Awwww! I think is lovely how close these two are.
Whispering conspiratorially
in her ear on stage at the Queen’s 90th birthday street party. A
good-natured tease about her skyscraper heels that might have got stuck
in a grille as they walked up the aisle in St Paul’s for a thanksgiving
service for the Monarch.
And
not forgetting the chat that reduced her to teeth-flashing,
eye-crinkling giggles as they sat together during the same service,
while Prince William stared blankly in the other direction.
It’s
becoming rather hard to ignore how well Prince Harry gets on with the
Duchess of Cambridge. Whether it’s at the London Olympics, weddings,
Trooping the Colour or even sombre events like the World War I centenary
commemorations in Belgium in 2014, Harry and Kate can often be seen
side-by-side.
Harry is, of
course, a joker, and likes to give humorous asides during some public
events, like his grandfather. And Kate is a polite, responsive soul, not
one to ignore others’ attempts to make her laugh. Regardless, the
closeness of their relationship is all too apparent.
Harry
has plenty of female friends — including cousins Zara, Beatrice and
Eugenie — but he is probably closer to Kate than any other woman on the
planet.
While
cheeky online commentators have suggested there’s a flirtation going
on, one source insists: ‘That’s not it, although he does have a knack of
making women, including Kate, feel good about themselves, commenting on
what they are wearing, for example.
‘But as Harry once said, Kate is like the big sister he never had.’ Even, occasionally, a mother figure.
‘While
William and Harry get on with Camilla and are delighted to see their
father happy, they don’t really confide in her,’ said one source. ‘She
can’t replace their mother, and wouldn’t expect to.’
And
so, into the emotional vacuum Diana left behind for both her sons,
stepped Kate. She has been both a trusted counsel and something of a
partner in crime for the persistently single Harry.
Theirs
is a genuine friendship, founded on nights spent in front of Game Of
Thrones boxsets and companionable suppers. From giving him cookery
lessons to offering sensible romantic advice, Kate has become Harry’s
lynchpin.
So what does
Kate find so appealing about Harry? A willingness to lark around, for
one thing — something the usually serious William isn’t often seen
doing.
‘Kate
has quite a different relationship with Harry than she has with
William,’ says the royal insider. ‘Harry appeals to her sillier side
because he is carefree, footloose and loves banter. He finds things
funny about people and says so.
‘William,
partly because of his position, partly because of his character, plays
it safe like his father, whereas Harry is free and easy, with a “let’s
have the whole bottle” sort of attitude. Kate also adores the way Harry
plays with her children — he is very good with them, a charming big kid
and silly uncle.’
Unlike most
vigorous, fun-loving young people, a single Prince — and, indeed, a
future Queen — have to be careful whom they trust. And, alongside
William, Kate is as safe as it can be for Harry, and vice versa. Their
friendship has a history that extends through Harry’s adult life.
Kate started dating William in 2003, after meeting him at the University of St Andrews. Soon after, she met Harry.
He
was still a teenager, about to leave Eton, and was deciding what to do
with his life. After an extended gap year, when he travelled to
Australia and Lesotho, he finally went to Sandhurst in 2005.
According to a source at St Andrews: ‘From the earliest days, Kate always maintained an open-door policy to Prince Harry.
‘While
they were students she always made him feel welcome at the four-bedroom
cottage they rented on distant royal cousin Henry Cheape’s estate,
Strathtyrum, just outside St Andrews. The three also spent weekends
together at the cottage, Tam-na-Ghar, on the Balmoral estate.’
Another
insider said: ‘Cynics — the sort that said she deliberately swapped
Edinburgh University for St Andrews when she found out William was going
there — might say she knew that getting on with Harry was key to her
relationship with William.
‘Harry,
although he can be moody, over-sensitive, and unreliable to his
girlfriends, is otherwise enormously good fun. Everybody likes him. Why
shouldn’t Kate, too?’
When
Harry was in the Army, he visited William and Kate in Anglesey, in
their five-bedroom rented farmhouse on Sir George and Lady Meyrick’s
estate.
Here,
I’m told, the trio enjoyed local pubs, high teas and hearty suppers
after long walks on Anglesey beaches away from the public eye. A
‘strong, sisterly bond was cemented with the at-times lonely Harry’,
says this source.
Years
before William proposed, Kate was already exerting her benign,
civilising influence on both brothers. In a gentle, nurturing way, and
closeted in the privacy of Anglesey, a source tells me Kate gave Harry
‘cooking tips, so he would eat more than the Etonian-style fry-ups of
which he was so fond’.
In
London, while William was learning how to fly, he and Kate would
retreat to the flat in Clarence House he shared with Harry. Kate
organised the cooking — simple, nursery food such as sausages or roast
chicken — and Harry was generous with the drinks.
‘From
day one Kate made a massive effort with Harry. But it was a natural
thing for her because she grew up in such an inclusive family, the “en
masse Middletons” and all that,’ says another source, referring to the
nickname the Middletons were given because the whole family moved
together in a tight pack.
If
Harry and Kate were confidants before William married her, they are
even more so now. When the trio’s living arrangements changed, they
became neighbours on the Kensington Palace compound, with Harry’s move
to Nottingham Cottage and William and Kate’s to Apartment 1a, mere yards
away.
For the
moment, Harry being single ‘works just fine’ says the royal source.
‘It’s not about competition, but turning their threesome into a foursome
will be a daunting prospect, whoever it is. The status quo does rather
suit Kate because she can be leader of the pack — and doesn’t have to
accommodate a stranger. They’re used to their cosy trio. It’s hard to
imagine anyone else joining them.’
While
he lacks a girlfriend, and all too aware that Harry has lost the
‘strong protective arm of the Army and close camaraderie of his
colleagues there’, says one friend, William and Kate have been at pains
to make Harry feel he has ‘a pivotal role’ in their extended Royal
Family life.
Just
look at the ongoing success of his Invictus Games, the charities he
assists — including Help For Heroes, WellChild and, of course,
Sentebale, the one particularly close to his heart as it was set it up
in his mother’s memory, to help children in poverty and with HIV.’
Indeed,
the young royals became a trio at work, too, when it was decided that
William and Harry’s office would also serve Kate, rather than she and
William splitting off and leaving Harry to run his own royal operation.
On
a more personal level, this helps Kate deal with ‘The Firm’. When it
comes to Palace politics, Kate and Harry are allies because ‘she is a
fan of his and he can do no wrong in her eyes, though there are times
she thinks he’s been led astray [for example, when he was pictured naked
in Las Vegas in 2012]. He won’t hear a word against her either,’ says
one acquaintance. Indeed, Kate tries to keep a protective eye out for
the trusting Harry. Whereas Charles and William can be angry with Harry
when he makes public misdemeanours, Kate is more likely to blame the
crowd who surround him.
For
example, she has long been wary of royal friend Guy Pelly, whom she saw
as a wild card in the Prince’s pack. Cressida Bonas agreed, splitting
up with Harry when he went to Pelly’s wedding without her. Pelly, now
though, is apparently back in the royal circle as his American heiress
wife Lizzy Wilson has been warm and diplomatic to William and Kate.
Equally,
Harry helps Kate because ‘with one off-the-cuff remark he can defuse
any row. And he hasn’t got the attention span for Palace and family
politics although he shares their dread of the Press. But he is no
grudge bearer — quick to anger, quick to defuse — where William can be
obstinate to the point of lunacy.’
However
close William, Kate and Harry are, they cannot agree on everything.
When it comes to the Yorks — namely Harry’s friendship with Beatrice,
Eugenie and their parents, and his regular visits to Chalet Helora,
Prince Andrew’s £8 million skiing retreat in Verbier — William and Kate
will always side with Charles and, like him, would prefer not to have
the Yorks too close.
In
2011, after William proposed, with some prescience, Harry said he would
take Kate under his wing, ‘or she’ll be taking me under her wing
probably’.
With his peace-making instincts and humour, and her sisterly wisdom, it seems to be a case of both.
SOURCE; UK Daily Mail...
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