William’s duty as his father’s ‘liege man’ is clear – he has to repair rift with brother
Prince of Wales must be magnanimous, ending the stand-off to ensure the success of King’s reign
THE look in his slightly glassy eyes appeared to express gratitude for the support of his heir as well as grief for the loss of his spare. When the Prince of Wales pledged to be the King’s “liege man of life and limb” at the Coronation, the 74-year-old monarch could not hide his emotion as he was kissed on the cheek by his eldest son.
“Thank you, William,” he replied, conscious, perhaps, of the gulf that now exists between his two “darling boys”. That abyss could not have been more marked at Sunday night’s concert when, in the absence of his younger brother, William paid tribute to their father alone.
Had Prince Harry still been a working member of the Royal family, there is no doubt he would have joined Prince William on stage at Windsor Castle as the future king spoke not only for his family but for a nation in saying: “Pa, we are all so proud of you.”
The speech, which sensibly avoided any lecturing on climate change, was brief but hit all the right notes. Touchingly describing his late grandmother “up there, fondly keeping an eye on us ... a proud mother”, this was the Prince’s reassuring way of reiterating that the baton has passed to someone cut from Elizabeth II’S cloth.
“My father’s first words on entering Westminster Abbey yesterday were a pledge of service,” Prince William said. “It was a pledge to continue to serve. Because for over 50 years, in every corner of the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world, he has dedicated himself to serve others, both current and future generations.”
Reminding the crowd that his father was more prescient than most in “warning us of the risks to our planet’s health long before it was an everyday issue”, as well as mentioning the million young people he has helped through the Prince’s Trust, the speech was designed to highlight the King’s compassion, wisdom and experience.
It was also helpful for Prince William to describe his father as someone who “always understood that people of all faiths, all backgrounds, and all communities, deserve to be celebrated and supported” – not just in light of calls for royal reparations over slavery but also in response to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s racism claims.
Last month, The Daily Telegraph revealed how the Duchess expressed her concerns about the monarchy’s unconscious bias in a letter to the King, sent after the March 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview in which she alleged that a member of the Royal family had speculated about the colour of her unborn son’s skin. It is understood her letter was a reply to one from the King, in which he is thought to have expressed sadness over the chasm that had emerged within the Royal family.
It is no secret that both the King and the Prince of Wales are disappointed that the Duke and Duchess felt the need to make such damaging allegations. Yet still, the King found it in his heart to raise a toast to the fourth birthday of the Sussexes’ son, Prince Archie, just after his youngest son made for Heathrow to be reunited with his family in Montecito, California.
A well-placed source said that while most of the Royal family “breathed a sigh of relief ” that the Duke didn’t join their private lunch after the ceremony, the King seemed “genuinely quite disappointed”. Before they started eating, Prince William, 40, stood and congratulated his father. The King then replied, raising his glass to his grandchildren Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, but also making a point of
For a period, the King became much closer to Harry, but ‘Megxit’ changed all that
toasting “those that weren’t there” and wishing his other grandson a very happy birthday “wherever he was”.
The King may be willing to forgive, with palace insiders confirming there had been “genuine co-operation” with the Sussexes leading up to the Coronation, but there remains little hope of reconciliation with Prince William, who was “absolutely horrified” by what his brother wrote about him and his wife, the Princess of Wales, in Spare, his autobiography.
The Duke is expecting an apology, but the Prince wants one first. Yet he may be required to rise above all this for the sake of the Crown. For what we learned from Sunday night’s speech was just how pivotal the Prince and Princess of Wales are going to be in the reign of the King.
Regardless of his own hurt feelings, the Prince of Wales, who has a reputation for being stubborn at times, cannot stand in the way of a rapprochement if it is in the best interest of the monarchy. That is the sort of sacrifice required of someone whose coat of arms bears the motto Ich
dien (I serve).
He certainly couldn’t be in a better place to be the bigger man. Supported by the calming influence of his level-headed wife and mellowed by his three children, the Prince has grown in stature precisely because he has proved himself a safe pair of hands. He was heavily involved in the decisive action to strip his uncle, the Duke of York, of his royal and military ties after his disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview about his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. And the Prince was central to the Sandringham Summit that decided the Sussexes’ future in 2020.
If Prince William wants to be seen as the son the King can rely on, then he must start by repairing his broken bonds with his brother. Just as the King has his eldest son’s support, so does the Prince of Wales have the support of the King.
Yet there were huge tensions between the pair when, during commemorations for the 20th anniversary of his mother’s death, Prince William refused to acknowledge his father’s role in his and Harry’s upbringing. The King’s aides “begged” Prince William to give him the nod when he addressed journalists before the screening of the ITV documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life And Legacy but he flatly refused. It was left to Harry to pay tribute to his father in a BBC documentary, saying: “He was there for us, he was the one out of two left and he tried to do his best and to make sure we were protected.”
The incident followed reports that the King had felt “edged out” by Princess Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, when it came to spending time with his grandchildren and relations hit an all-time low when a previously unseen photograph of Prince George inadvertently appeared in a video broadcast featuring the heir to the throne.
For a period, the King became much closer to Harry, but “Megxit” changed all that. The drama brought the Prince of Wales and the King together, as shown by the photograph of the Prince with his arm around his father, taken by the Princess of Wales and released to mark Father’s Day in 2020. The King is also now closer to his beloved grandchildren, jiggling Prince Louis on his knee at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. Prince William knows better than anyone the pain the King has faced but, if he wants to prove he has as much of his grandmother in him as his father does, he must summon her levels of magnanimity to ensure the Carolean era is characterised by a nuclear Royal family, not a thermonuclear one.