How does Prince William feel about the Tories trying to conscript his children?

One of the centerpiece pledges of Rishi Sunak’s reelection campaign in the UK is that he wants to bring back “national service.” As in, mandatory military or community service for all young people for one year or longer. As I said previously, the Tories will likely face historic losses in the Fourth of July election, so all of these Tory schemes will likely be moot. But it’s become a national conversation in the UK, about whether or not a modern “national service” model would work and what it would look like in practice. Sunak claims that no one would be exempt either, especially not the young royals like Prince George, Charlotte and Louis. So what does Prince William make of his Tory handlers trying to conscript his children into national service? From the Mail’s Ephraim Handcastle column:

Does Prince William endorse Rishi’s plans for a grandkids army? My source whispers that army veteran William knows the perils of being unprepared for the demands of military life and the emotional strain it can bring.

He highlighted the subject in a recent guide to dealing with suicide in the Armed Forces. He also spoke about mental health awareness on a visit to Combermere Barracks in March.

And William and Kate’s Royal Foundation has published research showing that 40 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds struggle with managing their emotions.

Sounds like William feels that pushing unprepared teenagers into uniform could do more harm than good.

[From The Daily Mail]

“William knows the perils of being unprepared for the demands of military life and the emotional strain it can bring.” Dude was a part-time RAF pilot who saw his military service as a way to avoid royal work. But yes, I would absolutely say that William was “unprepared” for the military and he doesn’t want his kids to go through it. Remember this whole storyline last year, when Kensington Palace briefed reporters that William and Kate were “modern parents” who would not force George to join the military? They got a lot of pushback from the military community on that one. But it does feel like William doesn’t have any affection for the Windsor tradition of “every royal man must serve in uniform.”

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