Prince William is reportedly “prone to tantrums,” according to one royal expert. His life with his wife, Kate Middleton, is not as perfect as it may seem in front of the cameras, with the Princess of Wales reportedly treating her husband as a “fourth child.” The couple are parents to Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
“Kate treats him [William] like the fourth child because he’s prone to tantrums,” a source who worked with the Prince and Princess of Wales at Kensington Palace told author Tom Quinn, who spoke with Expressย on May 21. The source told the Guilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family author that Middleton knows how to stop their arguments from getting out of control.
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“They do have rows. It’s not a perfect marriage. They have terrific rows,” Quinn said. “But, where some couples have a row and throw heavy vases at each other, William and Kate throw cushions at each other. It’s always kept under control.”
According to Quinn, “William adopts the manners and ways of behaving of his grandmother and Kate is very good at not complaining,” and they follow the mantra that made Queen Elizabeth II a “remarkable” monarch. “They very rarely complain and when they do it’s always in measured terms,” Quinn added.
Quinn previously mentioned that Middleton and William have nicknames for each other, but “it’s not all sweetness.” The author told Fox News Digitalย in March that they have “terrible rows” and throw things at each other. “Kate might seem to be a very calm person, and William also. But it’s not always true. Because the big stress for William and Kate is that they’re constantly surrounded by [palace aides]. It’s like a Jane Austen novel,” Quinn explained.
One former palace staffer told Quinn that Middleton calls William “babe,” while he calls her “Duchess of Doolittle.” His nickname is a reference to Queen Elizabeth’s criticisms of Middleton for not having a full-time job before William and Middleton married in 2011. The two also allegedly egg each other on over their hair length, with William telling her she has an “endless mane of hair” and she calls him “baldy.” In his book, Quinn described Middleton as having a “Buddhist calm.”
“Of course, privately, William and Kate, like all couples, fall out, row, shout at each other and say unkind things to each other, but Kate is an appeaser by instinct and William always gives way as he had more than enough emotional turmoil, divorce and disruption as a child,” Quinn wrote. “He hates confrontation.”