IN LONDON
Prince William was reportedly left furious by his estranged brother Prince Harry’s decision to refer to his wife as “Kate” in his public message of support following her cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
It’s understood the Princess of Wales, who was widely known as Kate during her younger years, let it be known just prior to her and William’s wedding she would henceforth prefer to be called Catherine.
While friends and family reportedly heeded the request, the “Kate” moniker had more broadly stuck by the time she made the change – and so she’s still often called it by members of the public and mainstream media outlets.
After she announced her cancer diagnosis in an emotional statement in March, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex released a public statement, which read: “We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace.”
But according to the Daily Beast, William took offence to their refusal to call his wife Catherine, “even when they were sending her get-well-soon messages”, with a friend of the future King’s revealing he found it to be “an entirely unnecessary and deliberate irritation.
“The fact that Harry and Meghan were unable to bring themselves to use her chosen name, even when they were sending her get-well-soon messages after her cancer diagnosis, was noted,” the insider said.
“William takes offence at people calling Catherine ‘Kate,’ because she has asked to be known as Catherine. It’s a fairly simple wish to respect. I’m sure Meghan wouldn’t like it if William started publicly calling her ‘Meghan Markle.’
“Of course it’s an utterly trivial thing, but those of us who know William know that it is one of the things that pushes his buttons. Pushing his buttons while he was going through his wife’s cancer seemed an entirely unnecessary and deliberate irritation.”
