Ever lived with a guy without benefits? A flatmate? Relative? Boyfriend’s mate or relative? Can be tricky. Just like any flatmate relationship can be, granted. But there’s something,…unique about living with a man when there’s no romance to smooth over any crusty edges.
The latest couple about to take on this challenge is…Kate Middleton and her soon to be husband Prince William. They’re moving in with….Prince Harry. Or rather, he’s moving in with them.
Kate Middleton does have form in this area. She lived with William as flatmates – along with a couple of uni friends – before they started dating. Channel 9 reporter Alissa Warren has also lived with her partner’s brother. She writes…..
“Living with a man can be trying at the best of times.
Living with a man and his brother is like living in a bubble of fart gas with dirty dishes.
The almost-newlyweds plan on sharing their first marital home – a place full of romance, bonking and flirtatious giggles over calling each other “wifey” and “hubby” – with Prince Harry.
Living in a one-way love triangle. Hmm. Disaster? Or dreamy?
When my husband and I were engaged, we shared a house with my brother-in-law, Jim.
During this time, I learnt: Jim loves mates, his brother, family, work and footy.
William, Kate & Harry
I also learnt: Jim is surprisingly hairy and can leave behind a little trail of carpet. Jim farts. A lot. Jim washes his sheets when he remembers. Jim likes to spend his weekends lying on the couch watching David Attenborough. Jim doesn’t mind if no one vacuums. Ever. Jim eats a lot (like, everything). Jim’s burps could cause significant seismic activity.
I wonder if Kate’s ready to find Harry’s ginger pubes on the bathroom floor? Or to have his mates hang out at their place after a big night out and yell the Top Gun song in her kitchen?
The problem with living with your brother-in-law is that you can’t nag at full speed. You can only nag at around 40% capacity. But you make up for that by nagging at your husband for not nagging at his brother. Needless to say, there’s a lot of, um, ‘nagging tension’.
My girlfriend Sarah, currently lives with her husband and brother-in-law. She says it’s really hard, “I feel like it’s a constant Sarah Vs ‘the family’ situation”. Last Sunday, Sarah and her husband walked up the road to get some brekky (anything to get out of the house). The cafe was fully booked. So, they walked home. They opened the door, only to find porn on the TV and the sound of her brother-in-law bolting up the stairs and slamming the door.
Sarah’s still in shock. Her husband thinks it’s funny.
Is Kate ready to stumble over Harry’s private DVD collection? Or accidentally bump into his on-again-off-again girlfriend in the bathroom?
The scariest part about living with your brother-in-law is that it gives you a rare insight into what your husband was like before you came along. Envisaging that? Hmm. Me too.
But, I’ll be completely honest, apart from the rather astonishing noise and air pollution – I really enjoyed it. In fact, I was quite emotional when we parted ways. I even shed a tear. I remember sitting on the couch, as a small gust of wind blew Jim’s unique ‘pubic tumbleweed’ down the hall, thinking “sure, I’ve learnt a lot about Jim … but I’ve also learnt a lot from Jim”.
In the year we lived together, I learnt: how to be more relaxed about cleanliness, how to cook the best chicken shnitzel, how to make an unhealthy (but delicious) toasted cheese sandwich, how to care for Teflon coated pans and how to get pubes out of crevices.
You never get to know family quite like you do when you are sharing a house (and a toilet … and a fridge). So to the young royals – all three of you – if living together doesn’t drive you crazy, it’ll bring you closer. And when it comes to family (especially yours), surely that can only be a good thing.”
Have you ever lived with a man you were not romantically involved with ? What did you learn?
