Prince William’s plans to reinvent Prince of Wales role are REVEALED

Prince William will focus on ‘five or six core charity subjects’ when he becomes Prince of Wales, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

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’.

The Queen’s advancing years and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s recent troubled tour of the Caribbean has resulted in a redoubling of efforts to finalise William and Kate’s long-term strategy, which will include:

• 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.

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.’

That is not to say, however, that no friction exists between father and son.

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.’

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, created by William and his brother Harry in 2009 and now the vehicle for the Cambridges’ campaigning work.

The charity focuses on the environment, including the Earthshot Prize, conservation, early years, emergency responders and mental health, including reducing stigma.

The Cambridges hold regular meetings with Lord Hague, the former Foreign Secretary, who was appointed Chair of the Royal Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 2020.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 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.

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.

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.’

Citing his role last year as co-presenter of a five-part Earthshot TV documentary with Sir David Attenborough, the insider added that William also wanted to utilise his media training and TV experience to be more ‘credible’ with the wider public.

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’.

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.

What would the Queen Mother have said? Nothing. That’s why she was so popular, writes PATRICK JEPHSON

By PATRICK JEPHSON for the Mail On Sunday 

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the death of the Queen Mother. From her celestial Royal box at an eternal Epsom Derby, it’s tempting to wonder what Her Majesty might make of the Royal headlines of the past fortnight.

A veteran of overseas tours from an era when the Royal Yacht Britannia was considered essential kit for making the right impression, she might raise an eyebrow at the furore generated by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s use of a humble vintage Land Rover to review a parade in Jamaica.

She would surely have found the dignified proceedings in Westminster Abbey – where the life of her famously brisk son-in-law was celebrated on Tuesday – more familiar territory. 

And she would have joined in the universal admiration for her elder daughter’s visible fortitude in just being there.

What the Queen Mother might make of great-nephew Harry’s decamping to California or grandson Andrew’s settlement of a sexual assault case is best not imagined.

Four big Royal stories, each symbolising an aspect of the momentous period of change through which the Monarchy is now passing. How it comes through the change is critically important. 

It may even decide if the House of Windsor will continue to supply heads of state to any country in the Commonwealth, ours included.

The Cambridges’ Jubilee tour of three Caribbean realms seems to have hit several painful nerves. It could be studied by future courtiers as an example of how trouble on tour never arrives when or how you expect it. 

But even as the flak starts flying, the golden rule must stay the same: don’t make a bad situation worse, especially by answering questions you haven’t been asked.

A tour that should have been remembered for mutual goodwill now looks destined to be remembered for very different reasons. In a climate of post-colonial reassessment, it could prove a catalyst for uncomfortable changes in Royal relations with the Commonwealth.

Royal tours to Commonwealth countries always require special care, and that counts extra when the tour, as in this case, includes realms – countries that while fully independent retain the Queen as a largely ceremonial head of state.

Having overseen a score of Royal tours for William’s mother, I have experienced for myself the pressure-cooker atmosphere that can build in a small team, working hard in stressful circumstances in unfamiliar surroundings.

I learned the hard way that time for reflection – which the Prince says he has had on tour – should usually be left until at least a day after the flight home. 

When a PR emergency breaks out – an innocent chain-link fence picture suddenly turns inflammatory – the travelling media naturally switch from sedately following the planned list of press opportunities to full investigative mode. Tensions rocket and Royal smiles become heroically fixed.

The pressure on tour managers to Do Something becomes intense. It can lead even seasoned Palace tourists to ignore cautious instincts. ‘Never feed a media fire’ is old advice that still holds good. Was it forgotten this time?

Left alone, the tour might easily have slipped down the news agenda before re-emerging as part of a calm process of Royal reflection and evolution.

Of course there are lessons to be learned from this tour. It’s a process best done in private, with measured consultation and a realistic understanding of likely public concern.

Instead, the aftermath has been dominated by Prince William’s surprise statement referring to the future of the Commonwealth, written before he left the Bahamas.

This helped fuel a largely ill-informed post-mortem on What Went Wrong.

Kensington Palace ‘sources’ have been helpfully trying to explain what the Prince really meant, so prolonging the agony.

All of which rather confirms President Reagan’s wise words: ‘If you’re explaining, you’re losing.’

In truth, Prince William’s statement is a bit of a head scratcher.

The sincerity is tangible but the tone is neither assured nor reassuring. We’re told that the greatest living expert on the Commonwealth, the Queen, was not consulted but informed, by WhatsApp, after the statement was issued. 

If true, that’s an opportunity missed. She of all people knows the danger of knee-jerk reactions to bad headlines.

A chance to show the Royal machine functioning smoothly under pressure was lost.

Instead, critics at home and in the Caribbean and beyond, were offered (and gleefully seized) an opportunity to add acrimony to an already unfortunate series of events. 

Post-tour Palace damage control has veered into dangerous territory, especially by encouraging speculation about what kind of Monarchy we can expect not one, but two reigns hence.

Prince William’s words have been interpreted variously as ripping up the Royal rule book, guessing Commonwealth leadership policy in the 2060s and rejecting of the time-honoured mantra of ‘never complain, never explain’. 

In its place the Prince is said to favour ‘healthy debate’.

Take a step back and what’s at risk here is a shared understanding of what the Monarchy should do and how it should do it. 

Just look at the breadth of discord ignited by the tour, reflecting divisions by age, background, race, political affiliation and more.

This does not bode well for healthy debate, nor does Prince William’s interpretation of Royal service: ‘For us, that’s not telling people what to do. It is about serving and supporting them in whatever way they think best…’

Royal service, at its best, is an inspirational combination of duty, sacrifice and consistent hard work. Look at the Queen’s lifetime of service. Too often, though, it has become a code word for the pursuit of personal agendas.

William has only to look at his uncle, younger brother and even at times his father to see how the concept of Royal ‘duty’ has been degraded. Not by bad luck, or an unfair press or even an old Land Rover, but by plain bad judgment.

So what would the Queen Mother say, hopefully between sips of heavenly gin and Dubonnet?

Probably nothing at all, at least in public. Which may help explain why she is remembered as one of the most widely loved and admired Royal figures of all time.

Patrick Jephson was equerry and private secretary to HRH The Princess of Wales 1988-96.