Prince William is the elder son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. He is now in his late 30s and has a family of his own. The Duke of Cambridge got married in 2011 to Kate Middleton and the couple has three young children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
While Prince William’s marriage was and is still being bombarded with issues, he and Kate Middleton remained strong. However, his parents didn’t have that kind of bond, and their bad relationship, reportedly, “seriously affected” the Duke of Cambridge.
“I think that Kate’s influence on William has been very, very important,” royal expert Sarah Bradford said in the 2017 ITV documentary Kate: The Making of a Modern Queen. “I think he was quite seriously affected by the bad relationship of his parents and I think that Kate has strengthened him. Harry, of course, bounces along anyway, but I think William was more sensitive and more affected by, say, the suffering of his mother. And I think Kate has provided the necessary stability for him.”
When Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the knot almost a decade ago, the Duchess of Cambridge gave the future King the family bond that he didn’t have growing up. And because of this, the Duke of Cambridge became a better version of himself.
“Don’t be under the illusion that she's a wallflower, because she's not,” another royal expert Katie Nicholl shared. “She’s very strong, she’s very confident and she has a real clarity of vision and I think William depends on that hugely ‒ so she’s brought a huge amount to William’s life. She has filled William’s life with life and happiness and security, and she’s given him the family life, through her own family ‒ just regular things that he never got to enjoy, but he is enjoying now, and I think that she’s made him incredibly happy.”
Unlike in the past, when royal marriages were arranged, the members are now free to marry who they want, fellow royal or not. Prince William met commoner Kate Middleton at school when they both attended St. Andrews University.
What made Prince William and Kate Middleton’s marriage work is the fact that they started as good friends. “Their ‘pinging’ smiles and laughter suggest they feed off one another in terms of both support and fun,” Judi James previously said.
