He writes William viewed the suggestion as insulting, not only to his wife but to her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, who had chosen the name and spelling at birth.
Prince Harry, 41, echoed the discomfort in his memoir Spare, recalling that when the proposal was floated, William’s “face was blank” and Kate ultimately kept her name as it was.
A royal source claimed: “For Catherine, it felt like they were reaching into something incredibly personal – the name her parents chose for her and the way she has been known her entire life. Being asked to alter that, even just a letter, struck her as strange and quite intrusive, especially when the public already recognized her as Kate.
“William reacted very strongly. He was seething and viewed the name-change suggestion as needless interference and, more importantly, as disrespectful to the Middleton family.”
The insider explained, “In his mind, changing his wife’s name to suit a neat set of royal initials was completely unacceptable. He was genuinely angry that anyone thought it appropriate to try to rebrand something as fundamental as her own name.”