The State of William & Kate’s Marriage Revealed After He Secretly Hired Divorce Lawyers
Jason Pham
Prince William and Kate Middleton’s marriage is still going strong despite reports he hired divorce lawyers. Former BBC correspondent and royal source Jennie Bond told Mirror in April 2025 that the Prince and Princess of Wales’ marriage has never been better ahead of their 14th wedding anniversary on April 29, 2025, which also marks the couple’s first anniversary since they went public with Kate’s cancer diagnosis in 2024.
“Their first anniversary after Catherine’s official remission has to be that extra bit special,” Bond said. “Every milestone takes them that little bit further away from the dreadful day when she was diagnosed with cancer. After his mother died, William said he knew it would make or break him and he refused to let it break him.”
The royal source continued, “I think they have both taken a similar attitude to dealing with the brutal year they have just endured. Their marriage is, I think, even stronger than before, and it was already a roaring success. I think they like each other. A lot. And that’s a whole different thing to loving one another -which, incidentally, they also do. A lot.”
Bond explained that what makes William and Kate’s marriage so successful is William’s parenting style, which is much more involved than other men in the royal family, like his father, King Charles, or his grandfather, Prince Philip. William and Kate share three children: sons Prince George and Prince Louis, and daughter Princess Charlotte.
“What makes it work? I think theirs is a pretty equal partnership. William is a much more hands-on dad than his father or grandfather. And I don’t think Catherine would let him get away with anything less,” Bond said.
The royal source continued, “They operate as a partnership and they have such a deep understanding of one another that they can communicate when they are out and about with just a look or a gesture. They seem sometimes to have private jokes that make them smile or nudge one another.”
Despite reports that William hired divorce lawyers, Bond noted that others in the royal family, including William’s father King Charles, can see how strong his and Kate’s marriage is from the outside.
“I do think that Catherine’s parents and the King must be delighted that the marriage has worked out so well. It’s important for the monarchy that it works, but, on a human level, it is so comforting for the Middletons and for the King to know that William and Catherine are such a strong unit and seem able to deal with pretty much anything that life throws at them,” Bond said.
Bond also believes that William and Kate’s marriage is so strong because of how they started their relationship as friends at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. “I think this gives us all the chance to see first-hand that theirs is a true love match, built on the strongest of all foundations: friendship and the shared experience of university life,” she said.
She also believes that Kate’s cancer has only made her and William’s marriage that much stronger. “Cancer must make you realise that life is short and is for living and loving. If they feel like touching or holding hands when they are in public, then why the hell not? I think everyone loves to see how strong their marriage is, and even more so after the trauma of the past year or so,” she said.
The update on William and Kate’s marriage comes weeks after news broke that William had hired the lawyers who represented his mother, Princess Diana, in her divorce from Charles. A source told The Daily Mail at the time that William hired the lawyers because he didn’t want to use the same legal team as his father. Before the move, William shared Harbottle & Lewis and its partner, Gerrard Tyrrell, with Charles to represent him.
“William wanted to strike out on his own. He did not want to continue using his father’s lawyers. It’s as simple as that. He wants to be his own man,” the source said. The insider, who was described as a “friend” of William’s, continued, “William wants to do things differently from his father and wants to be seen to do them differently.”
William’s new legal firm is Mishcon de Reya, which represented Diana in her divorce from Charles in 1996, one year before her death in a car crash in Paris. William’s former team, Harbottle & Lewis, represented the royal family in the 2006 News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
