The first three months of 2024 were pretty bonkers for people who follow royal gossip. A missing Princess of Wales, a mysterious health crisis, a cobbled-together frankenphoto released officially by Kensington Palace, and photo agencies issuing kill orders on an official palace-released photo. All of this happened in a bizarre period of time for Prince William and Kate’s office as well – Kate had been without a private secretary since the fall of 2022, and William’s private secretary left after William shared his plans to hire a CEO. William and Kate’s office seemed like it was being run by clowns as they staggered from self-made crisis to self-made crisis. I still believe that the situation at KP got so dire that King Charles had no other option than sending in royal fixers to “manage” the mess in March. Well, you would think that William and Kate would have learned a lesson about their poor management skills and childish antics. But no – apparently, they’re still committed to bypassing “the men in gray.”

The mysterious image of “men in gray suits” who operate the monarchy behind closed doors has long intrigued the public. Princess Diana reportedly feared these “gray men” – palace courtiers and aides – and their influence over her personal life. Prince Harry has also publicly discussed his struggles with some of his family’s courtiers, referring to three of them by unflattering nicknames in his memoir Spare and describing them as “middle-aged white men who’d managed to consolidate power through a series of bold Machiavellian maneuvers.”

A royal expert recently suggested that after analyzing Prince William and Kate Middleton’s actions over the past year, which have seen the couple face significant challenges, it appears that the future King and Queen plan to manage their roles more directly, possibly avoiding these “gray men” entirely.

As William and Kate juggle their royal duties with raising their young children – Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six – they’ve made it clear that family is their top priority, according to royal expert Jennie Bond, formerly the BBC’s royal correspondent, in an article for the i newspaper. This is a significant shift from the House of Windsor’s culture during the late Queen Elizabeth’s reign, who was known to prioritize her monarch duties over motherhood, reports the Mirror.

Bond believes this change, along with a recent hire in their office, indicates that William and Kate plan to do things differently when William ascends the throne. “The Waleses have stepped outside the Palace walls in more ways than one,” says Bond.

“They’ve appointed a former CEO of Tescos to head up their Royal Foundation and are planning a more corporate approach for their private office. While plans are on hold as the Princess recovers, it’s clear that the couple intends to bypass some of the ‘gray men’ at the Palace and take more direct control of their affairs.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

I actually think Bond is correct, in that William and Kate still intend to do things in their own clownish, mismanaged way. There were several moments during the year where I thought William in particular was rebelling against his father after Charles cleaned up William’s mess. William and Kate’s September “cancer-free” video was also a “f–k you” to Charles, done without Buckingham Palace’s input. There’s a real push-pull on William these days as the courtiers try to prepare him for kingship and he has to be dragged kicking and screaming into those preparations. It will just get worse in 2025.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.