Prince William Marriage: New Biography Claims Prince Doubted Marriage To Kate Middleton

A new biography of Prince William claims that the future king was so scarred by his parent's failed marriage that he doubted whether he could be faithful to one woman.

According to royal biographer Penny Junor, the author of "Prince William: The Man Who Will Be King" (which hits bookshelves June 4), Prince Charles and Princess Diana's highly publicized affairs contributed to Prince William's delayed marriage proposal to now-wife Kate Middleton.

“The problem was William: he had very real worries about whether it was possible to love just one woman. After his hurricane childhood, he was understandably cautious about committing to a relationship," Junor writes in the book, which was excerpted by The Daily Beast.

Assuming Junor's allegations are true, were William's fears justified? A 2005 study by researchers at the University of Utah indicated that a couple is twice as likely to divorce if one spouse is from a divorced family, as is the case for Will and Kate.

Still, as HuffPost blogger Judith Wallerstein wrote in November 2010, no one can predict the impact of the divorce on Prince William's marriage. "On one hand," the psychologist wrote, William's "history may make him more aware of the fragility of marriage and the importance of trust, fidelity and honesty in his relationship." Conversely, the future king "may identify with the long line of broken relationships in his family and mistakenly conclude that he has little control over what will happen."

So will his marriage last? Only time will tell.

Click through the slideshow below for six royal marriages that ended in divorce.

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Louis XII

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Louis XII married Joan of France in 1476. After his predecessor Charles VIII died childless, Louis divorced Joan in order to marry Charles’ widow, Anne of Brittany; a strategy meant to integrate the duchy of Brittany into the French monarchy. After Anne’s death, Louis married Mary Tudor in order to conceive an heir his throne, which proved unsuccessful.

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Louis XII married Joan of France in 1476. After his predecessor Charles VIII died childless, Louis divorced Joan in order to marry Charles’ widow, Anne of Brittany; a strategy meant to integrate the duchy of Brittany into the French monarchy. After Anne’s death, Louis married Mary Tudor in order to conceive an heir his throne, which proved unsuccessful.

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[WomensDivorceAdvice]

11:39 AM on 05/29/2012

Prince William's fears of marriage is just a common thing that any child who came from a broken family. This becomes a common dilemma as they begin to lose faith in marriage or doubt if trust and faithfulness in a marriage really happens. But this is most especially considered on the status of Prince William as he is expected to show a good example to his people. This brings much challenge and responsibility on his part.

[ardis]

01:07 AM on 05/29/2012

Only dim people are without doubts before getting married. Actually, the House of Windsor is a pretty staid bunch maritally. Of the six monarchs since Queen Victoria none were divorced & only one was unfaithful in their marriage: Edward V11. i.e.,--Queen Victoria, King George V, Edward V111, George V1, and the present Queen Elizabeth were all faithful during their marriages. Prince Charles has been in a steady relationship with Camilla since he broke up with Princess Di in all but name 26 years ago--and Prince William has been in a steady relationship with his wife Kate since 2003--almost ten years ago.

[ardis]

12:27 AM on 05/29/2012

George V1 & Queen "Mum" Elizabeth never divorced but that didn't stop one of their two daughters (Margaret) from getting divorced. Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip never divorced but three of their four children have been divorced. The hitch was Princess Margaret, Prince Charles, and Prince Andrew married into the English aristocracy--i,e., Lord Snowdon, Diana Spenser and Fregie who were ALL children of divorced parents with a long family history of marital dysfunction & adulteries. In fact, another woman was having Lord Snowdon's child at the time he became engaged to the blindsided Princess Margaret. Predictably, after their divorces from their royal spouses Lord Snowdon, Princess Di, and Fergie continued their serial adulteries and never had a permanent relationship with anyone. Ditto, Princess Ann has been in a stable marriage for decades--but her first husband has just announced his second divorce due to his adulterous affair with his soon to be third wife. Like sister, like brother--Princess Di's brother Earl Spenser is to marry for a third time after ditching his current live-in "fiancee" as a result of his latest adulterous affair.

[HawaiianLady]

01:30 AM on 06/05/2012

Little mistake there ... Lord Snowdon wasn't an aristocrat. He was a commoner, a photographer named Tony Armstrong-Jones. No connection to royalty whatever.

[Augustine Catalano]

12:23 AM on 05/29/2012

Prince William if you feel you want to cheat or go out with other women then why did you decide to marry Kate Middleton? She is beautiful and a very smart women.. I am sure you love your wife? But now your thoughts are running wild? Why? And For Who?
Please give it a chance marriage is a bond that is between 2 loving adults as Man and Wife it will work out. Time heals..
If your having doubts please don't break Kate's heart.

[joannevlavender]

12:21 AM on 05/29/2012

They didn't mention Eleanor of Acquitaine, who divorced Louis of France in order to marry Henry Plantagenet, who was not yet King of England. Eleanor was rather prolific, giving Louis two daughters before divorcing him and having eight children by Henry Plantagenet (5 sons: William, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John--of the Magna Carta--and three girls). At least one biography of Eleanor states that she had an out of wedlock child between marriage, and another website says that Geoffrey was an illegitimate son of Henry's that he brought into the family for Eleanor to raise.

[HawaiianLady]

01:32 AM on 06/05/2012

Whoopee! What a family.

[kinderprintables]

11:52 PM on 05/28/2012

Why won't they just leave them alone? Geez..... William is pretty level headed, and loves his wife. Any speculation beyond that is not for anyone to say.

[rebel0498]

11:19 PM on 05/28/2012

Researchers from Utah? Well no doubt they speak from personal experience.

[nikkitytom]

10:34 PM on 05/28/2012

It's a "Biography" for heavens sake. Not an Autobiography. The authors can speculate on anything they wish .... and make 'claims ' in the hopes to boost sales.

The bottom line ... has anyone every actually heard the Prince express these doubts .... or has he written anything to suggest he had reservations?

If not, it's just another gossip book .... not worth a review or an article in Puffington.

[hellyon3too]

10:55 PM on 05/28/2012

He'd be a mighty odd duck if he didn't have doubts and reservations before his marriage. I think everyone goes through that, and it's perfectly normal. No one wants to marry with the expectation of failing.

[joannevlavender]

12:25 AM on 05/29/2012

What normal man or woman DOESN'T have doubts before the marriage? William did separate from Kate for a period of time before starting up the romance again. That can be easily authenticated. Sometimes I think he did that on the palace's orders to see how Kate would behave--if she would act like Diana or Sarah after they were first separated from their princes.

Autobiographies are just as prone to stretching the truth as biographies are. The biography is slanted by the the author's liking or disliking of his subject. An autobiography is slanted by the author, the subject, wanting to put him/herself if the best possible light.

[nikkitytom]

01:04 AM on 05/29/2012

I think you're absolutely correct here. But what I object to is the "Tabloid" style of biographies in which so many speculations are made. I don't know if I could survive being in the public eye and having every move analyzed and chewed over.

And you're right about autobiograhies too. A little of that "gilding the lily" is almost inevitable.

It's hard to get at the truth.

[PeterCampbell007]

10:59 AM on 05/28/2012

Search Amazon for "Princess Diana The Day She Didn't Die."

[katherine2011ish]

07:56 AM on 05/28/2012

I find it interesting that while boasting about Charles and Camilla's high British ratings and acceptance, suddenly there is this talk about Prince William and Catherine in a not so pleasant light. Is the Queen getting ready to step down while preparing for Charles and Camilla to be next King and Queen?

[pete cole]

06:18 PM on 05/28/2012

We wouldn't have a clue what was going on here in the UK without you Americans

[rebel0498]

11:22 PM on 05/28/2012

Betty is probably waiting for Charlie to go before she abdicates.

[tpetrello]

11:36 AM on 05/27/2012

His parents marrige FAILED for several reasons.....Charles was a spinless wimp....His so called first love Camilla the Gorilla was TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE to his parents.....He never really love Diana, it was a marriage of convenience....TO PRODUCE AN HEIR.....William had 8 years to get to know Kate, out of the eye of the public and his parents and his GRAND PARENTS....I think the QUEEN AND HER SIDEKICK finally realized they were failure as parents giving any values to their kids....including her own sister Margaret....Their track record stinks....Queenie may have just decided to FINALLY BUTT OUT....and let the chips fall where they may.....

[dixiebird333]

06:10 AM on 05/27/2012

He wouldn't have dated her so long if he didn't want a relationship with her, or marriage.

[Pennsylvanianne]

03:18 PM on 05/27/2012

Absolutely. They look so much in love and they are not living with his family. I think they have a good chance to work things out on their own. I wish them the best.

[Xanadutu]

02:49 AM on 05/29/2012

Dated for a few years - Shaked up for a few more years!!

[peegan]

01:26 AM on 05/27/2012

One very big difference between the Prince's marriage and his father's, he got to pick his own bride.

[gina0318]

04:47 PM on 05/28/2012

And he was in love with his bride...

[allisoninwonderland]

05:55 PM on 05/26/2012

I remember reading a story about when William was a little boy, he used to hear Diana crying in the bathroom. He would hand her tissues under the door and hold her hand.

Here is to hoping he has more Diana in him than Charles, who has been chronicled as the "bad guy" in the relationship, constantly putting Diana down, giving her self esteem issues, and cheated on her with Camilla. Why he did not marry Camilla in the first place is beyond me. Diana said she always felt forced into the marriage.

Here is also to hoping that William and Katherine's marriage is a true fairy tale with a happy ending...something we rarely see (but does exist...and I see it when I look at my parents, married 35 years, and grandparents one set married 65 years, the other 73 years).

[agness nutter]

11:56 PM on 05/27/2012

What kind of a mother dines out on stories like that about her own children? Almost everything we think we "know" about the marriage comes from Diana's telling of it. She certainly had the best PR and was much more photogenic.

[pete cole]

06:08 PM on 05/28/2012

That was some big gap under the door

[WSAY]

02:07 PM on 05/26/2012

If Prince William were here he would, no doubt, have one important message for all of you. "Butt out."

[peegan]

01:24 AM on 05/27/2012

Please, like any celebrity, you are in trouble when people STOP talking about you.

[WSAY]

11:06 AM on 05/27/2012

So that is your excuse to impose yourself into such a pathetic subject?