Wills: I don’t want to be King
What young prince told mum Diana before Harry said, I’ll do it if you won’t
Princess said life at Kensington Palace was like being in Corrie JEREMY PAXMAN TELLY HOST ON LUNCH WITH DI
PRINCE William told his mother Princess Diana that “he didn’t really want to be king”, a new TV show reveals.
The startling revelation comes in the concluding part of Jeremy Paxman’s Channel 5 series about the Royals.
The ex-newsnight presenter spills the beans on a lunch he had with the Princess of Wales – in which she also likened life in Kensington Palace to an “upmarket Coronation Street... with twitching curtains”. The broadcaster says in the show, Paxman on the Queen’s Children: “About a year before she died her secretary rang me up and asked me to lunch.
“I’ve no idea why. She was stunningly glamorous, as you can imagine.
“We talked about our children and she said William often told her that he didn’t really want to be king, and then Harry would say, ‘If you don’t want the job I’ll have it’!
“I thought she was pretty lonely, really. As we were leaving, I said, ‘What a strange place this is. So quiet, and yet over there is the bustle of Kensington High Street. It’s a bit like a prison’.
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“She said, ‘It’s not a prison at all, Jeremy. More like an upmarket Coronation Street. As we go out, you will see all the curtains twitching’.”
University Challenge host Paxman added: “Who would want to be a Royal?”
He also suggested the popularity of Princes Charles reached an all-time low after he and Princess Diana split up.
Paxman observed: “Charles was sought after like a prawn cracker in a dirty ashtray.”
The presenter says Wills, 36 – second in line to the throne – and Harry, 34, have heralded a “Golden Age” for the Royals. Paxman also lets the cat out of the bag about “Air Miles” Prince Andrew allegedly dem-anding entire hotel floors during trips in his days as a trade ambassador.
And he reveals Prince Edward once went for breakfast with the Queen on his birthday – but “she didn’t even know” it was his special day.
Kensington Palace declined to comment. scoops@sundaymirror.co.uk Paxman on the Queen’s Children is on Channel 5 on Tuesday, 9pm.