Prince William's friends fear he is "drifting away".

Prince William

Prince William

The 34-year-old royal and his wife Duchess Catherine - who have children Prince George, three, and Princess Charlotte, 18 months, together - surprised friends last week by not attending the wedding of one of the prince's closest friends, Oliver Hicks, and Rose Kingscote in Somerset.

A source told the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare: "It was a real surprise that William and Kate were not there.

"William does seem to be drifting away from his old friends."

A number of William's other friends, including Charlotte's godfathers James Meade and Thomas Van Straubenzee, Guy Pelly, and Charlie Morshead, were among those in attendance and formed a guard of honour using rowing oars to greet Oliver - who became the youngest person to row solo from America to Britain in 2005 - and Rose as they left the church where they exchanged their vows.

This isn't the first wedding missed by the royal couple.

Last year, Catherine's name was on the seating plan at the reception for the wedding of William's friends Bear Maclean and Daisy Dickson, but the prince arrived with his sister-in-law Pippa Middleton.

The prince is said to have gone to at least five weddings alone in the last few years.

William and Catherine attended "dozens" of weddings before their own nuptials in 2011, but in the two years that followed, the duchess didn't go to any.

Oliver - a former student at Harrow School - previously explained he had met William several years ago through one of the prince's Eton College classmates.

He said: "One of my best friends was at Eton. He is a great friend of Willy's. We had holidays together, things like that."

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