship with his son.
In November 2010, Clarence House announced the official engagement of William and Kate. And it was not until December that year that she was formally introduced to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
And the rest is history.
Whether Kate Middleton or her mother came up with this scheme to catch the attention of Prince William and eventually marry him, no one can tell, but the timeline and timing of events leading to their meeting seemed too obvious to be dismissed as coincidence.Â
The fact that Kate invested too much energy, time and effort to catch Prince William's attention, held her ground to be with him, despite the overwhelming pressure of press coverage and bitter criticism, gave credence to the rumor.Â
You will be the judge.
Nonetheless, the royal family, though reluctant at first, accepted her into their fold. Palace courtiers spent too much time building her image and reputation as someone the British royal family can rely in terms of fulfilling duties.
As half of the public still cannot fully accept Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall as a future consort of a king, palace courtiers are seeing Kate as a gateway to build a thriving monarchy, thus, focusing on promoting her cause and image rather than gamble on the Duchess of Cornwall.Â
Traditional royalists knew too well how to play the ball of public acceptance.
The lesson from Kate's scheme
However, true or simply rumor, this scheme of Kate Middleton to marry a prince provides us inspiration that plain and ordinary girls can rise above obscurity. They too, can be ended up marrying a royal prince if they want too.Â
That we too can dream big, aim high if we persevere. And can overcome any obstacles in life and catch the tide of success if we are determined and patience to do our part. Anything is possible for people who have strong determination and courage to make things happen.
Keep on dreaming and aiming high. Someday our prince will come. 😄
What happened to Prince William's two loves?
So where is Isabella Now? And Arabella? The girls who broke Prince William's heart.
According to reports, if there's any woman that can turn Kate green with jealousy, it's Isabella Calthorpe.Â
We know now why.
Isabella eventually married Sir Richard Branson's son, Sam, in 2013. While Arabella Musgrave married George Galliers-Pratt in February 2014.
Had she gave Prince William a chance, Isabella could have been the Duchess of Cambridge. And if her younger sister, Cressi, was not pressured with the constant press coverage, she could have been the Duchess of Sussex.
Prince Charles would have had daughters-in-law who are blood sisters and the future children of the British royal family would have been both descended from King Charles II.
But destiny decreed otherwise.
Follow us on social media:
1 Comments