Kate Middleton is said to be such a major influence on her husband Prince William that she treats him “like her fourth child.”
The claim was made by royal author Tom Quinn, who has written a new book, “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants.” Quinn spoke to hundreds of former and current palace staff members to learn what it’s like to watch over the House of Windsor.
Fox News Digital reached out to Kensington Palace, which represents the offices of the Prince and Princess of Wales, for comment. A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace previously told Fox News Digital, “We don’t comment on such books.”
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Kate Middleton has been married to Prince William, heir to the British throne, since 2011. They share three children. (Aaron Chown – Pool/Getty Images)
“Occasionally, William has little tantrums and irritations if things aren’t done the way he wants them done [as heir to the British throne],” Quinn claimed to Fox News Digital.
“But Kate is very good at managing that in the same way that she manages the tantrums of their three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. And so, there’s a joke among the staff that Kate treats William as the fourth because he occasionally behaves like one.”
Prince William embraces his wife following a polo match. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
According to the book, a member of staff told Quinn, “I don’t know where William would be without Kate – she hasn’t had everything done for her throughout her life, so she calms him down when he gets a bit fractious. She says he sometimes has to be treated as her fourth child!”
Tom Quinn’s book, “Yes, Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants,” is available now. (Biteback Publishing)
The insider claimed that Kate’s non-royal upbringing makes her easygoing to work with, and a favorite among staff, in comparison to William and his father.
“Suits must be pressed and laid out after a period of consultation the night before; shoes must be polished, ties chosen,” a staff member claimed to Quinn in his book about looking after King Charles III and his heir.
Royal author Tom Quinn claimed that King Charles and his heir, Prince William, are prone to temper tantrums. (Pool/Max Mumby/Getty Images)
“Baths must be run at precisely the same time each day and both King Charles and the Prince of Wales, Prince William, are prone to tantrums if things are not done to their liking,” the aide claimed, as quoted in the book.
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Kate Middleton and Prince William wave following the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“’They both get irritated very quickly,’” a former member of staff claimed, adding that the king and his heir are used to having things done for them, making them “very picky.”
“People who have everything done for them from childhood tend to be rather spoiled and prone to bouts of irritation because they have no idea how much work is involved in washing and ironing, polishing and sewing when they have never done any of it themselves,” the aide claimed, as quoted in Quinn’s book.
Kate Middleton recently returned to her royal duties after announcing in January that she was in remission. The Princess of Wales was diagnosed with cancer in 2024. (Max Mumby/Getty Images)
The future king may get moody when things don’t go his way. Kate is reportedly not fazed by his behavior.
The former Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis, Kate Middleton, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William watch a flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour on June 2, 2022, in London. The queen passed away in September of that year. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“In many ways, William has had an emotionally damaging childhood,” Quinn explained to Fox News Digital. “I don’t just mean because his mother, Princess Diana, died when he was 15, which is enormous in itself. Everyone could understand that that was very damaging to him.
“But before that, the split between his parents was very public. All the unpleasantness between his parents was played out on the world stage. Meanwhile, he was looked after by paid staff.”
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“For much of that time, it created an adult in William who was very needy,” Quinn claimed. “He loved spending time with Kate’s family because, unlike his, they were very warm, very close with each other, very emotionally aware.
The Princess and Prince of Wales leave after attending the annual celebrations for Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey on March 10, 2025, in London. (Yui Mok – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“When Kate and William first got together, William tended to have tantrums if things didn’t go his way because he was still this emotionally needy child who grew up into an emotionally needy adult.”
As far as those alleged temper tantrums, they’re “less so now,” Quinn claimed, thanks to Kate.
Kate Middleton is determined to be a hands-on parent, a rarity within the royal household, author Tom Quinn claimed. (Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty Images)
And it was through the Princess of Wales that William reportedly got to witness the importance of being a hands-on parent.
According to Quinn’s book, Kate “vowed to cut out as many, if not all, the jobs traditionally associated with the nursery.” She wanted her children to have a close connection with their parents despite their royal titles, not paid caregivers.
Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte attend the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023, in London. (Yui Mok – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“Despite the disapproval of many of the palace old guard, she has spent what many royal insiders see as a shocking amount of time doing the normal childcare tasks that in the past were farmed out to paid staff,” Quinn wrote. “But even Kate acknowledges that if you join the royal family, you have to obey some, if not most, of the rules.” In 2014, she appointed Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo to help with the family.
A younger Prince George is held up by his nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, to watch Trooping the Colour on June 13, 2015, in London. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“A very deeply entrenched tradition that Kate didn’t like was this universal rule that you don’t look after your own children,” Quinn explained to Fox News Digital. “From the time they’re born through their earliest years as infants and toddlers, somebody else, usually a nanny and a nursery maid, will do all the work for the child. Royal children don’t traditionally bond with their parents. Even Charles has said that he had a terrible childhood because he never saw his mother.”
“Once boys reach a certain age, they are sent away to school,” Quinn continued. “But as babies, they bond with a person who’s paid and then leaves. Then, another person comes along. It’s a very damaging tradition and Kate saw it from the beginning. Kate said, ‘I’m not going to do that.’ And she was able to do that because she had the support of William.”
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The Prince and Princess of Wales taking their children to school. (Jonathan Brady – Pool/Getty Images)
But as expected, Kate did have to learn a few important rules about royal etiquette early on from William.
“Before Kate realized that, as a senior royal, you have to dress carefully… she once bought an outfit that William considered inappropriate,” one of the prince’s advisors claimed to Quinn, as quoted in the book.
Kate Middleton is now a fashion trendsetter in the U.K. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
“He told Kate she looked as if in order to dress she’d just run through a charity shop covered in superglue. Everyone thought this was very funny, including, to her credit, Kate.”
A younger Kate Middleton attends the wedding of Hugh Van Cutsem and Rose Astor at Burford Parish Church on June 4, 2005, in Burford, England. (Indigo/Getty Images)
A former member of Kensington Palace also claimed to Quinn: “Kate was always happy to accept advice, both from the lower staff, with whom she got on very well, and from the more senior courtiers – and she took advice from the courtiers even though some of them were initially very snooty about her.”
Quinn also claimed in his book that despite all her royal lessons, the Princess of Wales isn’t allowing her three young children to participate in “blooding.” The longtime ritual calls for members of the royal family to smear blood on their faces from their first kill during fox or stag hunting.
Kate Middleton is seen here enjoying a tamer form of archery with her husband and their eldest son Prince George. (Daniel Leal/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“Catherine, Princess of Wales, has put her foot down and insisted there will be no blooding for her children,” Quinn wrote. “The king himself had gone through the rite as a child, as did his two sons, Princes William and Harry.”
Prince Louis is seen here hugging and kissing his mother Kate Middleton during the Platinum Pageant in London on June 5, 2022. (Chris Jackson/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“Kate certainly said that that was not going to happen to her children,” Quinn claimed to Fox News Digital. “I think Kate was horrified that this might happen to the children.”
And Kate wasn’t the only royal wife who objected to an ancient tradition involving the royal family.
Royal author Tom Quinn said Kate Middleton has put her foot down when it comes to her children participating in a specific ancient ritual. (Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty Images)
“King Charles adored stalking as a young man and enjoyed hunting (that is, fox hunting),” Quinn wrote. “He was shocked when Diana, who was actually always more comfortable in the city, said she hated shooting, fishing, stalking and hunting – all the main country pursuits so loved by the royals.
Kate Middleton has drawn comparisons to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. (Getty Images)
“As a Balmoral [aide] put it, ‘That, I think, was the start of the deterioration of their relationship, whatever people say about it being entirely about the other woman!’”
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/kate-middleton-treats-prince-william-like-fourth-child-manages-tantrums-royal-insider-claims
