Members of the royal family, including Prince William, have drawn criticism in Britain for their failure to appear at the celebrations to mark the first Armed Forces Day. The Queen and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were the only senior royals to have attended.
Tabloids claim that Harry was out partying on the day, but they have been unable to locate William’s weekend activities except to say that he had a “private weekend.” News of the World columnist Robert Jobson wrote this weekend, “William was missing too – but at least he had the good sense not to go out on the lash the night before,” but Jobson could not report on William’s particular whereabouts. (One source, InStyle UK, claims William hit up the Glastonbury music festival, but no photos of him at the event have surfaced, and the article calls him “Prince Williams.”)
But earlier this year Katie Nicholl (a hit-and-miss royal writer for the Mail on Sunday) wrote that William was attempting to get time off to attend the 60th birthday party for Kate’s father, Michael Middleton: “William turns 27 on June 21, two days before Kate’s father Michael’s birthday. Mr Middleton’s do is planned for a Saturday at the family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, and William is lobbying RAF top brass for the following Monday off so he can enjoy a few tipples.”
No reports have yet come out of Bucklebury. Mr. Middleton’s birthday was on June 23, and the party could not have been the preceeding weekend, as Kate and William were celebrating William’s 27th birthday in Cornwall. This past weekend seems a likely date for a party to have taken place.
William and Mr. Middleton share a common interest in flight, as Mr. Middleton was a commercial pilot in the early years of his marriage, and William is training to become a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot with the Royal Air Force. Mr. and Mrs. Middleton attended William’s passing out from Sandhurst with Kate in 2006 (pictured above). Perhaps William’s closeness to his girlfriend’s family led him to choose to celebrate a birthday with them rather than attend the nation’s Armed Forces celebrations?
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