Part-time Wills slopes off with Kate and kids
LOOKING relaxed, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children pose for some tender and informal photographs as they enjoy a ski break in the French Alps.
Shot during a secret holiday last week, they show William and Kate frolicking in the snow with Prince George, two, and tenmonth-old Princess Charlotte on their first trip as a family of four.
The four- day jaunt comes at a time when William’s commitment to his job as an air ambulance pilot and as a senior member of the Royal Family has come under fierce scrutiny. He has been accused of failing to pull his weight on the number of helicopter shifts he does, yet has carried out only three public engagements so far this year.
The pictures were taken by a professional photographer last Thursday, minutes after an excited George, in a £24.99 Mountain Warehouse onesie, and Charlotte, displaying two lower front teeth, were introduced to the snow.
They were released yesterday to the media by Kensington Palace and show that the duke and duchess, in £400 designer ski jackets, couldn’t be prouder parents. Weeks short of their fifth wedding anniversary, Kate – who wore her £750 White Topaz Stud Grace earrings by Kiki McDonough – enjoyed a flirtatious snowball fight with William before they walked along, arms entwined.
They eschewed the traditional royal photocall where the British media are allowed to take a few pictures on the first day of a holiday on the understanding the royals are then left to enjoy themselves.
Instead, a Press Association photographer was invited to join the family on Thursday morning and the six pictures were not released until yesterday, after the royals had returned to their Norfolk mansion, Anmer Hall, on Sunday night.
William and Kate have made it increasingly clear they wish to control access to information and images concerning their family.
They believe their children are too young to be ‘paraded’ in front of a group of photographers, sources told the Mail yesterday.
As a result, unbeknownst to the wider media, the couple flew out on Wednesday night for a private long weekend. Bizarrely, aides refused to say where the family had stayed or whether they flew there by private jet, although a senior royal source said it was a holiday that they ‘booked and paid for themselves’.
However, it emerged yesterday the family had stayed at Courchevel, an upmarket resort popular with celebrities since the 1960s and now so beloved of wealthy Russians that it is known as the ‘playground of the oligarchs’.
William, Kate and the children would have been accompanied by at least four taxpayer-funded Scotland Yard bodyguards and it is likely they would have taken their Spanish nanny, Maria Borrallo.
Kensington Palace explained the couple’s decision to release the images yesterday, saying: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to share new photographs of their family. The images show Their Royal Highnesses enjoying a short skiing holiday with their children in the French Alps.
‘The duke and duchess invited the Press Association’s royal photographer John Stillwell to take the photographs earlier in the week.
‘This was their first holiday as a family of four and the first time either of the children had played in the snow. The Duke and Duchess hope people enjoy the photos.’