How Prince William & Kate Middleton Are Dodging The Bitter Marital Conflict That Divided His Parents

Among royal watchers, it's not particularly controversial to say that the marriage between King Charles III and the late Princess Diana was not especially healthy. In addition to several instances of infidelity (both rumored and confirmed) and general incompatibility between the two, Charles — then the Prince of Wales and heir to Queen Elizabeth II's throne — was reportedly deeply jealous of Diana for the massive fame she found after marrying into his family. Years later, King Charles' own heir, Prince William (who himself became the Prince of Wales in 2022), found himself in an extraordinarily similar position regarding his own marriage to Catherine, Princess of Wales. However, William's reported approach to navigating it proves he's learned from the mistakes that contributed to his parents' 1996 divorce.

William tied the knot with Kate Middleton back in 2011. Since then, Kate, much like Diana before her, has become one of the most beloved figured in the royal family despite being a member by marriage rather than blood. According to royal expert Jennie Bond, William doesn't mind that one bit. "William and Catherine definitely have the wow factor that Diana had — and which spawned Di-mania. Luckily, William doesn't seem to suffer the same jealousy that his father did when Diana was the darling of the crowds," Bond told the Daily Mirror in September 2026.

The royal expert went on to remark that, if anything, William loves the fact that Kate has become so at home in the spotlight. "People today are equally [mesmerized] by the new Princess of Wales, so tall, so elegant and so chatty, but William just seems to purr with pride that his wife is such a star," Bond said, adding, "To be fair, he is also pretty dashing and gets his fair share of crowd worship."

The idea that King Charles III was jealous of Princess Diana's popularity is far from mere speculation. Diana herself confirmed as much during an interview with BBC in 1995, by which point she and the eventual king had already been separated for about three years. The late Princess of Wales also opened up about the complicated relationship she had with fame in general, noting that she didn't particularly care for the amount of attention she was receiving, nor was she happy about upstaging her husband.

"We'd be going round Australia, for instance, and all you could hear was, 'Oh, she's on the other side,'" Diana said at the time (via Marie Claire), adding, "They weren't on the right side to wave at me or to touch me. ... I felt it was unfair, because I wanted to share." Charles was apparently dismayed by it too. "Now, if you're a man like my husband, a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for four weeks," Diana said, further remarking that "a great deal of complicated situations arose" due to her celebrity status and the jealousy it caused in Charles.

Not only that, but if reports are to be believed, Charles' jealous tendencies haven't exactly subsided with age. In fact, some have even opined that the aforementioned popularity of William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales has rubbed the king the wrong way. "It must be tough for Charles ... to play second fiddle to his son," royal expert Dr. Tessa Dunlop told the Daily Mirror in December 2024. From the sound of things, though, William has avoided falling into that same pattern of envious thinking.