Kate Middleton ‘took elocution lessons and now sounds posher than William’, says royal author

Kate Middleton, Britain’s Princess of Wales, has taken elocution lessons – and now sounds more posh than her husband, a new book claims.

In Endgame, the royal commentator and journalist Omid Scobie details Kate’s journey from student to future queen.

She first met Prince William while the pair were studying at the University of St Andrews in 2001. Their relationship began as friends but things apparently changed after William attended a charity fashion show the following year. Kate, who was one of the models, caught his eye after she walked down the runway wearing a now-famous sheer dress. They got married in 2005, six years after graduating from St Andrews.

In his book, Scobie calls Kate an “institutional dream come true”, writing that she has “successfully sublimated her authentic self, becoming an enigma to the public and perhaps even herself” in preparation for her future role as queen.

He writes that the princess received “several rounds of elocution lessons” and claims that have now made her sound “posher” than William – a prince who is cast as an irascible and controlling heir.

Elsewhere in the book, he claims that the princess has had “five or six private secretaries” in as many years. One of them reportedly called the job “uninspiring and frustrating” in an interview with the book’s author.

Scobie’s book also claims to shed light on the relationship between Kate and Meghan Markle, the wife of Prince Harry.

He says that Kate and Meghan were never close, alleging that the former can be “cold if she doesn’t like someone” and “she wasn’t a fan” of Meghan, citing sources.

“She spent more time talking about Meghan than talking to her,” another insider told Scobie, who previously penned a book about Meghan and Harry’s relationship.

He also writes that Kate has “jokingly shivered when Meghan’s name has come up” in conversation on recent occasions.

In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry reveals that Kate was uneasy about his wife from the very beginning, and his sister-in-law was “on edge” knowing that she was “going to be compared to, and forced to compete with, Meg.”

Scobie’s first book, Finding Freedom, claimed to tell “the real story of Harry and Meghan’s life together”, selling almost half a million copies. He covers their romance and wedding, the birth of their son, Prince Archie, and their unprecedented decision to resign from the royal family and relocate to the US.

Dispelling rumours that the royal wives were “feuding”, Scobie and co-author Carolyn Durand wrote: “Meghan would agree with the assessment that the duchesses were not the best of friends. Their relationship hadn’t progressed much since she was Harry’s girlfriend.

“Although Meghan might have understood Kate’s wariness to strike up a meaningful friendship, they were still no closer by the time she was a fellow senior working member of the royal family and the wife of William’s brother,” the book read. “But they were not at war with each other either,”

Endgame will be published on Tuesday, November 28.

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