This month has been really weird, especially since both King Charles and Kate, the Princess of Wales, are in the same hospital in London. The royal family is facing its biggest health scare since that time when all the lobster thermidor went bad.
It’s strange to think about: Why haven’t Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis visited their mom yet?
It’s been 12 days since their mom, the princess, went to a London hospital for surgery, which means it’s been 12 days since her little ones have seen her.
The day after the news about Kate came out, Prince William was spotted leaving the hospital through a back exit in his fancy $268,000 electric Audi, taking time off to be a full-time dad.
Both the Sun and the Daily Mail have reported that he has been visiting Kate every day since then, which is really nice, but what about the kids?
And what about Kate’s loving parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, and her siblings, Pippa and James? She’s really close to them. James has talked about his struggles with depression and mentioned that Kate attended some of his therapy sessions and was there for him during tough times.
William isn’t just trying to shield his kids from the overwhelming presence of the press with their big cameras.
Rebecca English, the royal editor for the Daily Mail, shared that the media has promised not to send photographers, camera crews, or reporters to the hospital. This is to give Kate some time to recover from her surgery in peace and to respect the privacy of other patients too.
Because of this agreement, William and the Middletons can easily take George, Charlotte, and Louis to visit their mom without anyone watching them.
One reason the young Waleses might not have visited is that, according to the Sun, “William and Kate want her absence to feel as normal as possible for the youngsters.” That makes sense during the week.
But here’s the big question: what about last weekend?
Instead of visiting, they spent time at their grandparents’ fancy $7 million home in Bucklebury, as reported by the Sun.
That sounds nice, and Carole and Michael can spoil them with all sorts of treats, but is that really better than getting a hug from their mom?
The Waleses’ home, Adelaide Cottage, is just about a 45-minute drive from Kate’s hospital, so it doesn’t really seem like a big deal that would stop them from having a family reunion.
What makes this situation even stranger is looking at the whole picture. It seems like royal commentators can’t help but share stories about how the Waleses are super dedicated parents who want to be involved in their kids’ lives.
For instance, the prince and princess take off almost every school holiday, which adds up to 19 weeks a year, to do fun activities together, probably wearing matching muddy boots and playing games like Pooh sticks.
As a royal aide mentioned to the Sunday Times’ Roya Nikkhah last week, William and Kate’s new motto while dealing with her health issues is, “100 percent family first, day job second.”
But does that really match up with the kids not visiting Kate?
I get it: No kid wants to see their parent in a hospital. It can be scary and sad. But I think they would rather see their mom for some much-needed love and to know she’s getting better than not seeing her at all.
One point made by the Mail’s English is that “royals don’t usually visit each other in the hospital, or at least it happens very rarely.”
Except here comes that word again – ‘but’.
We haven’t really seen many royal family members in the hospital for a long time, except for Prince Philip, so this isn’t really a big deal anymore.
Also, some old traditions from the late Queen, like avoiding family members in the hospital, are being changed to create a more modern and open royal family. For instance, the King went straight to his daughter-in-law’s room when he got to the London Clinic this week.
At the same time, Queen Camilla visited her husband three times in just one day.
Right now, when all the working royals should be busy helping out, things have taken a surprising turn, and we’re not following the usual Windsor schedule.
Maybe Camilla should look into some crystals, sage, and a good shaman to help clear out any bad vibes around Buckingham Palace.