Prince William’s dilemma: royal duty or family first?
As King Charles thanks the public for their support over his cancer diagnosis, his son is having to make difficult choices of his own
Resting at his country residences, King Charles will now contemplate a new, hopefully temporary, way of life and royal order. Charles, 75, will divide his time between Sandringham and Highgrove, and travel privately to London every week for his cancer treatment. Those close to him say “he is keen to be seen”, and will be driven in the state Bentley with its large windows wherever possible when he is in town. He may also release photos and video clips of his weekly audiences with Rishi Sunak, which will take place at Buckingham Palace and which he hopes to continue in person.
Queen Camilla, 76, will be a constant comfort by Charles’s side during his treathment and withdrawal from public life on medical advice, and has pledged to put her best foot forward, continuing with her own diary of engagements and flying solo at those that were due to have been joint events with Charles. Princess Anne, the Edinburghs and the Gloucesters will continue to play their parts.
While Charles may be “wholly positive about his treatment” and “a return to full public duty as soon as possible”, nobody, not even the King, knows how he will respond or feel during treatment. Inevitably, all eyes will turn to the Prince of Wales. The Princess of Wales, 42, is still recovering from abdominal surgery on January 16 and will be out of action for public duties until after Easter at the earliest. Prince William, 41, cleared his diary for several weeks after her surgery and did not resume duties until last Wednesday. He will now retreat with his family to Anmer Hall on the Sandringham einstate in Norfolk, the Wales’s “favourite place” for their children’s half-terms, where they will also be able to spend time with the King.
William remains determined to continue to put his family first, with aides making it clear he will not “deputise” for the King, who is fully supportive of his oldest son’s commitment to his family. The official palace line is that “the Prince of Wales may step in for His Majesty, nothing is scheduled currently, Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace are in constant communication and should the need arise, appropriate arrangements will be made”.
But in such radically changed circumstances, will the heir to the throne realistically be able to maintain that stance? The coming weeks and months will test William’s resolve and his “unwavering commitment to duty” that aides often speak of.
Palace sources stress there is “no sense he is being pressurised” to increase his workload, and it is understood Charles has not asked William to pick up a raft of his cancelled engagements. In some royal circles, however, there is a slight sense of bewilderment at William’s determination to so fiercely protect his boundaries when it comes to his diary.
Those close to him say that he is still digesting the shock of his father’s diagnosis so soon after his wife of almost 13 years - his partner since they were both students at the University of St Andrews - having major surgery, while also contemplating what the shifting sands mean for his role and his family’s future.
A royal source says: “At times like this, it is a reminder that as well as being the future head of state, he is also a human being. He is processing the news of his father having cancer as a human being. Given the seriousness with which he takes his role, of course it is something he will be thinking about.”
Time in Norfolk will give him space to think and talk things through with the King. It helps that a father and son relationship that was previously tricky, particularly when Charles controlled William’s purse strings for his household which is funded by the Duchy of Cornwall income, has matured in the right direction in recent years. Those who see them together say that the occasional petulance on both sides, though not gone completely, has shifted, and they are much more aligned “on what needs doing and what doesn’t”.
The first big set piece where the new royal order will swing into action and things will look different is the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 11, which is usually led by the monarch. Charles broke with tradition last year and read out his Commonwealth message at the abbey (the late Queen used to issue a written statement). Camilla, who is expected to attend as the most senior royal, will represent the King and lead the royal family in the procession. Still under discussion is whether Charles will remotely record his Commonwealth message or whether William might read it aloud.
Charles may be head of the Commonwealth but it is not a hereditary role and William has already made it clear he does not presume he will be its next head. William is also expected to attend a memorial service later this month in London for his late godfather and the King’s great friend, King Constantine of Greece, though if Camilla decides to attend, once again, she would be officially representing Charles.
After the week-long holiday, William will be back to his regular diary of engagements, though his attendance at the Baftas on the final night of his children’s half-term - February 18 - will depend on how things are at home. “After spending half-term with the children, you can expect to see the Prince of Wales return to work in a more normal way, in the knowledge that he will still be supporting his wife and still be doing the school run and pick-ups,” a royal source said.
Though William isn’t driven by polls, he keeps an eye on them, like most members of his family. He will feel encouraged by the public support that has come with putting his family first. A YouGov poll published last week found that he is still the most popular member of the royal family with a 77 per cent approval rating. It is anyone’s guess what he makes of his brother’s figures, with 58 per cent of people polled having a negative view of the Duke of Sussex, who returned to the UK for just over 24 hours last week to see the King at Clarence House on Tuesday. After returning to California on Wednesday, Prince Harry attended an NFL event in Las Vegas on Thursday to present an award, where he cracked jokes about American football, saying the US “stole rugby from us and you made it your own”. The brothers did not meet and it is not known when Harry will next return to the UK to visit Charles.
When William cleared his diary after Catherine’s surgery and two-week stint in hospital in order to focus on school pick-ups and drop-offs and being at home with their three children, a royal source said of his decision: “The kids are always at the centre of their universe. That will continue to be the case. They want to make sure they have as much normality as possible.”
Those close to William point out that the life they are creating for the children at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor is “the life he didn’t have” as he shuttled between Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales’s homes after their divorce. At times of big change, William wants to keep things stable for his family.
He is also mindful of not being seen to step prematurely into Charles’s shoes, an issue he and Catherine have long been conscious of, particularly with their media coverage which historically, before Charles and Camilla were King and Queen, tended to be more positive, an issue that Charles has long been sensitive about. A friend of William’s said: “He’s very attuned to the fact that he doesn’t want to tread on any toes - the King is still the King.”
While a close friend of William’s has said he is “fully accepting of doing his duty and fulfilling what the public expect of him, without paying too much attention to what he would like to have done in another world,” he has never been a hurry on the path to kingship.
In fact, the opposite was evident at the state opening of parliament in May 2022, when Charles and his heir stood in for the late Queen. William looked pensive throughout, as he did at the Platinum Jubilee service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s the following month, where the Queen was again unexpectedly absent. A close aide conceded both occasions had focused his mind: “There is a sense of the future accelerating towards him ... and the added pressures on his family being under even more scrutiny.”
A friend of William’s has previously said: “He knows the future [of the monarchy] rests on his, Catherine’s and his kids’ shoulders, and that’s a lot of pressure.”
He also wants to commit his time and focus on his own key causes, including Homewards, an initiative to tackle homelessness in the UK, the Royal Foundation’s work on mental health and the environmental Earthshot prize. Kensington Palace announced last week that the awards ceremony would be held in Cape Town, South Africa in November, though William’s attendance will likely depend on how the King’s health fares.
To mark the Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016, William gave an interview to the BBC where he said he did not “lie awake waiting or hoping” to be King. “I take duty very seriously,” he said. “I take my responsibilities very seriously. But it’s about finding your own way at the right time, and if you’re not careful, duty can weigh you down ... I think you have got to develop into a duty role.”
Last year, addressing a packed crowd in the grounds of Windsor Castle at the televised coronation concert to mark Charles and Camilla’s crowning, he spoke directly to his father and to the nation, with the pledge: “Pa, we are all so proud of you ... I commit to serve you all, King, country and Commonwealth.” The challenge ahead will be to navigate his path between serving King, Commonwealth and country, while not being swallowed whole by duty.
The Times
