The Mail on Sunday is claiming that Prince William is “phasing out” Ben Fogle and his wife Marina.
According to the publication’s insider, Prince George’s father has had enough of Ben talking publicly about him and his family “and thinks it’s best to put some distance between them.”
“William feels his name crops up in Ben’s media appearances too often to be tasteful,” the MoS insider explained. “Ben is being kept at arm’s length for now.”
Ben and Marina with their two kids son Ludovic and daughter Iona.
The TV presenter, who became a household name after appearing in the UK reality show, Castaway, back in 2000, has since focused his efforts on wildlife conservation.
It was this passion that paved his friendship with William.
In fact, Ben and his wife were among the privileged group of 300 close friends who were invited to the evening party at Buckingham Palace following the 2011 royal wedding.
“I met him many years ago,” Ben explained about his friendship with the future King.
“Marina’s family know William. It’s how I got to know him and I’ve seen how loyal everyone is around him.”
Ben’s sister-in-law and Marina’s sister, Olivia Hunt, briefly dated William at St Andrews University, but as we all know, William fell for another St. Andrews student.
Despite Olivia’s relationship fizzling, Ben and Wills remained tight.
“I feel very comfortable around him. There are many things we have in common,” Ben has reflected of his friendship with the future King of England.
Marina and Ben were William’s guests at his 2011 wedding. Check out the TV presenter talk about the coveted invite in the video underneath… Article continues!
The pair, along with Prince Harry filmed the documentary Prince William’s Africa, which promoted wildlife conservation charity Tusk, of which William is royal patron.
“He loves Africa. Kate does too. For their wedding present I suspect we’ll get them something significant from Africa, something that’s meaningful for both of them,” Ben remarked before the Cambridges’ royal wedding.
“Over the years I’ve seen a very different side to him to the one we read about in the papers. We’re all starting to see a lot more of it now – that open, calm, chatty, comfortable, humorous side.”
“I wanted to let other people see that. Doing it through Tusk in Africa seemed to be a brilliant way. Africa is a really important part of his life and I suspect it will become an even bigger, more important part as the years go on.”
William once mused, “Africa’s the perfect place to come. The locals haven’t a clue who I am, and I love that. The more grounded and the more normal you can be, the better.”
With such a long history, it’s a pity that the duo are reportedly no longer mates.
It’s believed that Catherine had grown close to Ben’s wife with the pair often inviting their kids to go on play dates, despite Marina insulting the Duchess’ family’s business.
Two years ago, the British socialite ordered party decorations for her son Ludo’s fifth birthday from the Middleton family empire, Party Pieces.
Unfortunately Carole Middleton’s multi-million dollar company were unable to deliver.
Ben’s wife was a former party planner and caterer, who organised a children’s party at Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s 80th birthday… and she was not happy!
“Really disappointing service from @PartyPieces [who] failed to deliver for Ludo’s party, didn’t tell me and can “only apologise”. Not good enough,” she tweeted to her followers.
The company were quick to respond, “@FogleMarina Apologies again, we understand our customer services manager has refunded you and is sending a small gift by way of apology.”
Maybe the Cambridges and the Fogles need another African adventure to repair their friendship!
Ben is a firm fixture in royal circles.
