The Prince and Princess of Wales have been front and centre this month as Princess Kate makes her return to public duty.
The 42-year-old mother of three had previously been living “under the radar” following her cancer diagnosis earlier this year. However, now having completed her chemotherapy treatment, she is expected to be raising her profile, with the Wales family releasing a moving family video to announce the news.
Featuring in the viral video is footage from the Middleton family home, showing George, Charlotte and Louis playing a card game with their grandparents, Carole and Michael Middleton.
The card game in question, ‘Racing Demon’, is said to be a favourite in the Middleton household, with Princess Kate and her siblings, Pippa and James, known to be fans of the game.
However, it seems that Prince William isn’t so keen, with James Middleton reflecting upon the future King’s lack of competitiveness in his upcoming memoir.
Yes, in a segment of his upcoming book, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, published in The Daily Mail, the 37-year-old recalled Prince William’s resistance with the game, explaining that he would “flinch” at the Middletons’ “competitive nature”.
“William would flinch at our ruthless determination to win at all costs,” James wrote in the newly-released passage, adding: “he’d be delighted to be the first out.”
“I know, too, that Ella gave him a good excuse to escape the fiercely competitive nature of the Middleton family, which emerged every time we played our favourite fast-paced card game, Racing Demon,” James continued.
“‘James, does Ella need a walk?’ he’d ask before we’d even started dealing the cards,” James recalled, adding that the Middleton siblings would “exchange a knowing glance: William, for all the competitive rigour of his military training, was happy to be a loser at cards.”
“It helped, of course, that William was so genuinely fond of Ella,” James wrote of Prince William’s bond with his dog. “When he first encountered her as a tiny puppy at Bucklebury, he was smitten.”
Well, this is lovely.
Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life is set for release on 24 September 2024.
