family

Kate Middleton and her family have taken some heat recently after the News of the World revealed that Gary Goldsmith, her uncle, is engaging in probably illegal and definitely unsavory activities in Ibiza.  But many columnists and writers have jumped to her defense in the ensuing days, suggesting that perhaps Kate’s family tree is much like everyone else’s.  Here are some samples of the surprisingly positive press:

Quentin Letts at the Mail, a paper often hypercritical of Kate, wrote in praise of her oft-derided mother, Carole: “Children learn discipline and motivation from their parents. Such virtues might not be genetic, but they can definitely be acquired in childhood from good parents.  It seems more than likely that Kate, who has barely put a foot wrong during her love affair with Prince William, possesses many of her mother’s good points.  A YouTube video last week disclosed that pretty Kate speaks beautifully modulated English. She dresses well. She seems to be polite and modest. I’d say Prince William has chosen well.”

Kathy Lette, who once revealed Kate’s horse allergy, suggested that we’re all in the same boat when it comes to upsetting uncles: “No matter your social class, everybody has at least one black sheep in their family flock. Cherie Blair has her thespian, womanising father. Bill Clinton, a wayward younger half-brother. Even Obama’s auntie was discovered, mid election, to be an illegal immigrant.”

Writing for The Times, Hugo Rifkind surveyed the embarrassing relatives of various other famous figures, noting, “The whole thing about celebrities’ embarrassing relatives is that they remind us that celebrities weren’t always celebrities. Because, actually, every family has an embarrassing relative, whether it contains a celebrity or not. What’s that? You can’t think of one? Oh dear. That probably means it’s you.”

And Sue Carroll over at The Mirror figures that Kate’s black-sheep relative actually makes her more ready to be royal.  She explains, “The Royal Family is said to be shocked. Oh, come off it. This is the family that locked up two maiden aunts deemed to be too batty for public exposure and has so many skeletons they don’t have a cupboard that doesn’t rattle.  Black sheep? The Windsors own the flock.”

One of these scandal-hardened Windsors, according to Mail scribe Richard Kay, has also reportedly provided some positive encouragement.  Kay notes that “the exposure of his girlfriend Kate Middleton’s Uncle Gary as a coke-proffering lout with a lot of money, who spends much of his life loafing around on the holiday island of Ibiza, has shocked her so severely, says a friend, ‘that it’s almost physical.’  Prince Charles, her putative father-in-law, has sent her a message urging her to ‘put it out of your mind.’”