Cheeky Prince William clip reveals royal’s massive recent change
A seemingly ordinary engagement in a park this week has exposed the Prince of Wales’ stealthy recent transformation.
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Any illusions, any fancies, any residue of delusions about the reality of royal life were officially put paid to on June 14, 2018.
That’s when the freshly-installed Duchess of Sussex, resplendent in couture, accompanied Her late Majesty in grand style, arriving via the grand royal train to … open a bridge.
A bridge.
Who needs an envelope when you have a nice bit of newly laid asphalt to open?
The 9-to-5 (or the say, 1030ish-to-just-after-lunch-when-it’s-time-for-a-kip) of the working royal family is far from glamorous, a fact that Prince William reminded us of this week from a nondescript bit of park in suburban Surrey.
There the next King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland stood on a bit of grass, behind a low-quality trestle table, to join a few school kids to mess about with pond water.
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Video from the outing reveals the truth of the scene. As the royal did his thing, only about half a dozen members of what appeared to be press stood about the place, good-naturedly chuckling as he tried to shoot them with murky water from a large syringe several times.
Behind them, further back, paying the prince little heed and chatting among themselves were, I’m guessing, staffers, who stood about looking a tad bored and wondering what was for elevenses.
Having failed to wet, or even moisten, the handful of journalists, the prince cheekily remarked, “Oh nearly, so nearly … This is the best day of my life – great fun”.
And it’s that last, single word that really gives the game away here: “Fun”.
Another video of the outing, shared by the Daily Express’ royal correspondent Emily Ferguson, shows off the massive transformation William has quietly undergone.
Just when and how did the Prince of Wales get so happy? When did he become so relaxed and jovial and playful around the media?
During official, on-the-clock royal engagements in the last two weeks, he has bought a round of drinks in a Birmingham pub for Aston Villa fans, high-fived while playing foosball, energetically taken part in a shadow boxing class, grinned while having a hot chocolate, joked about the danger of “looking like a drowned rat”, bantered with teenagers while playing, saying, “I’m not going to go around slide tackling, am I!”, gave more high fives, held hands with waiting members of the public, helped people work the cameras on their phones, good-naturedly stuck his hands in a bucket of wormy compost while enthusing, “That’s amazing!” and had a cheerful climb about on a big bit of farming equipment.
During one school visit, he asked the kids what they had learned that day. He said, laughing: “I ask my children this every day and they always say absolutely nothing at all”.
Who is this man? This upbeat, easygoing, chipper William?
Someone who is clearly, uninhibitedly enjoying doing their job and spending time in the vicinity of the press?
Over the last few years, the prince the world sees when out on official manoeuvres has evolved from buttoned-up company man to unguarded demi-japster.
It’s a far, far cry from how he used to behave when he would take the media off for an away day.
Take around this time in 2023 when he visited a charity that teaches conflict resolution to teenagers, where he joined young people making teriyaki noodles looking as stiff as an ironing board forced to mess about with a soy sauce bottle.
Or at this time in January 2022 when he met with the finalists of his highly successful Earthshot Prize at a Fellowship Retreat, with photos showing him looking like a man experiencing all the joy of being forced to weigh up a pay-now funeral plan.
And it’s not just his attitude – he has also undergone a very obvious style makeover these days, his jumper plus nice blazer twofer traded in for much more casual and dare I say it, cool-ish looks.
So how did we end up with Prince Chuckles, a man who enjoys a right old good-natured lark in full court view of the press?
Because I don’t think this is all a case of putting on a show, and 2025’s new and improved Playful William™, parts sold separately and now with detachable beard and on-trend trainers, does not seem like a man putting it on. Heaven knows they are hardly a family with anything by way of acting chops. (Sorry Prince Edward, a wannabe thespian who was about as successful at treading the boards as Princess Margaret was at Dry July).
Maybe he’s gotten much more comfortable on the royal stage. Maybe, after both his father King Charles and wife Kate, The Princess of Wales were diagnosed with cancer, he has stopped, Scarlett O’Hara-style, giving a damn. Maybe he’s realised he can be quite charming. And maybe he’s realised that he doesn’t have to like the media, but they are and will always be an immutable fixture in his life.
His role, as Prince of Wales, demands he market himself and the institution of the monarchy to the UK and even the world, and that requires a certain willingness to play nice with the chaps and chapesses of the press. They and he have a job to do, so how about everyone just gets on with it so we can get out of this park, hey?
What I think this week’s water squirting video of the 42-year-old shows is a man who has grown confidently into his position and learned to accept that being a prince, being a future King, means that journalists and photographers are an implacable, welded-on part of his life.
Also, I wonder if he’s started to actually enjoy what he gets to do? The causes and people and world-savers he can elevate and promote? The change he can affect?
Really, it’s good news for everyone. William now gets to spend his days having a right old jolly time of it and Meghan is never, ever again going to be asked to open a roundabout or an off ramp.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles
Originally published as Cheeky Prince William clip reveals royal’s massive recent change
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