bitchy | NYT: Prince William is unprepared for the daily ‘routine work of the monarchy’

Prince William’s two events on Wednesday seemed to partially satiate the masses and the press, and yet there seems to be a new host of questions related to William, Kate and the monarchy in general. For one, William seemed under the influence of something at the investiture. Two, he seemed to strike the wrong tone at the charity gala for a man dealing with a wife and a father’s dual health crises. There’s no evidence that William has even checked on his father in person. There’s still a missing princess (no one has seen her since Christmas), persistent rumors of a medically induced coma, and the lack of evidence that Kate is where they say she is or what her condition actually is. All of that was drawn into sharp relief when William spent the bulk of this week briefing sh-t about how much he hates his brother. The New York Times did a somewhat interesting piece about how William’s life is probably going to change drastically in the near future and he’s not prepared for it at all. At least that’s what I got out of it. Some highlights:

Lingering disruptions for William: Nobody, aside from Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, faces more lingering disruption from the king’s cancer diagnosis than his eldest son. The advocacy work, family life, and zone of privacy that William has carved out for himself is very different than that of his father, when he served as the Prince of Wales. Whether William will be able to preserve those qualities while stepping in for his father during his treatment is, at best, uncertain. “William has tended toward less of the day-to-day routine work of the monarchy, compared to his father, instead focusing on bigger, glitzier engagements,” said Ed Owens, a royal historian. “But now he’ll be expected to fill in on many of these more mundane public outings.”

William’s energy is focused elsewhere: It is not just a question of managing his calendar: William’s professional focus, members of his staff say, has been about pouring his energy into a couple of high-impact social issues — most recently, climate change and homelessness — where he believes he can make a tangible difference.

Still no Kensington Palace CEO: The scope of William’s ambition is evident in a looming shake-up at his office in Kensington Palace. He and his wife, Catherine, are expected to appoint, for the first time, a chief executive. Using a corporate title rather than the traditional title of private secretary, a person with knowledge of the office said, is calculated to attract candidates with business credentials and to reinforce the office’s professional nature.

William has never done bread-and-butter royal events: “William was trying to explore the boundaries of what he could do as heir that he couldn’t do as king,” said Peter Hunt, a former royal correspondent for the BBC. “The tension is how to pursue his own activities while supporting the monarch. William is going to feel that at an earlier stage than his father did.”

The school run: A spokesman for William, Lee Thompson, said Kensington Palace was conferring with Buckingham Palace about how to parcel out the king’s public commitments (William’s events on Wednesday were in his diary before the disclosure of his father’s illness). In the meantime, Mr. Thompson said, William continues to drop off and pick up his children from their school in Berkshire, west of London. That is another break from the more remote parenting style of the royal family in previous generations.

A secret squirrel: The zeal with which William has thrown a cloak of privacy around his family was dramatized by his wife’s medical treatment. Kensington Palace offered scant information on her condition, beyond saying she was undergoing abdominal surgery. There were no photographs of the couple’s children — George, Charlotte, and Louis — visiting their mother in the hospital. Nor were there any images of her going home almost two weeks later. The contrast to Charles was striking. Buckingham Palace disclosed that he would be undergoing a procedure for an enlarged prostate. Camilla was photographed visiting her husband, and the couple left the hospital together, waving to cameras as they walked to their car. Some of those differences can be explained by history. While Charles has taken his share of lumps from Britain’s tabloid press, he has continued to work with those papers in what is essentially a transactional relationship.

[From The NY Times]

There are several different angles we can go here – while William is facing a profound shift in his “business as usual,” it’s also clear that Charles wants William to have absolutely nothing to do with state business or stepping into any events which were on Charles’s schedule. Charles has made it clear that he will hold onto power until his last breath. And right now, William seems fine with that too. When push comes to shove, William would rather booze it up and spend time with his rose bushes. The only reason William “wants” any power is to tell everyone that Harry is jealous of HIM. That’s clearly his sole focus now, at the expense of literally everything else. Anyway, I think the NYT is being shady about all of the shenanigans around Kate. It’s genuinely my hope that American and European media really start to pick on how f–king weird the past month has been.

The Prince of Wales has returned to royal duties after his wife’s abdominal operation and following the announcement of the King’s cancer diagnosis.https://t.co/Ig4ZQJ3Vi4 pic.twitter.com/KUXAYfZZfp

— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 7, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.