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Wedding bells for Wills?
28/04/2006 20:04 - (SA)
London - Tabloid newspapers are speculating that Britain's Prince William, 23, is about to propose to his girlfriend Kate Middleton on holiday in the Caribbean.
The elder son of heir to the throne Prince Charles and the
late Princess Diana is flying to the island of Mustique on
Friday to join the 24-year-old Middleton, the Evening Standard
reported on Friday.
The London newspaper, which broke the news of Camilla Parker
Bowles' engagement to Prince Charles, said William sought advice on the best place to hide away from prying paparazzi lenses.
Mustique was the favourite holiday destination of William's
great aunt, Princess Margaret. Her son Viscount Linley sold her
villa on Mustique to cover death duties.
'Will he pop the question?'
Feverish speculation about a royal engagement began in The
Mail on Sunday with the banner headline "Kate takes William on holiday - but will he pop the question?"
William has in the past said he did not want to get married
until he is at least 28 or 30 but the paper breathlessly
reported they could be just "weeks away" from being engaged.
But Judy Wade, royal correspondent for the celebrity gossip
magazine Hello, felt the rumour mill was over-reaching itself.
"I think this romance is serious but today young couples
live together for a while. And William wants to be sure, and not
have a disaster like his parents," she told Reuters.
"I don't think he will get married until next year at the
earliest."
No comment
Asked to confirm the Evening Standard report of the romantic
Caribbean tryst, a spokesperson for William, second in line to the
throne, said: "We never comment on private holidays."
The pair met while studying at the University of St Andrews
in Scotland and shared a house together.
The royalty-obsessed press agreed to leave William alone at
university but the uneasy truce was broken when paparazzi
pursued the couple around the elegant Austrian resort of
Klosters when they went skiing together.
'Her Royal Shyness'
Middleton, dubbed "Her Royal Shyness" by one newspaper, is
the daughter of two middle-class entrepreneurs who run a company which provides accessories for children's parties.
Jessica Hay, a friend who went to the same boarding school,
told The Independent on Sunday: "Kate has class, stamina and the mental strength to survive the limelight."
The self-effacing brunette will need all that stamina to
survive "trial by media" - the remorseless spotlight faced by
William's late mother Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in
1997 while being chased by paparazzi.
William training in the army
William and Kate have been apart for the last three months
while he began army training at Sandhurst military academy.
His 21-year-old younger brother Harry, once dubbed the royal
"wild child" for his underage drink and drug antics, graduated
from the academy earlier this month.
He has been romantically linked to Cape Town student Chelsy
Davy, who in, contrast to Middleton, is regularly portrayed as
an avid party-goer.
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