But (assuming you don't actually know the couple), presumably this is solely due to the way their relationship has been portrayed in the press?
Wow, I was actually speechless for a good few minutes after reading that and wasn't sure whether this is the place to respond or not.
Morning Glory at least said that her impression of the couple is based on "a hunch and shameless gossip", which as I mentioned above is most likely influenced by the press coverage of them. But you seem to be implying that you believe him to be "under her thumb" because its the "normal" way women behave based on your observations? That if a man makes a controversial decision it is usually a woman's fault? That women try to always get their own way?
I don't know you, so I'm not sure whether this is an example of conscious or unconscious sexism, but I'm pretty shocked either way. And with the smiley face and the "lol" it seems you think its a perfectly acceptable attitude to have.
For the record, yes there are examples of one partner in a couple being the dominant one - its usually the man (though society doesn't often notice it because its considered "normal"), its sometimes the woman (in which case he is seen as "henpecked", or "under the thumb"), but in most cases partnerships are relatively equal with decisions being taken jointly, one side compromising on one topic, the other compromising on another.
Society may have made good progress with eradicating conscious sexism, racism and homophobia, but we still have a long way to go before unconscious prejudices are a thing of the past
Part of this is the way stories about the couple are framed, and the other part is the way we choose to interpret them. For example, Harry is spied buying a latte for his wife...is he an attentive husband doing a nice thing or is she a spoiled brat demanding a treat? If I'm predisposed to thinking that she's got him whipped, then I'm going to think that she's told him to get his royal rear-end down the shop and fetch her a coffee!
From my own marriage - anyone who knows the first thing about my wife knows that she's a cheapskate when it comes to most things. As her dad used to say, "She could squeeze the sh!t out of a buffalo nickel!" (Nickels used to have buffalos pictured on them).
Anyone who knows me knows that if I have $20 in my pocket, or $50, or $100, I won't have it at the end of the day. I like to spend money.
Thirdly, anyone who knows my mom knows that she doesn't like any of her daughters-in-law and that no woman on earth is good enough for her boys, so anything that appears wrong in any of our relationships is automatically the wife's fault. Always.
When we moved back around family, we were setting up a new house and my mom came over to help. The wife had a list of stuff to buy, and I added that I wanted a trash can for the kitchen. I said, "And get a good one. A metal one. None of the plastic crap."
They left, then MrsTasty called me later from the store, with my mom standing right there, and said, "The only metal one they have costs $90, and I'm not paying $90 for a trash can!" We went back and forth a bit, but I convinced her to buy it. This all happened with my mom present.
Got it home, and my wife reiterated her displeasure with the cost, and I was happy with it, told her to quite being so cheap, again...Mom right there putting in her two cents as well. She also thought it was pretty expensive.
Mom gossips quite a bit, and we all share what Mon says about our wives, and what was the story my mom put out? "Oh, you know MrsTasty, she's a city girl <she absolutely is not> and she just had to have that $90 trash can! Poor Tasty, I don't know how he keeps her happy, he has to work so hard just to keep her in all the things she wants! Oh, she made it sound like she didn't want it, but she did!"
She saw what she wanted to see. Even with the facts right in front of her, even though she was right there when it happened, by the time she processed it, she turned it completely around.
I confronted her about it later, more just to see how she'd handle that, and I finally got an explanation out of her as to why, after I plainly told my wife to buy the trash can, and my wife plainly didn't want to, did she then tell everybody that it was my wife who did.
After a lot of hemming and hawing, a lot of denial, she finally shouted, "Well, we didn't raise you to go in for all that high-dollar stuff! It *has* to be her!"
We see what we want to see, and I think that's what happens with all the celebrity gossip around folks like Harry and Meg, Will and Kate, Charles, etc. Harry's always been portrayed as the wilder one, too, which seems to happen to the Number 2 kid. It's like the tabloids already have a role established for each person, then they craft their "reporting" to fit it.