Could the family of five soon become a family of six? Photo / Getty Images
OPINION:
The house of Windsor has a pretty dismal track record when it comes to French getaways. It was in Paris that Diana, Princess of Wales lost her life; it was there in the heat of the south that compromising paparazzi photos of Sarah, Duchess of York were covertly snapped, thus introducing the world to toe-sucking; and it was there in 2012 that a lone paparazzo shot Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing topless.
But this weekend might just have broken the Windsor cross-channel curse, adding at least one good memory in the plus column for the royal family. William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three kids decamped to the Côte d'Azur for the wedding of her brother James Middleton to his longtime girlfriend Alizee Thevenet.
Middleton announced news of the nuptials via Instagram (where else?). He posted a shot of him and his new wife, writing: "Yesterday I married the love of my life surrounded by family, friends and of course a few dogs … Words cannot describe how happy I am."
Aww …
Now for the sad bit: Crushingly, no pictures have emerged so far of the Cambridges celebrating the big day en famille, thus denying us the sheer bliss of a seeing Kate done up in an Emilia Wickstead-slash-Philip Treacy look that costs the same as a small car. Ditto the world has been denied seeing the couple's three kidlets putting on an adorable page boy/flower girl display.
It is highly unlikely, however, that any photos at all will emerge.
James (like their sister Pippa) has always been the picture of discretion when it comes to his future-Queen sister and the Cambridges themselves only post about work or royal family-related events on their social media channels. Hashtag sad.
However, what is more interesting here is the paparazzi situation, which is to say, there has not been one. Not a single image has emerged of William and Kate either flying to France or on French soil which is a far, far cry from the days when Fleet Street and photo agencies' most rapacious and relentless snappers doggedly trailed anyone with an HRH.
And there is a certain cruel irony here when you contrast this state of play with the reality that Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, now face, having traded royal working life for "peace" in the US, far, far away from the long arm of the courtiers and the British press they dislike so intensely.
Since landing on American soil about 18 months ago, the Sussexes have found themselves firmly in the crosshairs of photographers after having left the UK in part to get away from the British media.
But their new sunshine-dappled Californian existence has not exactly turned out to be any sort of nirvana-like break from the ravenous Fourth Estate. In fact, it is looking more and more that by quitting the palace, they jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Less than a week after the couple dropped their Megixt bombshell on the world last year, Meghan was papped getting on a seaplane on the Canadian island where they were then living. Days after that, the Duchess and their son Archie (then just eight months old) were photographed on a hike. (The royal later filed a lawsuit against picture agency Splash over the shots with the claim settled in December last year).
Not long after moving to Los Angeles in March, they were already in the paps' crosshairs and were shot delivering meals for a local charity.
Since then, the family has had drones flying over their borrowed Los Angeles mansion; Harry and Meghan have been covertly photographed hiking in LA; on a double date in Montecito; Harry playing with his dogs on a beach; Harry on both occasions he has returned to the US from the UK; and Meghan picking up Archie from preschool.
In May, Harry revealed during a podcast appearance he and neighbour Orlando Bloom text each other when the paparazzi are lurking.
When the revised edition of Finding Freedom was released, it was revealed the couple was "furious" after being photographed leaving a medical appointment after the former Suits star suffered a devastating miscarriage.
These days, the disparity between the Cambridges' and the Sussexes' lives when it comes to the press could not be more glaring.
When Harry and Meghan bailed on life in the UK, they also lost the relative safety of the pact that exists between the palace and the press. Hashed out after the arrival of Prince George, the British media does not photograph any royal little 'uns during private moments and in return Kensington Palace dutifully feeds the public regular, intimate snaps of the kids as they grow up. Everyone wins and no one gets chased down a Chelsea street.
And that's why, for example, George and Charlotte have been spotted riding their bikes in the vast public park which surrounds Kensington Palace on multiple occasions. Were those shots plastered all over the front pages? Nope.
This northern summer, the Cambridge family holidayed on the Cornish Isles of Scilly and were seen sailing off the Norfolk coast near their country estate Anmer Hall. Not a single shot of these moments has appeared, anywhere.
Likewise, the world has never seen an image of the kids being dropped off or picked up from their school Thomas's Battersea. Add in too here the dentist appointments, play dates, tennis lessons and being shuttled to and from the sporty Hurlingham Club that make up their lives.
The same goes for Kate who only very, very occasionally is caught by photographers out and about when she is off duty.
It seems highly unlikely that their cousins, Archie and Lili Mountbatten-Windsor will be able to say the same in the years to come.
It is hard to see how they, the seventh and eighth in line to the throne, will be able to grow up without having to face the constant, highly intrusive glare of the predatory paps, a situation that seems only likely to become more painfully pronounced when they hit their later teenage and young adult years.
Where is Kate?
The downside of the paparazzi-free zone that the Cambridges now inhabit is that we are today still no closer to solving the mystery about what has happened to Kate, with the Duchess not having been seen in public for 64 days.
In fact, her absence from public view is only becoming more conspicuous by the day.
The most obvious explanation for her disappearing act is that she could be expecting the couple's fourth child and is suffering from the extreme morning sickness known as hyperemesis gravidarum as she has during her three previous pregnancies. (She's a serious trooper that gal…)
If precedent counts for anything here, and Kate is very happily up the duff again, then we might not have long to wait to find out the good news given that both her second and third pregnancies were announced in September.
So too, if the Cambridges are about to become a family of six, it would be one bright spot for Her Majesty after a personally devastating year, having to contend with the death of Prince Philip and watching the royal house slowly be engulfed by family drama and scandal.
Imagine that: A truly lovely, heartwarming palace-related event and with no skerrick of a hint of lawyers being called in, Oprah being involved, a prince being sued for sexual assault, a future king accused of murky charity donation shenanigans or anyone having a meltdown.
It would truly be a miracle …
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