By royal biographer Emily Andrews
UNCLE GARY SPEAKS OUT
What is it about the Royal Family and bad uncles?First Prince Andrew, now William and Kate have had to contend with self-confessed ‘buncle’ (that’s ‘bad uncle’ to you and me) Gary Goldsmith. Never one to hide his light under a bushel, the Princess of Wales’ uncle entered the Celebrity Big Brother house and promptly began talking about… yes, you’ve guessed it… his royal relatives.
And while Gary was the first to be evicted, he had lots to say while he was in the house!
Harry and Meghan? ‘I genuinely think that they should take their titles away.’
William? He has done ‘an amazing job in that horrible situation’, and Gary, 58, even claimed Wills had offered an olive branch ‘for Harry to come back and be part of the gang’.
Kate? ‘She’s amazing,’ and ‘I love the fact that she’s putting family first’.
Apparently, Gary was read the riot act by older sister Carole before he went into the CBB house, as she worried his appearance would reflect badly on the family.
But he probably spoke for the nation when he said of Harry, ‘You can’t throw your family under the bus in such a dramatic style, then write books about it, and expect to be invited round for Christmas.’
Take note, Harold!
Yet the timing was tricky for the Middleton family. Gary entered the house in the week when conspiracy theories and speculation surrounding Kate had reached fever pitch.
She had been snapped by a paparazzo, returning from the school run, being driven by her mum Carole – a picture that would surely have infuriated Kensington Palace and her husband after it had been made clear that the princess should be left alone after her major abdominal surgery in January.
Gary was very clear in defence of his niece, saying, ‘They should leave her alone. There’s a reason they’re [family] not talking about it [her surgery] and they are giving her a bit of space. I think it’s wrong and if it was happening to anybody else they would think to give them some space.’
Pressed on the whereabouts of Kate, who has been recuperating at her Windsor home, Gary said it would be wrong to comment ‘because she does not want to talk about it’. He added,
