Before we get into the Prince William stuff, let’s just get through several minor Duchess Kate stories. You know her polka-dotted ASOS dress last week? The one that cost £35? Apparently, Kate bought it online after browsing the site and of course the dress is already sold out. Kate also went shopped a few days ago and after she got some stuff for herself, she picked up some baby booties for the new baby and some little kicks for George. There’s also a rumor – unconfirmed at this moment – that Kate actually will be going to her parents’ home in Berkshire after she gives birth, like she did with George. Like, she won’t be going to Anmer Hall.

Okay, now for the William stuff. Last week, there were some reports that the senior royals had warned about a possible electronic security breach and that they needed to change all of their passwords, etc. A few days later, William made a “secret” visit to the Government Communications Headquarters, which I think is like the equivalent of America’s NSA. The problem? William took a royal helicopter for what was a private visit?

Prince William has made a top secret visit to Britain’s most secretive building, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The Duke of Cambridge made the unannounced ‘private visit’ on Thursday to Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – the maximum security ‘listening station’ which tracks electronic traffic of terrorists and spy agencies around the world.

The Duke’s first ever trip to GCHQ, housed in a doughnut-shaped building in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed that he and other young Royals were being advised to change their email addresses and cut back on social media activities over fears they could be targeted by foreign spies and hackers. But questions were asked last night about the Duke’s use of a publicly funded Royal helicopter to make the trip, as it was not an official public engagement and was not announced in the Palace’s Court Circular.

The Duke was flown from London’s Kensington Palace to Gloucestershire airport on the Queen’s helicopter Flight, funded by the taxpayer, and which is supposed to be only used for official engagements by the Royals. Under Government rules, the Royals have to pay for their own private visits. But last night Kensington Palace declined to comment on the reasons for the trip or confirm whether the Prince would pay back the estimated £8,000 travel costs.

A Palace source initially described the 200-mile round trip as a ‘private visit’ but later suggested it was ‘official’, and so could possibly be paid from the taxpayer-funded Royal Travel Budget.

Kensington Palace and GCHQ refused to say whom he met, or what he saw. But it is believed the Prince met the new head of GCHQ, Robert Hannigan, and also saw the agency’s code breakers at work, monitoring internet and communications traffic to pick up terrorist threats. Other members of the Royal family have previously visited GCHQ, which was opened by the Queen in 2004.

A GCHQ spokesman said yesterday: ‘Prince William paid a private visit to GCHQ on March 19. As it was a private visit we can’t go into further details of what his itinerary involved.’

[From The Daily Mail]

For the love of God, this could have been so easier explained if William wasn’t so privacy-obsessed and obsessed with making the British taxpayers fund his every move. My guess is that this was a formal visit, that he was probably briefed on security and it was mostly work-related. Which means he was probably fine taking his version of “public transport” (taxpayer-funded private helicopter). But William is so GD squirrelly that he can’t even allow his PR guy to say “yes, it was an official visit but secrecy is very important so we won’t be issuing any additional statements.”

Photos courtesy of WENN.