William was in the wrong re Harry’s wedding

[MaybelleMary]

Re William didn’t stay over with Harry the night before his wedding and caused a fuss about having to go to the hotel he was in the night before for dinner. As his only brother and as best man he should’ve been there with him. We hear all the time how wonderful and amazing Catherine’s family are - surely on the occasion of his only sibling getting married her parents could’ve come over to help her with her newborn and the children for the night. They have nannies and cleaners and staff so not exactly short of help in general.

my DH has only one brother too. He got married when my baby was 6 weeks old post a difficult c-section. We went to the hotel for 3 nights - so DH could have drinks with his brother and bridal party the night before, the night of the wedding and the night after the wedding. I was fine with this as it was his only siblings wedding. Yes it was difficult for me and exhausting but it was important to us both that we made a big effort for his DBro especially as (like Harry) they were missing a parent at the wedding.

from my view either William or Catherine or both didn’t care enough to put themselves out for Harry and his wedding which reflects poorly on them.

My point is indeed more valid () because it wasn’t about what the children want. It was about their father wanting to parent, or at least be a parental presence that night. And we know what that was as a fact: Harry quotes William several times saying he wants to spend it with the kids (and Kate).

Of course it’s possible Harry is lying but if he wanted to paint William in a bad light, he should have William saying he had to for come other reason.

I posted an article that said William did not have dinner with Harry with a link. Are they lying?

Leaving aside the fact that of course "Hello" may not always be 100% accurate, it just quotes Harry's book and says William did stay for dinner.

Book quoted in the article:
The Duke adds that William did later join him for a walkabout to greet the crowds outside Windsor Castle, but that his brother still did not stay with him at the hotel. "As we drove off, I asked him to come have dinner with me. I mentioned maybe staying the night, as I'd done before his wedding," Harry wrote. "He'd come for dinner, he said, but wouldn't be able to stay. 'Come on, please, Willy.' 'Sorry, Harold. Can't. Kids.'"

They’re not lying, you’re just not reading.

To be pedantic, the book doesn’t specifically say that Harry and Wills had dinner that night, but it states that Wills said he would have dinner with him. Which implies it probably did - or at least, if it didn’t, that it wasn’t because William wasn’t willing to.
(Perhaps Harry had a strop was upset that William wouldn’t stay the night and told him to forget having dinner with him.)

Funny that Harry thinks it's fine for William to slack off his royal duties when he is busy raising a family (Kate is pregnant with Charlotte at the time) but not fine for him to spend the night at home with his own kids when he's literally just become a father for the third time. What's good for the goose and all that Harold...

"The press has taken to calling him "work-shy Wills" which was obscene, grossly unfair, because he was busy having children and raising a family."

Re the nanny and help Kate has...we have a nanny. Bedtime is still something we do though. I'm not sure how Kate and William do things obviously but, despite our nanny I'd not be happy if my husband was staying somewhere overnight when he really didn't need to (it's pretty clear that at this point in time William and Harry were not on best terms so what was to be gained by William staying in the same hotel as Harry, not like they'd be having deep and meaningful discussions late into the night...).

More thoughts...Maybe George or Charlotte still liked to share a bed with their parents at that age. So if Kate has baby Louis with her it's going to be William who sleeps with the older ones if they wake up.

Also it sounds pretty last minute from the post above where Harry asks William to stay the night. Kate and William are hardly going to get their in-laws to drop everything last minute to help with childcare to help a BIL who they have a somewhat frosty relationship with anyway!

I’m sure if William had stayed with him, Harry would have found something to complain and blame William for

This.

It sounds like it was quite stressful leading up to the wedding, generally. Maybe William was annoyed and being polite about it.

Also it sounds pretty last minute from the post above where Harry asks William to stay the night. Kate and William are hardly going to get their in-laws to drop everything last minute to help with childcare to help a BIL who they have a somewhat frosty relationship with anyway!

Everyone in the Middleton family is going to the wedding the next day too. It’s not like the grandparents will be chilling at home the next morning. They all have plans (and luggage, and appointments…)

I posted an article that said William did not have dinner with Harry with a link. Are they lying?

Do you not even read the links that you post?

And, of course, it's possible William was being tactful and using Kate/Louis as an excuse.

After all, in the week coming up to the wedding Kate and Meghan had had their bust up over the bridesmaids dresses. The texts of which were 'recreated' by the newspapers based on Harry's 'recollection' by the way @ferntwist . As we've not seen Kate or Meghan's actual phone the harshness or not of them is neither here nor there. Remember, this is Harry's version of events and the newspapers version of what the texts may have looked like.

Perhaps William thought there was a chance of an argument starting the night before the wedding - especially if there were a few glasses of wine involved - and Harry or he started on the Meghan v Kate version of the dresses (or anything else for that matter). Perhaps he thought staying away would be the best option rather than risk it and Louis's birth gave him a good excuse.

Or perhaps he was concerned about Kate, who had had difficult pregnancies before. We don't know how she felt post partum each time. Maybe he did know based on Charlotte and George's birth and that she needed a bit of support in those early weeks. Maybe he fancied an early night, couldn't be bothered with the wedding as he didn't like Meghan/wasn't close to Harry or just wanted to watch Eastenders in peace. Who knows? Who really cares? At the end of the day he turned up the next day, did his duty and that's what a groom wants (normally).

I'd also hadn't realised that it was a last minute invitation to stay over at the hotel rather than a longstanding arrangement/tradition

Seems to add a whole new level of disruption for PW

Dinner then home to the kids in those circumstances would appear to be a very fair compromise

I agree with this. I was still bleeding at that stage after every birth, exhausted and suffering from baby blues.

Even with all the help in the world, it must have been a huge effort for Kate to prepare for and attend that wedding.

It is a shame that now Harry is a father himself, he hasn’t acquired some perspective and understanding.

I'll agree it must have been a huge effort to be at that wedding 3 weeks after having a baby.
8 weeks for a normal family wedding was tough enough.

I agree with you OP. William was being a dick as always.

The same William who was so attached to being at home with his babies, seemed fine for a knees up with big time celebrities at the wedding reception.

One more night could have been a chance for them to reconnect / close an old chapter/. He was probably advised by Wasp/Bee/Fly not to go for that reconciliation - after all it was one of the nights where him and H would be in an informal setting, euphoria of the wedding was high and H's friends, and H could easily convince him that MM was harmless.

He was probably advised by Wasp/Bee/Fly not to go for that reconciliation
Who?

Seems unlikely since harry said William wasn’t going to go at all until he went to see Liz, harry says he assumed she had persuaded William to spend time with him. I really doubt anyone would have been worried that William could have been convinced that Meghan was harmless, I mean he’d had quite a lot to do with her before that and clearly had formed his own opinion. I’d say it’s much more likely he was afraid there would be words between them and didn’t want to be a complete hypocrite sitting drinking away saying this is the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

My daughter got married a few years back. Even her sisters ( without small children) didn't stay overnight with her. We all rocked up early doors on the morning of the wedding. Bizarre thing to be cross at.

It's like a thread on AIBU on Mumsnet..😅.
Maybe he should have posted on it before finishing writing the book.😏

Maybe he should have posted on it before finishing writing the book.

Ah but pugdogmom he’d have either got snippy, or insisted he was right when told he was wrong, flounced or got the thread removed because it was outing and shit. 😉

Weren’t loads of the guests at the actual wedding not invited to the reception? I mean obvs W and K were but I think I read all the suits actors who came over for the wedding only got to attend the ceremony, you’d be raging!

The same William who was so attached to being at home with his babies, seemed fine for a knees up with big time celebrities at the wedding reception.

Missing the reception would be quite different to missing drinks/spending the night after dinner the night before though. That's the actual day.

It’s what he calls the courtiers who put endless hours into trying to find a mutually agreeable solution to Megxit. He blames them for not getting half in/ half out when according to Valentine Low it was actually the Queen who vetoed it.

@Eyerollcentral The chapel held 600 people. There was an afternoon reception and evening reception. The afternoon reception, a luncheon for 600 people, was hosted by the Queen. The evening reception was only 200 close family and friends. Everyone at the chapel was invited to a reception, but not necessarily the evening reception.