To think the UK media silence on the Prince William rumours is odd

[Absofuckinglutely]

Just that really. No idea if there's anything more than rumour and speculation, but it's all over social media that Prince William allegedly had an affair with one of Kate's friends, but there is a total media silence on it.
Pretty bizarre considering that Meghan Markle barely has to breathe and the media are covering it.

it would not surprise me if she is fully aware of his indiscretions and turns a blind eye as many royal wives have done, it’s nothing new

Don't believe it for a minute. Kate always looks so bloody happy and fulfilled. I bet she wears the trousers is that relationship and PW is so relieved to have a wife who is gorgeous and sane.

Has anyone mentioned the Nicole Cliffe Twitter thread so far? No idea if any of this is true, but bloody hell, what a shitshow if it is.

Social media and the internet have really screwed up the fact that the rich elite could have affairs and it be known in their circle, but could be happily confident the plebs would never find out because the newspapers here won't publish it.

Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson was known about abroad way before it was here. Same with Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend.

Whereas now rumours from the posh set end up on Twitter where they are seen by non-posh folks, social media means things that happen in Switzerland (for example) no longer stay in Switzerland.

He won't be the first heir to the throne who has an affair if he has, but he might be the first that has/had absolutely no chance of it staying under the radar because the world has changed.

That's true. The media were well aware about Charles and Camilla - and about Diana and James Hewitt - but chose not to share it with the public for a long time. Social media has totally changed the game.

Iced purple,
could you imagine if the royals started acting like c listers from big brother?
Doing selfies, twittering on about rubbish on twitter, making u tube appearances ( here's how to make a crown out of cardboard!)
Hosting This Morning, doing marathons etc Going on Chat shows!
It would be so funny though.

They need the 'mysterious; ' Ive never thought of it like this before , but it's so true. Hence the reason they don't act like this of course!
The Queen has kept her ' brand' going through thick and thin! Clever really.

'The first heir to the throne who had an affair which had no chance of it staying under the radar' was Charles and Camilla - some of us remember Camillagate - the phone call where Charles wanted to be her tampon (Ugh)

Meanwhile, Kate looks pretty happy - if William was, or did have, an affair I doubt she would look as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Mrs Miggins!

Meanwhile, Kate looks pretty happy - if William was, or did have, an affair I doubt she would look as if she didn't have a care in the world.

I agree that Kate looks radiant ever since she had Louis, who she appears particularly besotted with.

However, I'm not sure we can read too much into that. Firstly, the alleged affair supposedly took place some time ago, and in any case, it's her job to put on a good show. Who knows what goes on behind palace walls?

The Camillagate tapes were recorded in 1989, but not released until 1993. So they could have been released while Charles and Diana were still, publicly, happily married, but they weren't released until after the split.

If Charles and Diana had kept the happily married front we don't know that they'd ever have been leaked. Whereas there's no chance now that proper proof like that could stay quiet for several years with social media.

@cafetiercoffee no, I meant common. Perfec

@cafetiercoffee no, I meant common as in commonplace, perfectly acceptable usage in modern English.

Language evolves, even if the royal family doesn't.

IME the hallmark of a really posh person is their unapologetic imposition of their terrible halitosis on you.

Common people worry about bad breath; posh people don't give a shit if their breath smells like shit. They just talk at you while you wilt like the cat in Pepe Le Pew.

I look at the Queen Mother, Prince Philip, the Queen, Charles, Anne and Andrew and know they would knock me back at 20 paces.

Margaret (God rot her soul) and Camilla would stink of fags and whisky as well as decaying food matter trapped in their teeth. He's several rungs down, but I've met Nigel Farage and he's the same.

They probably didn't know what hit them when Diana moved in with her dental floss and insistence that her sons had braces and brushed twice a day.

God knows what they make of Kate, whose teeth are a triumph of middle class private orthodontistry and Meghan and her coconut oil rinses.

I feel the same thing when I look at that Cholmondeley chap.

No wonder his wife was attracted to William. At least Diana taught him to floss.

Don't know how that extra line appeared, cheap shot tablet with deranged approach to autocorrect.

My grandmother worked in service as a maid as a young woman just before WW2 broke out. She worked alongside someone who'd encountered the QM or Queen as was them and said that she was, and I quote, a 'bitch'. GM never swore, and was of the generation who showed massive deference to the Royal Family. She never believed the cuddly old Nations Grandmother bollocks.

If these people are now marrying for love as opposed to convenience, you'd think that the practise of affairs might be becoming less!

Great post limited! Feel the same about Boris Johnson. His teeth are covered in plaque, I would not want to stand close to him!

@bellinisurge I know rite?!?!?!!!!!

My favourite QM story:

A writer was invited to lunch with the QM and some of her equally doddery friends in the garden of Clarence House. Lunch was served with copious amounts of champagne, G&Ts and dubonnets a great time was had by all with lots of merriment and conversation.

Then one after another QM and her doddery friends just nodded off mid conversation until the writer was the only person left awake at the table. The writer didn’t know what to do because he wasn’t sure of the etiquette for such a situation. Should he leave and go home or to find a servant? Wake her himself? Or wake one of her guests or would that seem rude as it would be calling attention to the QM sleeping? Should he cough?

In the end he decided that the best course of action was to do precisely nothing and wait it out while the breeze gently ruffled QM and her sleeping companions.

Eventually after quite some time had elapsed a footman came out of the house and (completely unperturbed by the unscheduled episode of regal narcolepsy) picked up a silver bell from a silver salver and rang it. At once everyone around the table woke up, opened their eyes and carried on the conversation from exactly where it had left off as if nothing had happened.

That's true about posh people and breath. It's global. I'm in Ireland and one of the poshest people I know would eat with his mouth full if he damn well thought of something to say mid chew, because he is not encumbered with any middle class preoccupations such as what do the masses think of him. He doesn't care. Glossier posses do care I know. But he doesn't!

IcedPurple Only by the fact that Diana looked supremely unhappy when Charles's affair became public.

"the QM or Queen as was them and said that she was, and I quote, a 'bitch'. "

I've just been reading a book about the duke & duchess of windsor.

It's quite sympathetic to them although I didn't warm to them.

He writes a letter in which he refers to "those ice veined bitches"-one being QM.

He also calls her "Mrs Temple" as the WQueen is "Shirley Temple".

I think if Kate's happy it's probably because she has probably realised she is stronger than he is. I think she's the strong one. Which kind of figures. She had both parents a loving and united force loving her consistently and encouraging her every inch of the way. And william well... less so obviously. I think there's been some sort of power shift in their marriage and finally finally it's switched from her being lucky to have 'got' him, he has realised that he is lucky to have her and will be lucky if he continues to have her.

Big talks chez Cambridge I bet and I doubt they were Kate sobbing in the bathroom.

The Camillagate tapes were recorded in 1989 I was living in America in 1989 so that's why I recall them being made public - Diana will have known about them then, surely?

FannyWork LOL

Kitty Kelly wrote a book about the royals and I skim read a copy, wow, she really portrayed the QM as a nasty piece of work.

In today's times we'd wonder if that was misogyny. I mean, look at how for years people believed Mira Sorvino was ''difficult'' and then it turned out that she just didn't like being sexually assualted by harvey weinstein. I dunno. She probably was very unpleasant to the peasants though.