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For a while, Kate’s parents Carole and Michael Middleton were centre stage, especially around the 2011 Royal Wedding and during the early years of Kate’s marriage to Prince William. They were seen laughing and joking with the Royal Family at Ascot and were even invited to board the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in 2012. The signal was clear that this normal middle class family were being warmly accepted into the royal fold.

However, by 2016 Prince William’s in-laws were conspicuously absent from key events such as Ascot and The Royal Windsor Horse Show.

They were not even at St Paul’s Cathedral for the thanksgiving service for the Queen’s 90th birthday that same year.

They appeared at Wimbledon, but as guests of the All England Club, not the royals.

According to a 2016 article by royal expert Katie Nicholl in the Daily Mail, they were associating less with the Royal Family in private too.

For example, they went on several deer stalking weekends at Birkhall in Scotland previously, but Charles apparently stopped inviting them.

This is in stark contrast to just a few years earlier when the Middletons were aboard the Elizabethan paddle steamer for the flotilla on the Thames or riding into Ascot in one of the Queen’s carriages on Ladies’ Day.

They had even traveled in one of only three landaus that followed the Queen’s carriage after attending a lunch at Windsor Castle with a gathering of her friends.

One royal source said: “I don’t believe the Middletons were on the Queen’s personal list of invitations this year, and it was unusual for them not to be there because they love racing.

“One gets the impression that perhaps a bit of distance is being enforced.”

One possible explanation for this is Charles’ apparent resentment about how the Middletons got to spend more time with their mutual grandchildren than he did.

One friend said: “Charles feels very much that the Middletons get more than their fair share of time with George and Charlotte.

“In comparison, he sees them very little and he bears a bit of a grudge about that.”

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What’s more, Carole reportedly exuded a rather “grandiose presence” around Kensington Palace and was “possessive” of the young family.

From George’s birth, Charles has apparently complained: “They never let me see my grandson.”

For example, George’s third birthday party in July 2016 was entirely orchestrated by Carole.

She and Michael prepped for it on the day, while Charles was at a meeting at Clarence House.

While Charles attended the party, because he didn’t want to miss his grandson’s celebration, the organisation side of it made him feel “left out” and “upset”.

It was suggested this tension might be the reason the Middletons were starting to be excluded from royal events.

However, a friend of Carole’s suggested that the decision not to attend Ascot and the other royal events was made by the Middletons themselves.

They said Carole was “devastated” when she found out how Charles felt and they thought it best to stay away.

The friend said: “All she has ever wanted is to be a good mother and grandmother, not upset anyone in the process.

“Perhaps, their low profile is their way of keeping a respectful distance.”

A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment on any souring relations between the in-laws.

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