Kate Middleton and Prince William Skip Easter Service With King Charles and Prince Andrew
According to an unnamed source close to the royals who spoke with Us, William and Kate’s decision to pass up this weekend’s family event “is a big deal.”
“It’s royal tradition for the family to attend this together,” the source claimed. “Everyone understood the family not attending last year when Kate was sick but there’s been a lot of raised eyebrows at the palace about William’s decision to skip again this year. It feels like a deliberate move and even a snub.”
One hates to speculate about family rifts, especially on the basis of an anonymous quote—and the royals have certainly seen their fair share of estrangement, given Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s ongoing separation from their family in the UK. But one also wonders if the younger generation’s understanding of optics played into Kate and William’s decision to stay home.
After all, things don’t seem to be getting any better for Prince Andrew, who in recent months has been engaged in a real estate dispute with the king, was cut off from the family financially, and—after his relationship with a Chinese spy came to light—withdrew from the royal Christmas celebration. And that’s not even mentioning the years-long scandal over his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
It’s understandable, perhaps, that the 76-year-old king, who was briefly hospitalized last month following a reaction to cancer treatments, is eager to gather his siblings around him, regardless of their past misdeeds. After all, this is the same man who said Thursday that “There are three virtues that the world still needs — faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love;” it is certainly easier to forgive family members for the sins of the past when the future feels fragile.
Similarly, though, one wonders if Kate and William also had their futures in mind. when they chose to sit today’s church visit out. It’s one thing for an elderly and ailing monarch to commune with a higher power with his fallen brother. It’s another thing for the country’s next king and queen to be photographed with someone accused of sexual abuse of a minor. If that was the thinking behind william and Kate’s Norfolk holiday, that would be a refreshing new normal, indeed.
