Royal reporters are dutifully polishing the turd known as Prince William. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Caribbean Tour was an unmitigated disaster featuring colonialist stagecraft, getting fired live in the Jamaican prime minister’s office, attempting to pass off scuba diving and luxury hotel stays as “work,” and Kate dropping $50K on some of the ugliest new clothes, just so she could parade around in Diana-and-Queen cosplay. Worst yet, William failed to properly manage the unfolding crisis and he just lost his temper and threw a series of tantrums instead. Notably, he threw a hissy fit as they were flying out of The Bahamas, releasing an angry, illiterate statement which boiled down to William huffing and puffing about how maybe there shouldn’t even be a Commonwealth if they don’t like his colonialism. William has been telling everyone that the royals need to do things “The Cambridge Way,” which means explaining and complaining constantly. Now we’re getting more info about what this (lol) Cambridge Way entails. It involves less work and more preening, if you can believe that.
The Cambridge Way: Under a blueprint setting out what Palace aides are describing as ‘The Cambridge Way’, William will adopt an approach closer to that pursued by his grandfather, Prince Philip, rather than that of his father. With an over-arching mantra of ‘urgency plus optimism equals action’, William will eschew what a source described as ‘hand-wringing over life’s problems’ and instead concentrate on ‘hope and solutions’.
William’s priorities: Prioritising core issues including mental health, the environment and children’s early years, and focusing on ‘hope and solutions’ in the style adopted by former US President Barack Obama when running for the White House; Harnessing his media training to make more TV appearances so that he is seen as ‘credible and comfortable’ by the public; Deploying the increasingly assured and popular Duchess of Cambridge on more solo overseas trips; Reducing stage-managed events in favour of more meet-and-greets so the couple can ‘get under the skin’ of issues; Cutting the number of charities with which the Prince of Wales is usually associated, but playing a greater role with those he retains.
Reinventing the Prince of Wales role: While the reinvention of the role of the Prince of Wales will inevitably spark suggestions of an implied attack on Prince Charles, a source close to William insisted: ‘This approach isn’t a criticism of what has come before but just an acknowledgment of a desire for change. It’s about hope and optimism for the future. What is driving the Duke and Duchess in everything they do is urgency plus optimism equals action. Many of the causes adopted by the Duke and Duchess, whether it’s Earthshot [the annual prize awarded by the Royal Foundation for contributions to environmentalism] or the early years work, also touches on every other aspect of society so it’s not that they’re excluding other good causes by having a focus.’
There’s friction between William & Charles: Charles was irked that last month’s eight-day Caribbean tour, which included visits to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas, clashed with his long-planned trip to Ireland. ‘Ireland is one of the most important relationships so there was a little consternation over the timing to say the least,’ said an insider close to Charles. ‘There is not usually a clash of diaries in this way.’ As feared by Charles’s team, the Cambridges did eclipse the Prince of Wales in terms of media coverage – although far from all of it positive – but a source close to William played down the spat, saying: ‘The Prince of Wales always goes away to Ireland around this time of year, so there didn’t seem to be a problem.’
William won’t take over The Prince’s Trust: The Mail on Sunday understands that William has no plans to take on The Prince’s Trust, the charity founded by Charles in 1976 to support vulnerable young people, but will instead concentrate on the Royal Foundation.
William will slash his father’s staff: William has also made clear his intention to slash by half the estimated 140 staff employed by his father when he becomes Prince of Wales.
The money: The Duke, who has his own dedicated office entirely separate from that of Prince Charles, will inherit about £22 million a year from the Duchy of Cornwall when he succeeds his father. The funds are used to subsidise the Prince of Wales’s official and charitable activities as well as to pay for any children, but William will be free to use any savings as he sees fit, including ploughing money into the Royal Foundation.
This misrepresents Prince Philip: Drawing parallels with the Duke of Edinburgh, the source said that The Cambridge Way blueprint was being devised in ‘much the same way’ as the Duke of Edinburgh’s approach. Prince Philip had supported a wide range of charities yet maintained a particular interest in the military, the environment and technology.
The least credible person: Explaining William’s determination to adopt the hands-on approach that endeared his late mother Princess Diana to the nation, the source added: ‘The Duke doesn’t like stage-managed events. When he talks in a speech he wants it to be more natural and credible, an event where he is interacting and reacting to people rather than an event designed around him about what he wants to say. He doesn’t just want to do round-table talks without properly getting to grips with the issues. There will also be new ways in which to interact with people and become credible and comfortable in five or six core subjects.’
William’s “growing confidence”: William’s growing confidence was illustrated last weekend with his intervention at the end of the Caribbean tour, which was beset by public-relations errors and protests about British colonialism. As the MoS revealed, the impetus for his acknowledgement that he might not succeed the Queen as head of the Commonwealth ‘came from KP’ – Kensington Palace – rather than from Charles, although the Queen was told about his statement. One insider described it as the Duke’s ‘coming of age’.
Charles hates all of this: While William’s team consider the creation of the blueprint for the Cambridges’ future to be both sensible and necessary, some allies of Charles fear it could tarnish his achievements as Prince of Wales, particularly on the environment and supporting young people. ‘It’s not particularly fair to the Prince of Wales and all the work he has put in,’ said one.
[From The Daily Mail]
What a complete mess. A few notes! While Prince Philip had large issues he cared about, the man was a workhorse who was president or patron of hundreds of charities and organizations. He invented real charitable schemes to help people and promote science, education, conservation, medicine and the arts. What William wants to do is be lazy, not take over any of the work Charles does, and yammer on and on about how he’s “becoming credible” on certain issues… at some point. William is just a few months shy of 40 years old. Why are William and Kate always discussed as if they’re straight out of college and applying for their first grown-up job? Jesus. And y’all know that William is itching to get his hands on the Duchy of Cornwall money. He’s going to put all of it in his Royal Foundation piggy bank and he’ll spend it all on himself. He’ll probably cut off funding for all of Charles’s charitable priorities and Duchy initiatives too.
Also: for years now, William and Kate have made these bold statements (through sources) about how they’re going to reinvent the wheel and really prioritize a handful of charities rather than spreading themselves thin and getting involved with hundreds of patronages. And then they don’t do anything at all, and the other royals just have to eat it and put a bow on it. Will and Kate have set the bar so low and then they make everyone praise them for being so wise in setting the bar so low.
Photos courtesy of Instar.
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