Court

When I wrote about Ingrid Seward’s Mail-on-Sunday takedown of the Cambridges last week, I began to develop a theory about Prince William’s EAAA job. Sources have insisted that William barely even shows up to his part-time air-ambulance-pilot job, and when he does show up, he seems pretty bored. This is not a surprise – as soon as William began training for the job, I wondered if he would even make it a year in the position, and that was before we knew that he was really stretching the boundaries of what it means to work “part-time.” Anyway, I theorized that after William’s terrible month of sh-tty press, he would soon be announcing his retirement from the EAAA, and that he would be on to a new scheme to avoid royal work. Well, here’s something that adds to my theory – apparently, Will and Kate are looking to send George to a pre-prep school… in London! The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have put Prince George’s name down for his father’s old pre-prep school, Wetherby, I hear. It could be the clearest sign yet that the couple plan to relocate from Anmer Hall in Norfolk and take up permanent residence at Kensington Palace, which is half a mile from the all-boys’ school. There had been speculation that George, right, who currently attends a Montessori nursery, would go to Beeston Hall in Cromer. That would have allowed Kate, 34, to remain at secluded Anmer Hall, the home she retreated to when she abandoned the 115-year-old tradition of a female Royal presenting the Irish Guards with shamrocks on St Patrick’s Day. Although she relishes raising George, two, and his sister Charlotte in the privacy and tranquility of the countryside, it now seems that the Duchess may feel duty-bound to return to London and become full-time working Royal. It would also explain why Kate undertook a taxpayer-funded £4.5 million refurbishment of Kensington Palace in 2014. If George takes up his place, he will start at Wetherby next year. The move will put Kate and William in the capital at a time when the Queen, by then 91, will be reducing her workload. William and his brother Harry attended Wetherby, which charges £6,500 a term, before they left for Eton feeder Ludgrove prep. Wetherby pupils wear a distinctive red tie, grey cap and scarlet-trimmed blazer – I’m sure George will look adorable. [From The Daily Mail] Is this a signal that someone – either the Queen or Charles – has put their foot down about this increasingly farcical Gentleman Country Farmer/Norfolk Scheme? Or is this much to do about nothing? It’s possible William and Kate are still focused on doing the bare minimum from Norfolk, but they want to make it look like they’re considering moving to London. I guess I have problems believing that Will and Kate would relocate from Norfolk to London without months of more drama and tantrums. Speaking of, did you guys read the epic takedown of Kate in the Daily Mail on Friday? It was the best of British shade – they acted like they were complimenting her when really they were picking apart everything she has done as a duchess. They even call her the Duchess of Do-Little!! Yikes. The Mail points out that Kate “has become even more regal than her Royal in-laws” by half-mocking the fake-poshness of her accent, the changes she’s made to the way she walks and has her photograph taken, how she sits and how she’s all but abandoned High Street for customized pieces at an “astronomical cost.” What’s weird is that I disagree with a large part of this famed “transformation” Kate has made to make herself more regal. She spends a lot of her father-in-law’s money, for sure, but it wasn’t so long ago that we were getting regular Marilyn Moments, sausage curls, jeggings-as-formalwear, etc. While I know that’s not the point – the point was to roll our eyes at Kate’s nouveau riche ways – I found myself rolling my eyes at the Daily Mail’s overblown way of trying to take her down. Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.