It’s the moment most men with a long-term girlfriend dread – the ‘quiet word’ with her mother about his future intentions.
And Carole Middleton certainly wasn’t prepared to avoid the subject just because the man dating her daughter Kate was a future King.
A new book by The Mail on Sunday’s Royal Editor Katie Nicholl reveals how ‘jittery’ Carole, worried about the absence of a ring on Kate’s finger, took Prince William aside to press him on his plans.
The meeting took place when William visited the Middleton family just before Christmas 2009. In the book – Kate: The Future Queen – a family friend tells how Carole expressed her fears to William.
But he assured her that not only would there be an engagement and subsequent marriage, the couple hoped to have children – and he promised Carole that she would be fully involved in their upbringing.
William stayed true to his word. The couple were engaged the following November and since their son George was born on July 22, Carole has become the most famous grandmother in Britain.
She and her husband, Michael, were the first family members to visit the new baby after his birth – ahead of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall – while Kate and William have even set aside a ‘granny flat’ for the Middletons at their lavish Kensington Palace apartment.
Another of the Middletons’ friends, former neighbour George Brown, says: ‘It was a condition when Kate and William got married that Carole and Michael would be a part of the grandchildren’s lives.’
Kate paid tribute to ‘Granny’ Carole last week during her first public appearance since the birth.
Carole looked after George when Kate and William attended the start of a marathon on Anglesey on Friday. Kate’s presence at the event was a surprise – it was only revealed that morning that she would attend.
It is thought it could be one of the couple’s last engagements on Anglesey before they leave their home on the Welsh island next month to settle into a new life in London.
The new book also untangles the tale of how Kate came to choose St Andrews for her university – starting at the same time as William and on the same course.
It has previously been put down to mere coincidence, but it seems Kate deliberately plotted to be there at the same time as the prince.
In a bold move, Kate turned down the place she had been offered at Edinburgh, decided to take a gap year, just as William was doing, and reapply for St Andrews – a risky strategy as there was no guarantee that she would get a place. Since then, of course, their relationship has flourished.
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