How Kate Middleton banished William's ghosts in book about Diana's children

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Prince William has broken away from his dysfunctional past, book claims
Author says this is due to the calming influence of his wife and her family
Princess Charlotte's christening was an achievement for William and Kate

Published: 14:46 EST, 29 August 2015 | Updated: 18:05 EST, 29 August 2015

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It was carefully orchestrated, of course, but could hardly be faulted. William and Kate’s walk to St Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, where their two-month-old daughter Princess Charlotte was about to be christened, was intimate, dignified and moving.

It was even laced with humour, provided by the antics of Charlotte’s older brother Prince George.

Kate, dressed tastefully in stylish cream from the Alexander McQueen fashion label, looked the part of a senior member of the Royal Family.

As baby Charlotte lay contented in her Rolls-Royce of prams, Prince George held tightly on to his father’s reassuring hand, while peering curiously at the cheering crowds lining their path.

The royal couple's stroll with a Millson Prince pram after Princess Charlotte's christening symbolised that Prince William had finally broken away from his dysfunctional past

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William didn’t stop beaming. And no wonder. At one level this was a typical family unit and he was marking an important milestone for any father. On quite another level, this family of an ‘heir and a spare’ had secured the throne for another generation.

Yet this was an extraordinary achievement on another, far more personal, level, too.

Few of those watching in the summer sunshine would have remarked upon it, but this stroll with a Millson Prince pram symbolised that William had finally broken away from his dysfunctional past. And this, I believe, is largely due to the calming and stabilising influence of his wife and her close-knit middle class family.

The Middletons’ informality and William’s growing confidence as a father has clearly softened the shy second-in-line to the Throne, who has a dislike of conspicuous attention and a wariness of photographers verging on the paranoid.

Prince William was troubled by the early loss of his mother Diana (pictured together) and the intensely difficult period that had preceded her death.

Yet to everyone’s surprise Kensington Palace confirmed that watching members of the public would be able to use their own cameras in the paddock outside the Sandringham church.

‘If people want to get pictures for themselves to enjoy then they are welcome to do so,’ a Palace spokesman announced. It was in complete contrast to Prince George’s christening at the Chapel Royal, in St James’s Palace, when the public was allowed to catch little more than a glimpse of the guests.

QUEEN'S FAMILY HONOUR FOR KATE

The Queen plans to celebrate her milestone next month – when she becomes the longest-reigning Monarch – by honouring the Duchess of Cambridge.

Kate will receive the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II – the highest honour that can be bestowed upon a female member of the family.

The 33-year-old Duchess is the only senior member not to wear a family honour.

A source said: ‘It is an honour reserved for first division female Royals.’ Sophie Wessex has one, as does the Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Anne.

The insignia is a diamond- encrusted brooch featuring an ivory plaque of the Queen wearing the Order of the Garter and bearing the Royal cypher. It is worn on a yellow ribbon.

Kate is expected to wear hers to a State dinner when the Chinese president Xi Jinping visits the UK in October.

Then there were the official photographs. William insisted, against tradition, that the Middletons featured prominently in the portraits.

There was someone else in plain view, too: Spanish-born nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo. She was kept in the background at George’s christening but at Charlotte’s was prominent in her brown Norland nanny uniform, and had the important job of looking after George during the ceremony – a sign of William’s growing confidence with his senior Royal status.

The birth of Charlotte, and the way he handled it, was telling, too. When her brother George was brought to see her, and faced the watching crowds outside the hospital, he frowned in disbelief and tugged urgently at his father’s leg. William immediately got the message, lifted him up in his arms and whispered words of encouragement.

George then waved to the crowd from the safety of his father’s arms. William kissed him tenderly. It was a heart-melting moment that showed that William is no longer inhibited about expressing his emotions in public. Kate’s devotion, confidence and love had helped him trust his feelings.

Above all, the change is clear in William himself, who is no longer the withdrawn, slightly angry presence from the past, but a smiling Prince at ease with himself and those he meets.

Two years ago, I wrote that embracing Kate and her family was the best thing that could possibly happen to a young man like William, troubled by the early loss of his mother Diana, and the intensely difficult period that had preceded her death. Charismatic, but emotionally fragile, Diana had leaned far too heavily upon him during the slow, painful demise of her marriage to Charles.

There were times when his ill-matched parents could barely stay in the same room together. William had little experience of what a stable family life was like or how it worked, until he met Kate.

Kate, dressed tastefully in stylish cream from the Alexander McQueen fashion label, looked the part of a senior member of the Royal Family, pictured with the Queen

Prince George was seen peeping into the pram carrying his little sister after her christening

By marrying her, William has drawn a firm line under everything his warring parents’ marriage represented. She understands William’s needs and accommodates his wishes. She has introduced him to the comfort and ease of a warm home and hearth – and the middle class values, which he has so readily embraced.

In turn, he wants to protect his children and ensure that she never feels the isolation his mother did – and he has insisted on changes to the Royal way things are done.

Even the normally intransigent courtiers who made Diana’s life so unhappy have had to bend to William’s wishes. As a result, he has the lifestyle he wants.

While George’s christening had been an important national milestone marked by pomp and ceremony, by the time it was Charlotte’s turn the couple felt more relaxed. They had no qualms about doing it their way.

Christmas 2014 was another compromise. William and Kate attended the traditional Christmas Day church service with the Queen and the Royal Family. They then returned to Anmer Hall to host the Middletons, a decision that raised eyebrows among some royal watchers. But William’s priority remains Kate and her family. Spending time with his warm and loving in-laws has given him a different template.

The close-knit family gave him his first real taste of a traditional family: mother, father, and children, with their feet firmly on the ground. And he could not help be drawn to it. Unlike his father, who is surrounded by staff, Prince William has dispensed with flunkies, maids, footmen and valets. And in choosing to live away from the metropolitan glamour at Anmer Hall in rural Norfolk – a house jokingly referred to as the ‘baby bunker’ – he has given George and Charlotte the very best chance in admittedly rarefied circumstances of ‘as normal an upbringing as possible’.

William’s journey has been long and inspirational and is a remarkable feat for anyone, let alone for someone who is second in line to the Throne and has little life that he can call his own.

He now seems likely to lead a more balanced life than previous Royals, devoting himself to family and official duties in equal measure.

No one can know what the future holds, but William’s story is one of hope triumphing over experience. With the help of the Middletons, he now believes he has smashed the family cycle of dysfunction that was his inheritance.

lDiana’s Babies: Kate, William And The Repair Of A Broken Family (updated version) by Angela Levin published on September 2, Amazon, Kindle £2.99, paperback £3.50.