Tag: royals

The Times of London’s Roya Nikkhah gets a lot of exclusives from Prince William and Kensington Palace. In the past four or five years, Nikkhah has definitely become one of their favorites – she’s not only interviewed William one-on-one, she’s also been tasked with writing odd profiles of him, like the infamous “The Other Brother” story. Roya, like all of the royal reporters, has written a summary and analysis of William’s appearance on The Reluctant Traveler, an episode which came out on Friday. Roya’s piece is currently called “What the William TV interview tells us about how he’ll reign.” But the original headline was “What the TV interview tells us about how William the Scooter King will reign.” OUCH! I guess she got a call from the Scooter King? Some highlights from her piece:

She brought up Harry right away: In my job, someone asks me almost every day: “What is the royal family really like?” More often than not, before I’ve had the chance to answer, they deliver a verdict: “Harry’s the fun one, isn’t he? The heart-on-his-sleeve guy. William’s the more serious, sensible one.” In a charming, informal, revealing wander around Windsor with the actor and comedian Eugene Levy, of Schitt’s Creek and American Pie fame, the Prince of Wales has sought to gently shift that narrative.

The Scooter King: The future King — who swung into Windsor Castle’s quadrangle, not in the state Bentley as his father often does but on his electric scooter — came very much prepared with what he wanted to say, and the markers he wanted to put down. It was the future Scooter King’s manifesto for monarchy: “Change is on my agenda. Change for good. I don’t fear it.” Timing is everything. For some time now, the next in line has been keen to “socialise” what the future reign of William V will look like, while ever-conscious of not queering his father’s pitch.

Scooter King doesn’t care about history: Last week, while joking with Levy that “if you want to know about history, I’m not the guy”, the next King let us know exactly what he thinks about history when it comes to decision-making. Under the last reign and the current one, decisions have often been made based on traditions established over centuries. William is calling time on that. As he told Levy: “If you’re not careful, history can be a real weight and an anchor round you, and you can feel suffocated by it, and restricted by it too much … tradition has a huge part to play in all of this, but there’s also points where you look at tradition and go ‘is that still fit for purpose today? Is that still the right thing to do? Are we still doing and having the most impact we could be having?’ I like to question things.”

The Spare: By his own admission, the idea of the top job no longer overwhelms William, but “worry or stress around the family side of things, that does overwhelm me quite a bit … because it’s more personal, it’s more about feeling, it’s more upsetting the rhythm”. Clearly emotional, the heir did not name the self-proclaimed “spare” at this point. He didn’t need to. Harry is still family, his absence still stings William.

Work-shy: “For me, the most important thing in my life is family,” said William, as he put down another significant marker with Levy, justifying why he chooses not to work a “nine to five” day. He may often top royal popularity polls, but there has historically been a question mark over his work ethic humming under the surface. His father and his aunt, Princess Anne, clock up far more engagements than him, year in, year out.

A work in progress: There are plenty of unanswered questions about what changes William will make to the monarchy. Much of his manifesto is still a work in progress, and he hopes it will be many more years before his time comes.

William’s forever homes: Explaining to a slightly bemused Levy that “we don’t actually live in the castle itself, but we come and use the castle for work and for meetings and see people”, that’s one conundrum William needs to crack on with. However modern and “relevant” a monarch he plans to be, if palaces and castles are no longer to be the home of the sovereign, what — and who — are they for?

Mission accomplished: As one of William’s closest friends told me, it’s mission fulfilled on that front: “Delighted that people get to see PW [Prince William] as he is behind the scenes.”

[From The Times]

A few things. It strikes me that only someone as jobless and lazy as William would think “mission accomplished” about that interview. He had no actual plans, he is incurious about history, and he has no ambition to actually DO anything. He doesn’t come across as easy-going or charismatic – he comes across like a sad, middle-aged man desperately trying to come across as a normal bloke. There’s also a buzz about this interview… a buzz that the royal rota is not happy and they’re going to be much more critical about William’s ineptitude and failings in the weeks, months and years to come.

Photos and screencaps courtesy of AppleTV .

Now that I’ve seen Prince William’s episode of The Reluctant Traveler, it’s pretty funny to watch all of the royal rota run around and claim that this interview was so huge, so groundbreaking and so significant. While significant things did happen within the interview, the rota absolutely refuses to discuss those parts. For example, William’s overeagerness to talk about what he’ll do once his father dies. That was significant (and macabre). William’s lack of interest in British history, royal history or any history was also pretty significant, as was William’s ability to spend an entire day with an AppleTV film crew because William literally had nothing else to do. Anyway, Becky English at the Daily Mail was one of the first rota stenographers tasked with Kensington Palace’s clean-up. She wrote a long-winded piece about how William is not afraid to “challenge tradition.” It’s not so much that he’s challenging tradition, it’s that he’s too stupid and poorly educated to understand tradition, history, politics, diplomacy, etc. But I digress. Some highlights from Becky’s piece:

The work-from-home king’s magical monarchy: Want to know the one thing that really pushes Prince William’s buttons? It’s the suggestion, ‘Well, we’ve always done it this way’. That’s not to say the future king is racing to turn his back on 1,000 years of pomp, pageantry and history when he accedes to the throne. As one source tells me: ‘He very much believes in tradition and the magic of the monarchy.’ But there’s no doubt that he is aching to afford some serious change. And he certainly won’t be afraid to question why things are done in the way they are – and whether they are still relevant to the institution today.

William has to be treated gently, like a baby bunny: The programme’s gentle, conversational format works well. And while Levy isn’t a journalist asking the questions we would all dearly love to know the answers to (the only mention of Harry comes from William when he talks about the media pressures they were subjected to as boys), neither does the interviewer shy away from difficult subjects, including the Princess of Wales’ illness and what he feels about Prince George becoming King. William comes across at times as really very vulnerable, possibly the most human we have ever seen him on camera.

His weight loss: He looks decidedly gaunt, it has to be said: a sign, I think, of the strain he has been under over the last year and a half supporting his wife, both practically and emotionally, and protecting their children. His voice appears to crack at one point as he talks of how difficult this time has been. This has, of course, been gravely complicated by his father’s cancer diagnosis. While William says in the programme that the King is clearly a man who can take of himself, it’s obvious he also worries hugely about him. And his father’s illness has meant he has had to live with the fear – God forbid – that should Charles’ health take a turn for the worse, his own carefully constructed family unit will change irrevocably.

William ignores California! This hasn’t been helped by the repeated sniping he receives from California. It’s something William studiously ignores, but has not helped his general sense of wellbeing.

William’s big kingship plans: When Levy suggests that the monarchy will be ‘shifting in a slightly different direction’, William doesn’t shirk the question and replies firmly: ‘I think it’s safe to say that change is on my agenda. Change for good. And I embrace that… I don’t fear it. That’s the bit that excites me… the idea of being able to bring some change. Not overly radical change, but changes that I think need to happen. ‘ And that’s the bit that will get everyone talking. The heir doesn’t flesh out what he means, and nor is anyone around him, although my sources stress that ‘all the things like garden parties and Trooping the Colour will very much still be part of the picture’. Suggestions he won’t have a coronation are strongly denied, although I think it’s safe to say it will be pared down from even his father’s more streamlined version.

William just likes to question things! ‘I think when people say he doesn’t want a coronation it’s more of a statement of wishes than intent,’ one observer says. ‘When he thinks about change, it’s very much in the guise of questioning how things are done, much like he’s done with the Duchy of Cornwall since taking it over. If the answer is, “But we’ve always done it like that”, his answer will inevitably be, “But why?”‘

[From The Daily Mail]

This whole thing of “William will be different, when he’s king, he’ll streamline everything and cut out all of the fussy sh-t he doesn’t like” is connected to the conversations about the Sussexes’ titles. Because once you start stripping away the silly/bonkers setpieces of monarchy, you leave people questioning why ANY of it matters. Either every part of the monarchy is modern enough to exist in 2025 or none of it is. Either all of the Windsors have special royal blood or none of them do.

I enjoy the real-time backtracking on William’s coronation though – Peggy’s been talking about his coronation since the day after his father’s Chubbly. In 2023, he thought all of it was stupid and he wanted something without all of the fruity costumes. It sounds like his handlers are still trying to convince him that he’s still going to wear the fakakta robes and actually put the crown on his big bald head. Also: what do we think about reporters now openly talking about his weight loss? I still say that part of his weight loss was because they tried to dry him out last year. Similar to how they try to dry out Camilla every four or five months.

Photos courtesy of AppleTV .