Kate Middleton’s decision to cancel an appearance in the Royal Ascot carriage procession, citing “slightly vague” reasons of “balance,” has highlighted simmering tensions with King Charles over their differing priorities, The Daily Beast can reveal.
One friend of Prince William and Kate insisted the couple were right to prioritize Kate’s health, and said that if she was feeling unwell it was absurd to expect her to be paraded in front of the public on a boiling hot summer day, with little shade or air conditioning. They added: “Catherine and her children all enthusiastically attended Trooping the Colour on Saturday, and Catherine was also on duty in Windsor on Monday for the Order of the Garter ceremony.”
However, another source said that the late queen, who adored horse racing and considered attending the Ascot races one of the few truly fun public engagements she was obliged to carry out, would have been affronted that someone who had accepted the “great honor of a coveted place in the carriage procession” could fail to show up at the last minute.
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Another source pointed out that Kate and William are simply not very interested in horse racing, and there is a suspicion in some quarters that had Wednesday’s event been something she really loved, such as Wimbledon, she might have turned up.
Her office has not given a specific reason for her decision not to go to Ascot. It has not, for example, fallen back on the trusty excuse of a severe cold, instead briefing media that Kate was “disappointed” not to go but wanted to find the right “balance” in her return to full-time royal duties.
Asked how Charles would have seen Kate’s last-minute cancellation, a friend of the king said: “Charles is a very thoughtful and considerate man. He is going through cancer himself so he will be entirely understanding. He knows all about good days and bad days, physically and mentally.”
Asked whether the incident highlighted a difference between how William and Kate and Charles and Camilla approach their jobs, the source said, “Charles has been very insistent that the show must go on, come hell or high water. Kate and William tackle their public duties differently, which is their privilege, for now. Charles has been very clear that he supports their decisions.”
However, another source, a former royal staffer, was more skeptical about the circumstances of Kate’s no-show Wednesday, telling the Daily Beast: “There is a perception in some quarters that Kate just doesn’t like racing and so didn’t make the effort. That is probably not fair, but you have to wonder if she would have missed Wimbledon, which she adores.
“I am sure she was genuinely unable to come, yet the last-minute nature of the way it was announced makes the king look disrespected. Would she have dared miss Ascot at a moment’s notice when the queen was alive? Her late Majesty would have been not best pleased to have the great honor of a coveted place in the carriage procession rejected an hour before kickoff on slightly vague grounds.
“Clearly, Kate wasn’t feeling up to it, but there is no denying that the whole affair was badly handled. You can’t blame their office as they are the last to know, William and Kate make their own decisions on their own time, which is another source of frustration to everyone else trying to steer the tanker. They pulled the plug at the last minute.
“It’s interesting that briefing is now coming out of the palace saying that the racecourse made a bureaucratic error by publishing the carriage list with her in it, but that doesn’t change the fact that her team didn’t announce she wasn’t coming until late in the day.”
Kate’s no-show clearly caught everyone by surprise, including close friends who had been invited to join them in the royal box, including Thomas van Straubenzee, a godfather to their daughter, Princess Charlotte, Eton friend James Meade, and amateur jockey and businessman Sam Waley-Cohen.
William looked markedly somber on arrival but cheered up later in the day when he was photographed having a drink with his pals.
Kensington Palace did not respond to a request for comment.
