{"id":201000,"date":"2025-06-20T22:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T22:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201000\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T22:33:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T22:33:17","slug":"why-kate-middleton-and-king-charles-simmering-tensions-just-exploded-in-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201000\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Kate Middleton and King Charles\u2019 \u2018Simmering Tensions\u2019 Just Exploded in Public"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kate Middleton\u2019s decision to cancel<\/a> an appearance in the Royal Ascot carriage procession, citing \u201cslightly vague\u201d reasons of \u201cbalance,\u201d has highlighted simmering tensions with King Charles over their differing priorities, The Daily Beast can reveal.<\/p>\n

One friend of Prince William and Kate insisted the couple were right to prioritize Kate\u2019s health, and said that if she was feeling unwell it was absurd to expect her to be paraded in front of the public on a boiling hot summer day, with little shade or air conditioning. They added: \u201cCatherine and her children all enthusiastically attended Trooping the Colour on Saturday, and Catherine was also on duty in Windsor on Monday for the Order of the Garter ceremony.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"PrincePrince William attended Ascot solo after his wife pulled out an hour before the event. Chris Jackson\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

However, another source said that the late queen, who adored horse racing and considered attending the Ascot races one of the few truly fun public engagements she was obliged to carry out, would have been affronted that someone who had accepted the \u201cgreat honor of a coveted place in the carriage procession\u201d could fail to show up at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Another source pointed out that Kate and William<\/a> are simply not very interested in horse racing, and there is a suspicion in some quarters that had Wednesday\u2019s event been something she really loved, such as Wimbledon, she might have turned up.<\/p>\n

Her office has not given a specific reason for her decision not to go to Ascot. It has not, for example, fallen back on the trusty excuse of a severe cold, instead briefing media that Kate was \u201cdisappointed\u201d not to go but wanted to find the right \u201cbalance\u201d in her return to full-time royal duties.<\/p>\n

\"KingKing Charles is back to essentially running a full schedule after being diagnosed with cancer last year, albeit with some modifications. Mark Cuthbert\/UK Press via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Asked how Charles would have seen Kate\u2019s last-minute cancellation, a friend of the king said: \u201cCharles is a very thoughtful and considerate man. He is going through cancer himself so he will be entirely understanding. He knows all about good days and bad days, physically and mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether the incident highlighted a difference between how William and Kate and Charles and Camilla approach their jobs, the source said, \u201cCharles has been very insistent that the show must go on, come hell or high water. Kate and William tackle their public duties differently, which is their privilege, for now. Charles has been very clear that he supports their decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, another source, a former royal staffer, was more skeptical about the circumstances of Kate\u2019s no-show Wednesday, telling the Daily Beast: \u201cThere is a perception in some quarters that Kate just doesn\u2019t like racing and so didn\u2019t make the effort. That is probably not fair, but you have to wonder if she would have missed Wimbledon, which she adores. <\/p>\n

\"Catherine,Kate Middleton, seen at last year\u2019s Wimbledon with daughter Princess Charlotte, adores the tennis tournament and is no fan of horse racing, a former royal staffer told the Beast. Simon M Bruty\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cI am sure she was genuinely unable to come, yet the last-minute nature of the way it was announced makes the king look disrespected. Would she have dared miss Ascot at a moment\u2019s notice when the queen was alive? Her late Majesty would have been not best pleased to have the great honor of a coveted place in the carriage procession rejected an hour before kickoff on slightly vague grounds. <\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, Kate wasn\u2019t feeling up to it, but there is no denying that the whole affair was badly handled. You can\u2019t blame their office as they are the last to know, William and Kate make their own decisions on their own time, which is another source of frustration to everyone else trying to steer the tanker. They pulled the plug at the last minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting that briefing is now coming out of the palace<\/a> saying that the racecourse made a bureaucratic error by publishing the carriage list with her in it, but that doesn\u2019t change the fact that her team didn\u2019t announce she wasn\u2019t coming until late in the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KingKing Charles was joined in the royal box by Kate\u2019s mother, Carole Middleton; Thomas van Strabenzee, a godfather to Kate and William\u2019s daughter, Princess Charlotte; and William\u2019s Eton friend James Meade, among others. Max Mumby\/Indigo\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Kate\u2019s no-show clearly caught everyone by surprise, including close friends who had been invited to join them in the royal box, including Thomas van Straubenzee, a godfather to their daughter, Princess Charlotte, Eton friend James Meade, and amateur jockey and businessman Sam Waley-Cohen.<\/p>\n

William looked markedly somber on arrival but cheered up later in the day when he was photographed having a drink with his pals. <\/p>\n

Kensington Palace did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kate Middleton\u2019s decision to cancel an appearance in the Royal Ascot carriage procession, citing \u201cslightly vague\u201d reasons of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7730,7731,533,1760,532,7710,519,11571],"class_list":{"0":"post-201000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-charles","10":"tag-charles-iii","11":"tag-kate-middleton","12":"tag-king-charles","13":"tag-prince-william","14":"tag-royal-families","15":"tag-royal-family","16":"tag-royalist"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114718074998604315","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}