Kate Middleton put her foot down to spare her children from a bloody tradition, according to a forthcoming book. Tom Quinn’s Yes, Ma’am – The Secret Life of Royal Servants reveals that the Princess of Wales insisted on excusing her three children with Prince William from the “blooding” practice, reported The Daily Mail. The ritual involves smearing the faces of young royals with the blood of their first shooting kill, which is usually either a stag or a fox. Middleton was adamant that Prince George, 11, Prince Louis, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 6, all avoid the tradition. “Charles’s daughter-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales, has put her foot down and insisted there will be no blooding for her children,” an excerpt of the book reads. King Charles III and his sons William and Harry all went through the rite as children. In his 2023 book Gilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family, Quinn wrote that William struggled with the royal family’s pastimes as they became more unpopular with the public. “William loves shooting—a love he shares with his father—but he is also conscious that the tide is now moving against what many people now refer to as blood sports,” Quinn said.
