Kate Middleton’s Family Was A ’Salve’ For Prince William, Royal Biographer Says

Kate Middleton's family played an important role in her relationship with Prince William.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge dated for almost a decade before they got engaged and tied the knot. Due to their long dating history, they got to know each other’s family and form ties with them.

In Channel 5’s new documentary “William & Kate: Too Good to Be True,” several biographers shared their take on the couple’s relationship, especially on how Middleton’s middle class family contributed to her relationship with the future king.

The duchess was brought up in a close-knit family. Her family’s good relationship apparently touched Prince William whose parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, divorced when he was still a kid.

“We know from talking to people in the Duke and Duchess's circle how much William values Catherine's home life,” royal biographer Anna Pasternak said. “How fond he is of her parents and how that kind of stable, slightly middle class, very close-knit family has been quite a salve for him actually.”

Royal author Tom Quinn also believes that Middleton’s upbringing helped her become the charitable royal she is today. He even described the future queen consort as someone “who is very level.”

“She's interested in other people, which I think is, at the moment, in the modern world probably the perfect background for being the Queen, and especially when her husband, the future king, has such a different upbringing,” Quinn explained.

For Quinn, Prince William had a “damaged upbringing,” referring to the unhealthy relationship between his parents. However, Quinn believes that “what William lacks is made up for by Kate.”

Meanwhile, Princess Diana’s royal biographer, Andrew Morton, was also convinced that Middleton’s family played a significant part in bringing the royal couple closer together. In fact, he considered the Middletons the duchess’ “secret weapon.”

Morton said Prince William is an old-fashioned man who is attracted to “home hearth and family.”

“The very normality of like with Kate, as well as the steadiness of her family – he eventually began calling Michael Middleton ‘Dad’ – had a profound appeal for a young man who, when all was said and done, was the product of an unhappy marriage within and often distant, and occasionally chilly, family,” Morton explained.

Reporter Ashely Pearson also shared that the Queen is “very fond” of Middleton for the same reason. Her Majesty loves the duchess’ close bond with her family and her “middle-class values.”