‘Makeover’: Photograph confirms Prince William’s big promotion

Photos of the Prince of Wales back up a major claim made about his next step, as he continues his stealthy yet major transformation.

It’s the beard wot won it.

The UK awoke this week to a startling bit of news that blessedly did not involve furious tractor-driving farmers named Terry blockading parliament or the Great British Bake Off finale.

Oh no.

The headline grabber? Prince William has finished his makeover from somewhat nebbish jumper-wearing chap to action-man King-in-waiting.

Photos of HRH, in his full combat uniform, shooting live rounds with a Welsh Guards sniper team and piloting a drone, were eagerly splashed all over front pages by Britain’s press as they did some shockingly heavy breathing over a middle-aged father-of-three.

Oooh err, or, to plagiarise any number of tabloid sub-editors’ best efforts, talk about a good heir day.

What these shots do is to confirm the near-completion of a stealthy but major rebrand that has been in the works for over a year now, taking the Prince of Wales from loyal, royal plodder to dashing global leader. What’s that? Davos is on the phone?

With the biggest stories of the year obviously the nearly simultaneous cancer diagnoses of King Charles and Kate, the Princess of Wales, William’s transformation has largely played out sans fanfare or much attention outside of royal watching circles.

But no more, with this week’s shots that saw a lathered-up up Fleet Street nearly having to fan itself and apply a cold washcloth.

It was not just that the new pictures made William look dashing and all but that, fully kitted out in fatigues and manfully handling a massive gun, he looked very much the part of future Commander-in-Chief if not an understudy monarch.

Prince William with a general-purpose machine gun (GPMG), during a visit to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards. Picture: Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images

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Think less prince and more P-plate King.

But there is more going on than some facial hair and a spiffier wardrobe (he donned white trainers for the recent Earthshot Prize Awards in South Africa) and there has been much more going on behind the scenes.

String pullers, staffers and courtiers seem to have been repositioning his image from that of dutiful lad to him as a leader in the making.

Prince William (in his white trainers) attends the 2024 Earthshot Prize at Green Point Shared Fields on November 06, 2024 in Cape Town. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The first really big sign came late last year when the prince stood in for his father after the death of Kuwait’s Emir, making a last-minute dash to the Middle East.

The next came in February, when William made an astonishing intervention concerning the war in Gaza, putting out a statement saying that “too many have been killed” in the conflict, and that “I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible”.

They were wholly unprecedented comments by a member of the staunchly non-political and nonpartisan monarchy, the statement representing him taking some big steps out onto the very, very thin ice of international diplomacy.

Clearly, William has no intention of following his grandmother the late Queen’s example of studious neutrality and inscrutability.

William has no intention of following his grandmother’s example of studious neutrality and inscrutability. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Then in June, the prince played a highly public role in the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in both the UK and France.

Photos of him with President Joe Biden, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and French President Emmanuel Macron all sent one clear message – the 42-year-old is unabashedly eager to take his place, quite literally, on the world stage.

Prince William with President Joe Biden, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron. Picture: Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP

The photos sent one clear message – the 42-year-old is unabashedly eager to take his place, quite literally, on the world stage. Picture: Ludovic Marin/AFP

Only this month, while in Cape Town for Earthshot, William was back doing some “soft diplomacy”, as a Kensington Palace spokesperson put it, with the prince holding a 45-minute meeting with the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and with the British foreign secretary David Lammy.

These sorts of face-to-faces, like he had with President Biden while attending Earthshot in Boston in 2022, are “a golden thread” running through the prince’s international trips, the Palace has said.

In October, the Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes reported that Charles’ revelation he has cancer “fired the starting pistol on what courtiers euphemistically term the ‘change of reign’.”

Photos of the Prince of Wales back up a major claim made about his next step, as he continues his stealthy yet major transformation.

“The planning and positioning for the reign of King William V, necessarily and behind the scenes, began – and it will be very hard to put that genie back in the bottle,” he wrote.

Instances like this week’s military manoeuvring and macho man shots seem in line with a regal rebranding effort.

Also while in South Africa, William gave an interview laying out his vision, saying “I’m trying to do it differently and I’m trying to do it for my generation … I’m doing it with maybe a smaller R in the royal, if you like.”

What does that mean? Who knows, but the man now has a beard, so clearly he means business.

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 ‘Makeover’: Photograph confirms Prince William’s big promotion