Duchess Catherine’s parents Carole and Michael Middleton are reportedly moving in with Kate, William and little Prince George to act as surrogate housekeepers in the lead up to the arrival of the second royal baby.
“When George arrived, Kate and William moved into Kate’s parents’ house. This time the Middletons are moving in to Anmer with William and Kate,” a family friend reportedly told the Daily Mail.
The news comes after the departure of William and Catherine’s husband-and-wife housekeeper team, Amy and Colin Wood, from the couple’s country estate of Anmer Hall in the Norfolk countryside.
Amy and Colin began working for the couple in the second half of last year as renovations were completed on Anmer Hall – the Georgian mansion on property bordering the royal estate of Sandringham that Queen Elizabeth bestowed upon the couple after the royal wedding in 2011.
The housekeeper couple lived at the ten-bedroom estate where Amy oversaw the house while her husband looked after landscaping and the garden.
With the absence of these staff members Carole, 60, and Michael, 65, are taking up the reins instead.
Prince George’s day out with Grandma Carole Middleton!
“There is plenty of space and Kate really wants her mother around,” the Mail’s source continued. At the moment Carole is getting everything in place because the baby is due around April 25.”
Catherine, 33, is extremely close with her parents and also rested at home with them last year as she lay low while suffering extreme morning sickness during her pregnancy.
Prince William, 32, is reportedly glad to have the presence of the Middleton’s warm family tenderness which makes a change from the royal stiff upper lip that he is used to.
“William is very happy to sit back and let Carole take up the reins,” another source said.
“She is ensuring that Anmer runs like clockwork. The nursery and staff will be an oasis of calm and evenings will be sacrosanct for relaxation, sleep and recovery.”
The news comes after reports that Prince Charles is reportedly seeing less and less of his grandson Prince George as William and Catherine are increasingly keen that their children will be raised differently to how William and Harry were brought up.
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“They don’t let me see my grandson,” the Daily Mail reports Prince Charles has been telling friends.
Duchess Catherine and Prince William broke with royal tradition at Christmas last year by eschewing the Queen’s formal royal Christmas lunch to host an intimate gathering with the Middletons at their home of Anmer Hall instead.
A source reportd that Carole Middleton, has “rather taken over, dictating when George naps, when and what he eats. All in all, behaving like she’s Queen Carole.”
Prince Charles is reportedly quite miffed at his increasing lack of involvement with the family, especially as Prince William now even affectionately refers to Michael Middleton as ‘Dad’.
A Clarence House spokesperson has denied that there is a growing distance between them though, saying, “His Royal Highness enjoys an excellent relationship with his grandson.”
No doubt Prince George’s other grandparents will enjoy an even closer relationship with the toddler though if they do move in with him.
