Why the Queen is apparently 'livid' with Prince William and Kate Middleton

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The Queen is reportedly 'livid' with Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge.

According to Life & Style magazine, a dispute has sprung up over a conversation about Kate's royal duties. Prince William had called the Queen to suggest that his wife - who is pregnant with their third child - scale back her royal duties permanently.

'Kate wants her public appearances kept to a minimum and he's 100% behind her' the source told the publication, adding that 'the conversation was quite icy.'

Kate is reportedly more comfortable in her role as a full time mother to George (4) and Charlotte (2) than as a working royal. The Duchess of Cambridge is currently patron to a number of charities, including The Art Room, National Portrait Gallery, East Anglia's Children's Hospice and Action on Addiction.

But according to Life & Style, 'the 91-year-old monarch was livid that the future Queen would want to lessen her duties.'

The Queen's own experiences as a mother and working royal could be the reason she disapproves of Kate and Will's decision. She was 25 with two small children (Charles and Anne) when her father died and she ascended to the throne, and went on to have two more children (Andrew and Edward) after she was crowned, regularly leaving them at home with nursery staff while she went on official tours of the Commonwealth.

In his 1994 authorised biography, Prince Charles is said to have found his parents 'emotionally reserved.' It was the nursery staff who 'taught him to play, witnessed his first steps, punished and rewarded him, helped him put his first thoughts into words' the biography claimed.

This is not the first parenting style clash between the Queen and younger generations of the royal family. She reportedly disagreed with William's mother Diana's decision to take him on tour to Australia and New Zealand when he was nine months old. Diana was said to have found the idea of being apart from William too difficult.

In a clip from her 90th birthday celebrations last year the Queen was also seen telling William to 'get up' when the family appeared on the balcony to wave at crowds - he was crouching down to show George the planes doing a fly over.

William and Kate have already adopted a more modern attitude to parenting than their parents and grandparents, sending George to a local Montessori nursery in Norfolk and then onto Thomas's in Battersea, where he recently had his first day of school.