Making his mark down on the farm
Prince William is preparing to step up and make his own mark on his father’s rich legacy, writes Hannah Furness
Aroyal visit is a curious thing. Jittering excitement, weeks of preparation, and a last-minute panic about how exactly to pronounce “ma’am” are par for the course, while a wise man once observed the Queen may well believe the world smells of fresh paint.
As the Duke of Cambridge arrives in Newton St Loe, Somerset, on a summer’s day, the atmosphere is a little different. Not because staff aren’t excited, of course, but because his presence in the Duchy of Cornwall is no longer a remarkable novelty.
Quietly, over the past year or so, the Duke has become a feature of Duchy life, as father and son enter a period of transition which has seen them work together more closely than before.
After 50 years at the helm of the Duchy, the Prince of Wales has left a legacy of a business worth nearly £1 billion, (NZ$2b) with his own passion of farming at the heart of it. The Duke must now find his own way, taking the best of his father’s expertise and taking it on for a new generation.
If he is conscious of the countless tenants relying on the Duchy’s success — not to mention the small matter of one day being Prince of Wales and then King — Prince William wears it remarkably lightly.
Joined by the Daily Telegraph for a day of Duchy work, he issues warm greetings and self-deprecating jokes to staff old and new, moving seamlessly into a cheery “jambo jambo” for Kenyan charity workers joining them briefly via Skype. Under sunny skies, it is not hard to see why his father is so fond of his rural estate, with its whitewashed cottages, wild flower gardens and rolling countryside as far as the eye can see, and why William too has fallen for its charms.
For the Duke, the day is one of an increasing number spent on Duchy duties: listening to farmers, liaising with staff and hearing how they hope to navigate the 21st-century challenges they will face under his watch in years to come. Off camera, William is refreshingly honest about his limitations compared with his father’s decades of experience, and the farmers who have been in the business their whole life.
“I know a tiny amount,” he says candidly of farming. “I’ve got the interest and the passion. The countryside is deep in my heart.
“I want to learn and know more about farming, but the countryside and the way of life and the best people in the countryside is what I grew up with. I’m not a London boy. My father knows so much about farming. He’s in that sector and knows it so well. My interest isn’t really appearing yet, but it will do in the future.”
Of how he has learnt from the practical estate management of his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh, and the more romantic organic ideals of the Prince of Wales, he said: “My grandfather has done it one way, my father has done it another way and I’ll probably do a little bit of both.”
That’s not to say he won’t bring ideas of his own. His charity work on homelessness, mental health and the military will no doubt lead to new ideas about what the Duchy can do.
He has been to Sussex to learn about rewilding, to France to see how land left alone has become a haven for wildlife, and to Cumbria where hill farmers are deeply concerned about the uncertainties of Brexit.
While his father is steeped in the forensic detail of his key passions, William prefers to talk: to experts and to members of the public. He reads and replies to two boxes of paperwork a day. The school run is sacred, with William and Kate each dropping off or picking up Prince George and Princess Charlotte from Thomas’s Battersea school every day. He has meetings with the Queen and speaks to his father regularly about work, making them “the closest they’ve ever been in that sense”, a source says.
While the Prince of Wales had, as he puts it, a “baptism of fire” in inheriting the Duchy, William has been able to ease towards the next major transition of his life with his father, grandmother and grandfather on hand.
Those around him have noticed a deliberate period of “stepping up”, with words such as “statesmanlike” appearing in coverage of his work and a clear plan of action about the projects he wants to make a lifelong cause. The Duke’s relationship with his father, the next king, will become a new axis which will come to define the monarchy for the coming generations.
The influence of the Duchess is clear as the steady backbone to family life with three children.
Next week’s tour to Pakistan will be another step yet: a diplomatic test to cement relations with the country and learn about world affairs.
“It’s not a case of learning the ropes, it’s mastering them,” a source said. “This is about putting into practice what he’s learnt now he’s in his second year as a full-time working member of the Royal family.”
I know a tiny amount. I’ve got the interest and passion. The countryside is deep in my heart.
Prince William on farming