What were Prince William and fiancee Kate Middleton like behind the cameras?  Chosen ITN man Tom Bradby shares his experience of interviewing today’s most talked about couple.  Here are the highlights:

His embarrassing ring gaffe:
Tom: Wow! Did Kate choose that ring?
William: It’s a kind of family ring.
Tom: Which part of the family?
William: It was my mother’s…
Tom: Ah!

They seemed in high spirits, happy and relaxed.
‘Are you OK?’ William asked Kate once or twice.
‘I’m fine,’ she told him. ‘I’ll be looking after you!’

William made a lot of jokes. It may be stretching things to suggest that he has an alternative career ahead of him as a comedian, but he’s quite funny and has a very good sense of humour, a trait he shares with his soon-to-be wife. They certainly don’t take themselves too seriously.

As the interview wore on, I did find myself thinking about all the things that have been said about them – and about Kate in particular – over the long vacuum of the past eight years. Here sat a couple who know that they can never, ever divorce and who have responded to this by taking an incredibly long, hard and very, very thoughtful look at the question of marriage. And how did a lot of us respond? By dubbing her Waity Katie. Kind of pathetic, isn’t it?

Tom’s wife, Claudia, who collaborated with Kate at Jigsaw few years ago, has this to say about her: ‘She’s a diamond; kind, loyal, decent, very beautiful. The Royal Family is exceptionally lucky to have her.’

As we neared the end, William made a joke about being ‘relieved when this interview is over’, which I know him well enough to take as code for: ‘She’s nearly done enough, Tom.’ And not long afterwards, I stopped and said thank you.

Kate let out a huge sigh of relief, leant her head back and groaned: ‘I’m no good at this.’ But she is and was and, I suspect, will be. She’s not a showy woman, Kate. She doesn’t like the limelight and won’t much care for the fame. But as I said at the start, she showed that she has some serious bottle and is not to be trifled with.

Article by Tom Bradby: Daily Mail

The Express’ Camilla Tominey’s Experience

When the royal couple finally made their entrance, I almost immediately found myself face to face with William, who was dressed immaculately in a navy blue suit. He was much taller than I had remembered and I was instantly struck by how good his skin was. It was all remarkably relaxed, considering the circumstances. William was like I had never seen him before; smiling and cracking jokes. It was as though he actually wanted to be there, which is no mean feat for a man said to privately detest the press.

On and on we went, bowling him questions, and on and on he kept batting them back like Freddie Flintoff after a tactical pint of Tetley’s. He was at ease, confident and, most of all happy. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders . For the first time he appeared to be a King in the making.

Kate, or Catherine, as we all somewhat bizarrely started calling her, was less comfortable in the face of the fawn-fest that greeted her as everyone vied to be her New Best Friend. She was holding a clear, long iced drink in her newly bejewelled hand, which I hoped for her sake was a triple gin and tonic.

Recognising Diana’s ring but not wanting to make an idiot of myself, I hedged my bets: “Er, is that a new ring or a family heirloom?” As she repeated it later, I can tell you what she said next: “It was William’s mother’s, so it’s very, very special.” Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather.

Article by Camilla Tominey: The Express


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