Will William be different?

Its royal gossip Monday and the first thing I saw on the news this morning was the engagement pictures of William and Kate Middleton. They look so happy that I'm hoping things will turn out differently for them than for Williams parents, and that William won't follow the age-old tradition of the heir to the throne keeping a mistress. Apparently that's one of the things that Charles said to Diana -- I refuse to be the first Prince of Wales, who doesn't have a mistress.  Not the sort of thing or wife wants to hear.
 Of course, in the old days, Royal marriages were business propositions, linking two nations , two economies.  Love did not come into it, although some royal couples became fond of each other.  So it was considered normal, but once the wife had done her duty and produced an heir, the husband could play elsewhere. Charles obviously followed that tradition, as did his great, great grandfather , King Edward VII and his great uncle, King Edward VIII.  Although not his great grandfather, George V, who was devoted to Queen Mary. This in a way was amazing as Mary was originally engaged to George's older brother, the Duke of Clarence, who died at the age of 28. Mary was then passed along to the next in line, who was George and they lived happily ever after.

I'm sure she was much happier married to George, who was a stable and simple chap, rather than his wicked and wayward older brother. In fact the whole country heaved a sigh of relief when he died, supposedly of influenza. Rumours flew for many years about whether he had died of natural causes or whether he had been helped to his death, leaving the way to the throne open for the more sensible George. I play with this scandal in my book  Royal Flush.

Let us hope that William and Kate can live without any scandals, although scandals do provide such good material for books, don't they?