The Prince of Wales made a solo appearance at Royal Ascot last week after his wife, Kate, pulled out of attending, but Prince William was in good company at the racecourse.
The future King, 43, was joined by his mother-in-law, Carole Middleton, Kate's sister-in-law, Alizee Thevenet, and some of the couple's closest friends in the royal box.
HELLO! caught up with Dr. Arthur Cassidy, Royal Commentator & Celebrity Psychologist as well as a Chartered member of the British Psychological Society, who has observed that Carole "appears radiant and so much at ease when she engages directly with son-in-law William".
He tells HELLO!: "This is a day for pure enjoyment and authentic laughs, however, I note that Carole's relaxed mood state excitement and happiness with William is comforting and reassuring.
"This conveys the 'seal of approval,' seen in her widened eyes intensely engaged with William, shows congruence with her positively reassuring emotional state. Carole's pupils appear to dilate as she engages with William."
© GettyDr Cassidy adds: "Prince William is consistently a calming influence on not only Carole but the entire Middleton family. He is the protector and guardian of Catherine and their children.
"Since Prince William met Catherine's mother Carole Middleton, he would have intuitively been attracted to her charismatic nature and fun-loving personality. The astute highly motivated and driven businesswoman was exactly what Prince William needed to provide the context for his own personal identity development amid all of his royal responsibilities."
© Getty ImagesCarole founded Party Pieces, a mail-order party supplies company, in 1987, running the business from home before expanding it as it took off. Her husband, Michael, and their three children all helped out at the company through the years. It was sold off in 2023 after falling into administration.
Dr Cassidy tells HELLO!: "Having the business head of Carole would be a most significant and refreshing external source as William could turn to her wisdom and guidance on how he and Catherine could make the monarchy more relatable for the future.
"William is quick to assimilate new ideas and concepts and it's the Middleton family that has the appropriate environmental context in which he and Catherine can facilitate their children's psychological development and educational input."
Part of the family
The Prince and Princess first met at the University of St Andrews in 2001, and William has developed a close rapport with Kate's family.
In their engagement interview in 2010, William said of Michael and Carole: "Kate's got a very, very close family. I get on really well with them and I'm very lucky that they've been so supportive.
"Mike and Carole have been really loving and caring and really fun and have been really welcoming towards me so I've felt really a part of the family and I hope that Kate's felt the same with my family."
© Getty ImagesKate's brother, James Middleton, admitted in his book, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, that he was tough on William when he first started dating his sister.
He wrote: "By now, William has been dating Catherine for six years, so I know him well and there is no scramble to clear up when he comes to supper. But I remember putting him through his paces when we first met. Did he deserve my sister? He had to earn my trust.
"It helps of course that William is so genuinely fond of Ella. When he first encountered her as a tiny puppy at Bucklebury he was smitten. He'd had a black Labrador, Widgeon, he was a boy, and when Widgeon died he left an empty space. I felt William was pining for a dog when Ella was around."
© GettyJames added that William quickly became close to the Middleton family.
"I saw a lot of William when he was an officer cadet at Sandhurst, which is fairly close to Bucklebury. So by the time I'm toing and froing between Edinburgh and London, he's become part of the family."
