There are three people in Kate and William's marriage! The intruder? Mother-in-law Carole Middleton, who's taking control of their lives

                                  

For while this extremely formidable and glamorous granny may not have completely moved into the ten-bedroom Anmer Hall — neither she nor the Cambridges are there all week, although this will change at the end of April when the new royal baby arrives — she does spend an extraordinary amount of time there. 

Sweeping up the driveway to Anmer Hall in her Range Rover, Carole Middleton is often seen singing along to the radio as she draws to a halt outside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s grand Georgian pile on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

No one bats an eyelid — Carole is far too familiar a face in these parts nowadays to evoke any comment.

For with her daughter Kate exhausted by the rigours of pregnancy and looking after an energetic toddler, she has stepped in to help and, in doing so, has made herself utterly indispensable to the royal couple.

It is Carole who sources all the fabrics and wallpapers for the new baby’s nursery. Carole who makes her son-in-law William his favourite snack of cheese on toast to eat in front of the television in the evening. And Carole who stocks up on his favourite sea salt chocolates.

So central has this self-made businesswoman become to Kate and William’s lives, say royal acolytes, she is now ‘the unpaid female Fawcett’ — a reference to Michael Fawcett, the former butler Prince Charles relied on to run his houses like clockwork.

Indeed, at Anmer it is Carole who knows how the flowers should look, which scented candles should be lit and which drinks to serve. The power she wields is immense.

And that has only increased since the surprise, and rather mysterious, resignation last month of the Cambridges’ former housekeepers Amy and Colin Wood.

So just how far do Carole’s duties now reach, and how has the notoriously traditional Royal Family responded to her increasing integration?

Certainly no one, least of all William, rebels against this arrangement in which the Middleton seniors — Kate’s rather reserved father, Michael, is also frequently at Anmer, where he’s taken to solving the garden’s mole problem with alacrity — run the show.

In fact, given that William has no mother of his own and understandably doesn’t feel that close to Camilla, he rather seems to relish it.

Even Zara Phillips, George’s godmother, has not seen them often. Her baby, Mia, hasn’t had play dates with Prince George, as might have been expected.

Much of the obsession with getting Anmer Hall running like clockwork is the royal couple’s determination to build a ‘real’ family home there. They may have the admittedly vast apartment at Kensington Palace to use as a London base, but it is unarguably a royal palace with all the restrictions that brings.

Anmer, on the other hand, is their chance to give their children a ‘normal’ upbringing, so Carole has the tacit approval of William for all her dealings there.

‘He is in thrall to her capabilities, her tenacity, high-energy levels, her superb organisational skills and her networking,’ says a source.

                                          

‘She above anyone else knows what makes Kate happy, what type of staff she will gel with, and understands her overriding need for loyalty and privacy. Carole leaves nothing to chance.’

She’s certain to be involved in the hiring of a new housekeeper to replace the Woods. Indeed, Kate and William are believed to have placed an advertisement in The Lady magazine this week seeking an ‘experienced housekeeper for a large family home in Norfolk.’

The Cambridges were not named in the advert, which would have cost around £575 to place. The advert specifies that applicants should have previous experience, ideally within a large private house and be well versed in dealing children and dogs.

Main duties include ‘cleaning all areas of the house to a high standard; caring for and maintaining the home owners’ clothing; cleaning silverware and glassware; purchasing groceries and general provisions for the house; and dealing with deliveries; assisting with childcare and caring for dogs’.

‘Discretion and loyalty is paramount,’ the advert is worded.

Until a new housekeeper is selected, Carole will continue in her role as the female Fawcett.

With her around ‘perfection is sought and secured’ — the royal couple can leave Prince George at home knowing that his swimming lessons are overseen, stories read and trips to baby animal parks put in the diary.

The food is healthy and homemade and the fun comes on tap — as it would when Granny runs a company that facilitates children’s parties. The other advantage of Party Pieces is that, having run her own company, Carole finds it slightly easier than either William or Kate to deal with staff.

Their Spanish nanny, Maria Borrallo, is quite content in the Middletons’ company, although she makes herself scarce in the evenings at Anmer Hall, dealing with George in the first-floor nursery before retiring to the privacy of her own quarters with the baby alarm on.

Antonella Fresolone, the Italian housekeeper at Apartment 1a in Kensington Palace who sometimes comes up to Norfolk, is unlikely to have her feathers ruffled by Carole either.

‘Somehow, the fact that neither of them are British makes it more straightforward,’ said one source. ‘No one’s judging anyone.’

 

As Prince George’s only grandmother, Carole feels her input into his life is vital. Charles and Camilla are less keen on the arrangement.

But it’s hard for them to argue with the fact that, for William, the Middletons form the cosy family unit he never quite had but always craved.

When the baby arrives, the Middletons will move to Anmer to ‘bed in the new baby’ and ensure that Prince George neither feels left out nor has his routines upturned.

As sole grandmother, Carole feels that enabling all this is her duty rather than a privilege.

After the birth, she will be in residence at Anmer for about six weeks and Michael will be on hand for most of that time, too, in his role as both a ‘devoted grandfather and a devoted gardener who likes to source interesting local trees’. He is currently exploring a ‘wild garden’ to entice butterflies and insects to settle.

Meanwhile indoors Carole — just like her daughter — is a stickler for routines, plans, nursery meals and bedtimes: the Norland routine instigated by Maria Borrallo suits Prince George well and both he and his parents become anxious if it is disrupted.

Carole will also be the steely gatekeeper for guests after the birth and, no matter how royal, they will be allowed in only when Kate is neither feeding nor resting and feels up to the company.

‘There is very little going on at all at Anmer,’ said one royal acolyte. ‘It is certainly not a social hotbed and there aren’t any fabulous shops to visit.

‘The Cambridges and their children will be living secluded lives there, screened behind all those newly-planted tall trees, with a battery of close protection officers on duty round the clock and all visitors closely monitored.’

For the moment, Carole will continue driving in her Range Rover from her official home in Bucklebury, Berkshire (a £5 million manor house set in 18 acres) to her adopted home at Anmer while listening to books on the CD and singing along to the radio on the motorway.

In a sense, she is behaving just as she did when her children were at Marlborough school, when she would drop off midweek treats, cakes and extra sports kit.

Indeed, in this way she often picks up ‘treats’ for William (those sea salt chocolates he so likes — although lime and sea salt are equally popular) plus organic Mungo & Maud dog biscuits for Kate and William’s cocker spaniel, Lupo.

And therein lies Carole Middleton. Comforting, capable, decisive yet exacting and extremely tough: it’s no wonder that Kate and William have come to rely most of all on the Middleton matriarch and given her free rein in their Norfolk domestic domain.

Even if not everyone likes it quite as much as they do.