Princess Kate’s Forgotten Scandal That Proved She Would Make an Excellent Queen
A new royal book reveals how Kate Middleton handled one of the monarchy’s biggest media scandals.
Kate Middleton, who is known for her calmness and grace, was once put in an extremely difficult position. Back in 2012, Middleton and Prince William were in the middle of a nine-day Diamond Jubilee tour across Southeast Asia and the Pacific when things suddenly spiraled. While the couple was in Kuala Lumpur, French magazine Closer and Italian magazine Chi suddenly published private vacation photos of the future queen.
The photos were spread everywhere, and the gross invasion of privacy became one of the biggest royal scandals of the decade. The photos had actually been taken weeks earlier while the couple was on a private holiday in the south of France, staying at a secluded chateau owned by one of William’s relatives, Viscount Linley.
The estate was surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods and fields, and getting there meant driving down a long private road, so the couple reportedly believed they were completely out of sight. But despite how isolated the property was, a photographer still managed to capture the images from a public road nearly 1,500 feet away using a powerful telephoto lens.
In an excerpt from Christopher Andersen’s new book KATE!: The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen, published by The Hollywood Reporter, Middleton was visibly shaken by the incident. Even though the situation was deeply humiliating, she reportedly pulled herself together surprisingly quickly.
The tour carried on as planned, and she refused to let the scandal completely take over the trip. She told one of the royal aides, “We are not going to let it ruin this trip!” Journalist Rebecca English recalled, "We were all marveling how she was able to smile, shake hands, and make small talk without the slightest quiver or indication that anything was amiss.”
According to the book excerpt, Prince William took the scandal especially hard behind the scenes. English said, “I’d never seen William as furious as when those cruel pictures of Kate were leaked. He was so angry, jaw clenched, he could barely contain his fury.” The situation reportedly brought back painful memories of the intense paparazzi attention surrounding Princess Diana and the way photographers constantly chased her.
The book also claims William felt deeply guilty because he had once promised Middleton’s family he would protect her, yet suddenly found himself unable to shield her from one of the biggest media invasions of their relationship. However, he quickly turned the situation around by using the royal lawyers at his disposal. William pushed for aggressive legal action against the French magazine, seeking a $2 million injunction and damages.
Recently, William and Middleton celebrated their 15th anniversary on April 29 by releasing an adorable family picture along with their children, George, Charlotte, and Louis. Moreover, Andersen’s latest publication also revealed that the Princess of Wales had a crush on William since she was a teenager and even had a life-size poster of him at her boarding school.
