Recently, Prince William and Kate Middleton have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. After Kate went for what was supposed to be routine abdominal surgery, Kensington Palace told the world we wouldn’t be seeing her for another couple of months. This caused major scrutiny that the Royal Family was lying about Kate’s real diagnosis, and after increasingly bungled attempts to hide it (including allegedly using everything from a bad Photoshop to a body double), Kate admitted that she had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was receiving chemotherapy.
Obviously, sympathies for Kate begin pouring in from all over the world. But all of the recent scrutiny surrounding her and her family gave new life to older controversies that the Royal Family would rather have stayed dead and buried. Just what are the biggest controversies that continue to haunt William and Kate? Keep reading to find out!
William’s involvement in multiple racism controversies
As the oldest son of King Charles, Prince William is destined to one day take the throne, and this makes him a de facto royal spokesman, but that’s not always an easy job. For example, after Harry and Meghan’s bombshell Oprah interview where they claimed an unnamed member of the Royal Family expressed concerns over the skin color of Meghan’s children, William rushed in front of the camera to insist “we’re very much not a racist family,” and the very urgency of his response (how often do you see royals willingly running to the press?) made many people think Meghan’s accusations were true.
Later on in 2022, Lady Susan Hussey, a lady-in-waiting for Queen Elizabeth, allegedly acted racist toward Black charity leader Ngozi Fulani, physically moving her dreadlocks out of the way to read a name tag and then asking “relentless” questions about where “her people” came from (Fulani is British). William’s spokesperson then issued a generic statement against racism while William and Kate were visiting America, but this latest scandal fueled protests throughout Boston whenever these royals drew near.
RELATED: 6 Shady Things About Kate Middleton Everyone Ignores
Ongoing rumors of infidelity
Since 2019, there have been ongoing rumors that William and Kate’s marriage is being torn apart by infidelity. Specifically, the rumor mill claims that William was cheating on his wife with Rose Hanbury, a noble (her title is the Marchioness of Cholmondeley) who was close friends with Kate before they had a falling out for unknown reasons. Across social media and in the press, there were constant rumors that the real reason for the falling out was Kate discovering the affair.
There was never anything to substantiate these rumors, of course, but they never really went away. When the Royal Family was being cagey about Kate’s recent health diagnosis, many users thought the Palace was running cover for a potential divorce between William and Kate. This would have left William free to get with Rose, a theory which is that much crazier because she is happily married to aristocrat David Cholmondeley, with whom she has three children.
That nasty breakup before they tied the knot
There probably wouldn’t be so many rumors about Prince William cheating on Kate if the world hadn’t watched their early relationship turn into a rollercoaster. Back in 2007, the couple had been dating for five years, and everyone assumed they were quite happy after half a decade of staying together. However, the two suddenly had a very public breakup, leaving everyone to wonder what, exactly, had caused such trouble in paradise.
Of course, one of the most constant rumors was that William wanted to pursue other women. A source close to the couple told The Observer that “He broke up with Kate because he’s met someone else who’s turned his head,” someone who was “more exciting.” At any rate, William and Kate got back together only a few weeks later, but the infidelity rumors that began back in 2007 are still haunting the couple all these years later.
RELATED: Things That Just Weird Us Out About William And Kate’s Marriage
The constant drama regarding Harry and Meghan
It’s fair to say that no modern royals have caused so much crazy controversy as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Things eventually got so weird between them and their famous family that this duo stepped down from most of their royal responsibilities and moved to America, as far away from the Royal Family as they could possibly get.
From the safety of America, the two (particularly Harry) have told us much about why they left, and William and Kate were always at the center of it. For example, there were early rumors that Meghan had made Kate cry ahead of the big wedding, but Meghan later claimed it was actually Kate who made her cry. Meanwhile, Harry wrote in his memoir Spare that William was concerned about his brother’s relationship with Meghan and the numerous press scandals that it caused and that the future king got so mad that he made a physical attack.
Harry claims William threw him bodily to the floor, breaking a dog bowl and encouraging his brother to fight back. When Harry didn’t, William allegedly insisted that he never attacked his brother and that Harry didn’t have to tell Meghan about it. Ultimately, this was all the confirmation Harry needed that he and Meghan weren’t welcome in the family and was a major part of why they eventually fled England.