How Prince William will reign, by those who know him well
Those close to William stress his reign will be ‘an evolution not a revolution’, but acknowledge there will be a significant changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
Forty-three isn’t a milestone. For a future king, who by his own admission found the past year “brutal” and “the hardest in my life” as he navigated his father’s and his wife’s cancer diagnoses, however, it is important.
Prince William has been doing a lot of thinking. A tumultuous year – his wife is in remission and his father is living, busily, with cancer – has been the most formative of his life in planning for his role as monarch and shaping the institution he will one day lead. A source close to him says: “When all of that has been going on, there is an inner sense of reappraisal about what is important to him.”
Just as the previous Prince of Wales spent decades thinking about the future during the 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth, the future William V is in planning mode for what will, inevitably, be a shorter run-up. Those close to William stress his reign will be “an evolution, not a revolution”, but acknowledge there will be a significant changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
A friend tells me: “He’s definitely been thinking a lot about how things will evolve over time. When the moment comes, he’ll want to do it his way: genuinely, not just following a script. He’s not afraid to dig into the details, ask the tough questions, and figure out what actually works today. He wants to make sure the whole thing has even more impact and remains relevant.”
William wants to explore the makeup of the institution and ensure it’s “fit for purpose in the modern era”. The structure of the royal household at Buckingham Palace – which is likely to remain as “monarchy HQ”, though, like his father, he is not expected to live there – has barely changed since the Victorian era. His priority will be to “look under the hood” and see if the engine is running in a way that delivers “impact” – a William buzzword – and is value for money.
The sovereign grant, the taxpayer funds used to support the monarch’s official duties and household, is £86.3m ($179.5m), equivalent to £1.29 per person in the country. The future king is “mindful of how much the monarchy costs” and the size of the organisation, and will be “hands on” in restructuring a leaner machine.
Royals in transition
Like his mother before him, Charles has tended to leave the running of his household to his courtiers. Very early on in his reign, William plans to “take every stone and look underneath it” while assessing the “footprint of the institution”.
That goes for both the running of the monarchy and affairs of state. William has previously said his grandmother’s approach to being head of state was to take “more of a passive role”, but subsequently indicated that approach would change during his reign, when there will be “more private, robust challenging of advice”.
Jason Knauf, one of William’s closest confidants, has been alongside him for more than a decade, first as his communications secretary, then as chief executive of the Royal Foundation, now as chief executive of the prince’s Earthshot Prize environmental awards. He accompanied William to Monaco this month where the prince rubbed shoulders with presidents Emmanuel Macron of France, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Rodrigo Chaves Robles of Costa Rica at an oceans summit.
“He has been thinking about the future for years, and he knows that what his grandmother did and what his father does is an evolution,” says Knauf. “There are traditions and things that won’t change, but this thinking about the next (role) is: How is this going to be reflective of him? That’s the way he thinks about the future. It’s all an evolution, making it work for what people expect of him and leaders of his generation. The late queen didn’t keep doing the same thing for 70 years, and it won’t ever feel like it’s done. It will feel different but not jarring – he’ll want it to feel like a natural progression that people expect of him. If it feels like that, it will be a success.”
William has already indicated some of things that will evolve during his reign. While Charles trimmed an hour off Elizabeth’s three-hour coronation service for his own in May 2023, William will go further. The week after the coronation, he let it be known that his would “look and feel quite different”. A royal source said: “He is really thinking: ‘How do we make his coronation feel most relevant in the future?’ He is mindful of the fact that … whenever his time comes: How can the coronation be modern but also unifying to the nation and the Commonwealth?”
Charles’s televised service also included a “homage to the people”, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, invited the Westminster Abbey congregation and the nation to swear allegiance to Charles and his “heirs and successors”. Another source close to William told me at the time: “There is no way he will go down that route or anything like it.”
The same source, who knows the Waleses well, believes William will keep things much simpler and gives this advice: “Look at the coronations of medieval kings, they were staggeringly simple. Keep things that are pertinent to today, that reflect diversity and get back to the core of it.” They also think William should break with the tradition of wearing the Imperial State Crown, like his father and grandmother. “That ridiculous thing that looks like it’s out of Disney? No. What I most remember about that day were William and Catherine’s robes, Catherine’s beautiful, simple headpiece (by milliner Jess Collett), and William wearing nothing on his head.” William has not yet made a decision on which crown he will wear at his coronation, but is understood to feel sentimental about the Imperial State Crown’s link to his father and his grandmother.
There are already small but significant shifts. Traditionally, lord lieutenants of each county have welcomed senior members of the royal family to engagements, but they are rarely seen on William’s jobs. A friend of the royal family tells me: “He often doesn’t feel he needs to have the lord lieutenants welcome him. So you don’t see them in the court circular as much as you do for other members of the family. It really pisses some of the lord lieutenants off. But he doesn’t always feel he needs them there, with the extra layer of formality.” Sources close to William insist he values the work of the lord lieutenants, but acknowledge that shift.
Those close to him say William is acutely aware of the importance to the institution and the public of the “magic and pageantry” of set pieces such as Trooping the Colour. But he is also conscious that the royal family’s traditional Buckingham Palace balcony appearance will soon look very different as the number of working royals declines. The Duke of Kent is 89, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester are 80 and 79, and the Princess Royal is 74. All may reasonably look to scale back their official duties in the coming years.
New faces
Step forward the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, who will play a much more prominent role. William and Kate are big fans of Edward, 61, and Sophie, 60, and are already raising their profile. Last week, Sophie and Kate shared a giggle at the Garter Day procession in Windsor, and earlier this month, the natural double act of William and Sophie joked their way through a visit to the Royal Cornwall show, sampling cider and whisky and clearly enjoying themselves.
The Waleses admire Edward’s quiet, dutiful approach to his role and Sophie’s diligent, determined work on causes such as sexual violence in conflict and supporting young people. William’s view, says a friend, is that the Edinburghs are “needed” and “it’s really important the fantastic work that they do is seen”.
Also ones to watch will be William’s cousin, Zara Tindall, and her husband Mike, Zara’s brother Peter Phillips and the York sisters, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. None are working royals but, between them, they supported William at Buckingham Palace garden parties he hosted last month and last year. Without his brother, the Duke of Sussex, as a wingman, they are likely to support William more in the future, though he has no plans to put them on the payroll.
Zara, a former Olympian equestrian like her mother, Princess Anne, may take up the reins of royal equestrian pursuits. William, who attended Royal Ascot one day last week, does not share his father’s or grandmother’s love of racing. A racing source who knows the royal family well and has spoken to William on the subject, says: “I never get the feeling the whole top hat and racing is really his thing, and he’s said as much. He’s never really seemed comfortable doing it.” A source close to William says “he understands how important Ascot is, not just to the racing community but to UK plc”, but concedes he will not be as hands-on with Ascot and the royal stud at Sandringham, Norfolk, as the current and previous monarchs. Step forward Zara?
Unsurprisingly, there will be no role for the Duke of York, given his ill-judged friendships with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and more recent dealings with alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo. All continue to convince William that, as sources close to him say, Uncle Andrew is a reputational “risk” and “threat” to the institution. When most of the royal family, including Andrew, gathered for church on Easter Sunday at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, William worshipped with his family and in-laws, the Middletons, in Norfolk, where the Waleses have their country home, Anmer Hall.
The gulf remains between William and Harry, estranged brothers who have not seen or spoken to each other since their grandmother’s funeral in September 2022. The Sussexes’ split from the royal family in 2020 and the subsequent fallout, has probably forever divided two brothers once the closest of kin. Harry’s recent interview with the BBC, when he claimed he would “love a reconciliation with my family” while firing verbal missiles at them, did little to thaw the family freeze.
But those closest to William have noticed a marked recent shift. Where he once raged at his brother’s outbursts – after the publication of Spare, a friend told me he was determined not to publicly respond even though “inside he’s burning” – the anger has subsided to indifference. A friend tells me: “What has struck me the most recently is that he just doesn’t mention it at all. It used to be that the family stuff was taking up a lot of space in his head, it was a very close relationship and he was very upset. But he’s not letting it get to him at all any more. It is a change. It’s sad, but it’s a much healthier space for him to be at.”
There is bemusement in royal circles at a recent report suggesting Harry wanted to keep HRH titles for his children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, so they can decide for themselves whether they want to become working royals when they are older. Under the next reign, roles for Archie and Lili as working royals are unlikely.
Family first
William’s own family continues to be the most important thing in his life. A friend says he’s always been determined to give his children the stable childhood he lacked as Charles and Diana’s marriage broke down, followed by Diana’s death in 1997 when he was 15. “He’s always been fiercely protective of them and will be fiercely protective of them in the future.” When Catherine was hospitalised last January for abdominal surgery and then began chemotherapy, William scaled back his public duties to focus on keeping home and school life as normal as possible for George, Charlotte and Louis. The couple still share the school run from Adelaide Cottage in Windsor to Lambrook, and are often at sports matches, concerts and plays at the co-ed prep school. Just like any other dad, William was recently spotted poolside holding Charlotte’s sports bag while she competed in a swimming gala.
A source who knows the Waleses well says they have come through a difficult year, because they stuck to their guns of “family first”, regardless of criticism from some quarters, but conscious of and grateful for the public’s support: “When you’re going through a tough time like that and you’ve got a lot of tough choices to make in terms of protecting your family, the public support’s and having had the time to be a husband and father through it all was important. I don’t think he’s ever doubted it (public support), but they don’t take it for granted and always want to make sure they express gratitude whenever they have the opportunity.” The couple’s messages during Catherine’s illness have thanked the public.
Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the former principal private secretary to William, Catherine and Harry, who is also Prince George’s godfather, says: “William has always been clear about how important his family is – it’s a vital element in his life and in the life of the royal family as an institution, because of the example that a really steady, stable and happy family projects.” Of the past difficult year, he says: “I think it has demonstrated William’s character and his courage – he’s had to take the whole thing in his stride and shown that he won’t be pushed around.”
As well as thinking about the future, over the past year, William has signalled how he is carving out his role as heir. In an interview last year in Cape Town during a trip for his Earthshot awards, he set out his “different” approach to monarchy: “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. So it’s more about impact, philanthropy, collaboration, convening and helping people. I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well because I really care about what I do. It helps impact people’s lives and I think we could do with some more empathetic leadership around the world.
This includes building social housing for those at risk of homelessness in Cornwall on his Duchy land – the 130,000-acre property portfolio valued at £1bn stretching from Cornwall to Kent, which recorded profits of £23.6m last year and which he controls as the Duke of Cornwall. William has taken a hands-on approach to running the duchy since 2022, and introduced several initiatives to support farmers and their families with the challenges of rural life, including accessible mental health support.
For a man who will one day wear a crown – whichever crown that may be – he wants to show more of the accessible “man of the people” side to the monarchy. An ardent Aston Villa fan, he turned football pundit in April, joining former players Rio Ferdinand and Ally McCoist for the pre-match analysis before Villa’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Paris Saint-Germain, which he watched with Prince George and one of his closest friends, Thomas van Straubenzee, Princess Charlotte’s godfather.
“What it showed to everybody is just what a big football fan the prince is,” McCoist tells me. “It was magical to see, just like any dad and his son watching and cheering their favourite team when a goal’s gone in, and a wonderful look at the prince probably in an environment that a lot of people, myself included, wouldn’t expect to see him. A lot of people have said to me … that it was wonderful to see him as a man of the people.”
The “empathy” William has spoken of in his role was evident in January last year when he travelled to Headingley Rugby Stadium, home of Leeds Rhinos, to surprise former players Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield with CBEs, which he personally awarded for their fundraising and campaigning on motor neurone disease. Burrow died six months later.
William’s support for Burrow’s family has continued, publicly and privately. Earlier this year, he wrote the foreword to a memoir, Take Care, by Burrow’s widow, Lindsey. After her husband’s death, he sent Lindsey and their three children, Macy, 13, Maya, 10, and Jackson, 6, a letter in which he spoke of his own experiences of loss and grief as a child. “The compassion he’s shown us as a family has been special,” says Lindsey. “For the children, having a future king show his vulnerability and know he has been through what they’ve been through made them feel they weren’t alone. There’s a genuine sincerity and compassion about him.”
The Trump factor
The prince also wants the armed forces to know he has their back. This month, visiting the Army Air Corps in Wattisham, Suffolk, in his role as colonel in chief, which the King handed over to William last year – a role once mooted for Harry – while serving bacon sandwiches to soldiers over chats about their accommodation, he promised to “make sure that’s looked at”. Conscious it might sound as if he was pulling rank, he joked: “Whether they listen to me, that’s another matter.”
Some of William’s allies would like to see the next head of the armed forces do much more for the military. One says: “If the first duty of the government of the day is to protect the nation, that has to be reflected in the priorities of the head of state and the Prince of Wales. The wolf closest to the sled is national security, not climate change. It needs a massive amount more (of his attention). In terms of current leadership, he’s one of the only ones who can do it. William and his father are revered by the armed forces, they can really move the dial.”
Burnishing his credentials as a statesman on the global stage is also a priority. The Earthshot Prize, with the awards held in a different country each year, has been a big part of that strategy, seeing him rub shoulders with president Joe Biden during the 2023 awards in Boston, and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa last year. This year’s award ceremony will be in Brazil. While the King delivered a speech at the COP28 summit in Dubai in November, it is William who is expected to attend COP30 in Belem, northern Brazil. In Monaco this month, William, wearing a recycled, sustainable tie, addressed the 1800-strong audience for the heads of state and government session with a call to action to restore ocean health.
A source who knows William well says of his international ambitions: “He thinks it is a core part of his job and it’s something he takes really seriously. Look at the work he has been doing on the illegal wildlife trade going back more than a decade, working with international figures, he’s seen a lot of people come and go, he knows which ones are staying around and which issues have longevity. It’s the way the King has been operating for a long time – making sure the issues you’re working on also enjoy broad support in the country you serve.”
Then there is “the special relationship”. At President Donald Trump’s request, William was the first UK representative to meet him after his re-election, after the reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris in December. In a “warm” meeting indicating Trump’s eagerness to align himself with the royal family, he described William as a “very handsome” and “good man” doing “a fantastic job”. The pair will meet again during Trump’s second state UK visit, expected in the northern autumn. As a source close to William quips: “Trump seems obsessed with him, which is fantastic for the UK. He just has to smile at Trump and we get an extra cut in tariffs. Who does that remind you of? The late queen, who had a nose for the strategic.”
There was no grand celebration for William on Saturday. He spent his birthday in Windsor with Catherine, George, Charlotte and Louis. Perhaps over a pint of cider, there was relief at emerging from a “brutal” year and quiet optimism for what lies ahead because the crown he’s thinking about isn’t just the one he will wear. It is also the legacy he will shape.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
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