IT’S WILL I AM
Duke and Duchess ‘to use first names’
BY CURTSIES, bows and stuffy royal protocol will be binned in a shake-up that will include the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge asking to be addressed by their first names.
The Sunday Mirror has learned the prince plans to tear up the rule book to “move with the times”. After the couple’s disastrous Caribbean tour, William is said to be focused on a streamlined, modern monarchy to ensure its survival.
A source revealed: “When the team arrived back in London the couple had a debrief with aides. They went over everything and pinpointed specific things that went wrong and how to improve moving forward.
The general consensus was that the tour seemed out of date, out of touch, too formal and stuffy.
“So now it’s more ‘Wills and Kate’ instead of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge... ‘Just call me Wills’ type of thing. They want to try to avoid the bows and curtsies in public, be more approachable, less formal, less stuffy, break with a lot of the tradition and focus on a modern monarchy.” William and Kate were shaken by criticism of their Caribbean tour in March – heralded as a PR disaster. There were imperialistic undertones as the couple shook hands with wellwishers standing behind a metal fence in Trenchtown, Jamaica.
It was the week-long tour of former British colonies that left William, 39, and Kate, 40, acutely aware of a need for modernisation.
The pair were criticised for riding standing up in an open-top Land Rover during the inaugural Commissioning Parade on March 24. It was deemed to be an embarrassing blast from the past.
Protesters gathered outside the British High Commission in Kingston, singing traditional Rastafarian songs and holding banners urging Britain to apologise for its involvement in the slave trade.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told William and Kate during a photoshoot that his country wanted to become independent of the Commonwealth and address “unresolved” issues. William did not address calls to remove the Queen as head of state in a speech at the Governor-general’s residence.
But he did say he agreed with a declaration by his father Prince Charles that “the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history”.
William also spoke of his “profound sorrow” for the institution of slavery, which he said should never have existed. Our source said the general consensus of the tour was that it was “silly” to have pushed old royal traditions, and the couple wished they could turn back time and do things differently.
The source added: “If they could wave a magic wand and go back in time, they would change almost everything about the Caribbean tour.
“William and Kate are now both very aware that to certain parts of the world, and to the younger generations, the monarchy is a symbol of colonialism and a time gone by.