PROOF THE MIDDLETONS RULE ROOST

THE candid photograph of little George speaks volumes about William and Kate’s determination to do away with royal protocol – and about the Middleton family’s insurmountable position in their fledgling court. According to well- placed sources, the couple felt that inviting a professional photographer into their family group would ‘burst’ their post-baby bubble.

And so we have pictures like those on the mantelpieces of millions of ordinary families – slightly fuzzy, but full of joy.

While courtiers insist that professional pictures of the family will be taken at some point, the man chosen to capture a very historic moment was one Michael Middleton, a former flight despatcher whose party trick is dressing up in an inflatable Sumo outfit at Christmas.

It would be all too easy to accuse the Middletons of having ideas above their station. That, however, would be to overlook one important fact: this is very much the way that William and Kate want it.

The Queen, who enjoyed a very happy childhood herself, has long made it clear she is more than content to give her notoriously headstrong grandson an unprecedented level of freedom over the most significant decisions in his life.

And nothing illustrates this so strongly as the birth of baby George. In three short weeks, the prince has already overturned decades of royal protocol.

First there was Kate’s determination, as revealed by the Mail, not to employ a maternity nurse.

Instead, as the duchess made clear in private, there was only one woman she trusted to help her through those first few difficult weeks – her mother, Carole.

According to friends, Kate ‘just feels safest and most secure’ with her family and believes that no one could be better placed to teach her about bringing up a baby than her own mother.

Thus it was a beaming Carole and her husband who were the first to visit baby George in hospital, beating the Prince of Wales and his wife by a good hour – without any offence intended, and none taken.

While all the former heirs to the throne have been born in royal palaces or returned home to them from hospital, the young couple relocated to the Middleton family mansion in Bucklebury for the first few weeks after George’s birth.

The £4.8million Georgian manor house in Berkshire, bought by the Middletons last year, has plenty of space for their first grandchild to run around.

A visitor to the house earlier this year reported that the indomitable Carole had been overseeing the redecoration of the house, including the installation of a new kitchen and ‘nursery-style’ room.

Michael had meanwhile decided to busy himself in the garden building a new fence – perhaps a rural version of retreating to his shed.

‘Carole fully intends to be part of this baby’s life and Catherine, for her part, plans to spend a lot of time with her family as she has always done,’ one source disclosed.

‘I don’t think people sometimes appreciate what a fantastically supportive and loving mum Carole has been. At school she was always the one cheering longest and loudest on the sidelines.

‘She was, initially, a bit nervous about being in charge of the royal baby but also hugely excited and has said it is has all, fortunately, come flooding back.’

ANOTHER sign of the couple’s determination to go their own way was their decision to wait for four hours after George’s birth to announce his arrival to the nation. This was, sources say, a deliberate attempt by the couple to retain a sense of private family joy in what was a very public birth.

Some might say this was pointless, given that they were already safely ensconced inside the Lindo Wing – but not the Cambridges.

As they saw it, this was their baby and he would not become public property a minute before it was absolutely necessary. And this is a mantra that is likely to become familiar as the years roll by.

The same applies to William’s decision not to appear on the steps of the hospital immediately after the birth, as his father did, to express a few public words of joy.

Instead the nation was left to wait until the following evening for the first sight of the new family together, united and inseparable.

And as far as William and Kate are concerned, the Middleton family is very much part of that united family front.