Prince William’s now-infamous “small-r royalty” interview was published two weekends ago. The royal reporters are still talking about it and talking around how much they hated everything William said in the piece. Tina Brown called him a performative pinhead and I got the feeling that most reporters rolled their eyes at this bald dolt saying sh-t like “and I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well, because I really care about what I do.” What few people can bear to admit is that William was trying and failing to copy his brother. Prince Harry leads with empathy, Prince Harry lives his life as a small-r royal, Prince Harry mixes his charitable work with advocacy and business. Basically, as always, William wants everything Harry has and everything Harry is. That’s basically what royal reporter Katie Nicholl had to admit in her interview with the Sun’s Matt Wilkinson.
Prince William is taking a “leaf out of Harry’s book” by trying to modernise the Royal Family at “pace”, an expert says. Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nicholl spoke on The Sun’s Royal Show about the future King’s attempts to introduce changes to the Firm already.
In one of his most open and candid interviews earlier this month, the Prince of Wales, 42, claimed there was a shortage of “empathetic leaders” around the world. He said he wanted to continue helping people while carrying out his duties “differently for my generation”. He also emphasised how he’s looking at the Firm “with maybe a smaller ‘r’ in the royal”.
Speaking to Sun royal editor Matt Wilkinson, Ms Nicholl said: “One person who’s probably sitting there thinking ‘this is what I’ve been saying all along’ is the Duke of Sussex. Let’s be more open, let’s show more empathy, let’s do things a little bit differently. One of the reasons Harry felt he needed to leave was because he didn’t feel he could bend the institution the way he wanted to do things. I think we have seen the royals take a leaf out of his book.”
However, she said she doesn’t think it will “ever going to become too California… They’re not going to allow that to happen, that’s not them. It’s one thing opening up, it’s one thing seeing the King give a big hug to someone rather than just shake their hand…”
Ms Nicholl referred to King Charles admitting recently that he was “reduced to tears” after watching Queen Camilla’s domestic abuse documentary as an example of something unlikely to have been revealed under the previous reign. “That’s fine, that’s relatability, connectability and empathy, but the backbone of what they do isn’t going to change. That service to others, lifelong commitment to duty, that backbone that props the whole institution up – that’s not going to change.”
Ms Nicholl went on to say: “I think it’s modernising at some pace, but I think it’s only now had the opportunity to do that because the late Queen’s reign was so lengthy, it didn’t have the opportunity to modernise the way it is now….It can’t jump too quickly ahead of the curve, it has to keep up…. [but] it had to change, that’s the point.”
The Sun’s Mr Wilkinson said “it’s just interesting to see” William modernising “within” the Firm, while Harry “has thrown his toys out the pram and is trying to modernise his role outside the Royal Family…I think I know which one will be more successful – I’m really looking forward to seeing how it develops over the next couple of years.”
“I think I know which one will be more successful” – I know which brother is already massively successful, which is why everyone in that f–king family is copying him (and Meghan). Nicholl is like, yes, William is copy-keening Harry but hey, William is still going to be the same old dull left-behind Windsor, like all of the rest of them. And Tina Brown attacked William’s interview because (she said) William was forgetting everything his father has done for fifty-plus years. So what exactly is William actually modernizing? Show it to me, be specific.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.