As Prince William and Kate Middleton continue to navigate the Princess of Wales' cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatment, a close designer friend of the royal family is sharing what the couple is said to be currently and privately experiencing.
"I'm heartbroken at the moment," Amaia Arietta, a designer who has been responsible for some of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis' most memorable looks throughout the years, recently told The Telegraph. "I think they are going through hell."
"I hope they will be back," Arietta continued. "It's really personal."
Prince George, Princes Charlotte and Prince Louis have worn a number of Arietta's pieces at high-profile events, including Princess Eugenie's 2018 wedding, the family's annual trips to church on Christmas Day, and the now-infamous U.K. Mother's Day photo released by Kensington Palace following Middleton's planned abdominal surgery and brief hospitalization.
"The first time I realized Prince George was wearing my designs, I was in Waitrose and saw the picture of him on the cover of Hello! magazine," Arietta told the publication. "That was a huge moment because they had been coming to us, but you never know if they’ll actually wear it.
"It's often a very tight deadline," she added. "We would do anything for them...the children always look amazing in the end."
After intense scrutiny and online conspiracy theories following the release of what later turned out to be a doctored image of Middleton and her children, the Princess of Wales announced she had been diagnosed with cancer and was seeking preventative chemotherapy treatments.
Prince William was reportedly "furious" over the online attacks, the Daily Mail’s Rebecca English reported at the time, adding that the Prince of Wales felt like the “weight of the world on his shoulders."
“I know he is angry, frustrated, and, yes, deeply disappointed at what has transpired over recent weeks,” she wrote at the time. “‘When will it all stop?’ he is said to have asked."
Prince William reportedly felt "guilty" for not not "protecting" the Princess of Wales before and in the wake of her diagnosis, too, which perhaps only adds to the overall stress of the situation.
"William is undoubtedly irritated about what has happened—he won’t be annoyed with Kate, but annoyed that such a ridiculous fuss has been made over nothing and it’s all been pushed right out of proportion," a royal expert told OK!.
"He will also feel like this because he promised Kate’s parents that he would protect and look after her, so he’ll feel guilty for any hardships she goes through because all she’s done is fall in love with someone who happened to be a future King."
