Prince William and Kate MiddletonThe Queen and Prince Philip reportedly advised Prince William to finish his relationship with Kate Middleton when William admitted he wasn’t ready to marry.

News broke yesterday that the couple have split up after five years together and sources have now claimed that William made the decision after a meeting with his grandparents at Windsor over Easter.

A source claiming to be a senior courtier told the News of the World: “The meeting went straight to the issue of William’s feelings for Kate. [He said] ‘I don’t want any more commitment, I don’t want to get married just yet. What should I do?’”

“William explained how he’s been enjoying life in the Army and the freedom it gives him, and that he doesn’t want to be tied down at the moment.”

“Within the royal family the Queen acts as head of the country and Prince Philip is the head of the family - so it was he who then gave William a fatherly talking-to. He told him frankly that he has to ‘put up or shut up’. He either commits to Kate now or he walks away. He stressed that he couldn’t mess a woman around and treat her badly.”


“The Queen had thought Kate could be the future of the monarchy, the future Queen even. She liked her a lot and every time they met they got on extremely well.”

“But she had to put her grandson’s interests first and sadly for her that meant doing what is best for him and the future of the monarchy. If a marriage had gone ahead and ended in tears the Queen simply didn’t want to still be the reigning monarch in 10 years time and left wondering why she let it go ahead. It wouldn’t bode well for the royals or look good around the world.”

“It’s clear the Queen doesn’t want William to go through a carbon copy rerun of his father, marrying the wrong woman.”

But according to the People newspaper, the Queen is even more worried that William will pick an even more wrong woman for his next girlfriend. A royal source told the newspaper: “William is resilient and will move on, the worry being that he may play the field with disastrous consequences.”

“He appears to be easily seduced by the celebrity world and the idea of him dating some leggy, airhead pop singer fills the Queen with fear.”

“If it takes him as long as it has to decide he didn’t want to marry Kate he could end up well into his thirties before entertaining the idea of marriage - with disastrous results.”

Sources quoted in different newspapers differ as to Kate’s reaction to the split: the Sunday Mirror quotes friends as saying she’s “distraught” at the decision, scared she’ll “forever being known as the girl who was nearly Queen” while another source told the News of the World that she calmly announced the split to friends over dinner on Thursday: “Kate put on her British stiff upper lip. It was apparent she wasn’t going to break down in tears. In fact she was very calm throughout the whole evening.”