William the Quiet Disruptor - Future of the Monarchy

[PrettyFlyforaMaiTai]

I just read this Sky News article “My Week with Prince William: The Quiet Disruptor” and found it really interesting.

The article paints a picture of someone who’s trying to do things differently, more of a “quiet disruptor” than a traditional royal. He seems to want to modernise the monarchy, focusing less on ribbon-cutting and more on community projects and real social impact. It might not be flashy, but it feels more in touch with what people care about today. He wants to be seen as a trustworthy global leader who uses his influence for good in a time when there is a lot of distrust in leadership worldwide.

It talks about how, although some still label him “work-shy” because he schedules his engagements around his children, most of the people interviewed actually saw that as a positive. They praised him for putting his family first and being a present dad.

It acknowledges that not everyone will be happy with this new version of monarchy, and some people will criticise the change in ethos.

I suppose time will tell whether this new approach will change anything long term. Charles also said he wanted to modernise, so let’s see it sticks this time. But it’s an interesting read if you’re curious about how William’s trying to shape his role.

William the Quiet Disruptor

Charles hinted at a slimmed down monarchy and modernising but not much seems to have changed.

When you look at when the comments about slimming down started it absolutely has slimmed down in numbers.

Back in the 80's and 90's when the leaks about slimming down started the full time working royals at the time, or expected to be, were were QEII, Philip, QEQM, Princess Margaret, Charles, his wife, Andrew, his wife, Edward, his wife, Anne, the Duke & Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra and the Duke & Duchess of Kent. Princess Alice was still doing engagements occasionally as well.

The slimming down was, imo, always intended to mean the children of working royals, except his, wouldn't become working royals themselves. His future nieces and nephews wouldn't be the next Gloucesters and Kents.

If there had been no moves and scandals the current batch would have been Charles, his wife, Andrew, his wife, Edward, his wife, Anne, the Gloucesters and then William and Harry and their wives.

They've gone from having/expecting a working royal load of 16 in the 80s and 90s to actually having 9 full time royals now, and with only 2 of them being under 60.

His Earthshot Prize solutions are already improving the lives of millions. Not many of us can ever have that impact.

Thank you for your explanation. That makes sense.

I noticed that Wembley Stadium are using the no plastic seaweed based packaging from Notpla in their food packaging on a recent visit. Little changes but big impact.

This, exactly 👏

Have you got a link for that - plus the grunt work will be done by countless others whose work he takes credit for.

I’m happy he is prioritising his children to a certain extent, but both of them don’t need to be there all the time. However in a few years they will all be away at school anyway so will there be a big change then.

people see him not working as not shaking hands or cutting ribbons. I don’t know if he is actually occupied with something else. I do wonder if he feels it’s a bit pointless, I know it’s what people expect though.

Can’t that be said for all charities? It’s all about collaboration. He has the contacts and resources to invest in these endeavours.

Here's the impact report link

earthshotprize.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/The-Earthshot-Prize-Impact-Report-2024.pdf

His team said he’s not into cutting ribbons etc He wants to do things that make more of an impact. Whether that annoys and alienates the more traditional faction, and whether less visibility but hopefully more impact makes them more or less popular, is the question we are all asking.

Yes!

Nail on the head as usual, Cathy

On a side note, I wonder where this "Charles said he'd slim down the monarchy" thing's coming from? Unless I've missed it - wwhich is always possible - others may have suggested this is what he'd want but I don't think he's ever said this himself?

The earshot prize - does anyone think he’s anything other than a name on their letterhead and website?

As if he’s grafting away.

I hoped that Charles would modernize the monarchy so it was more European but I was disappointed when he started off with a big Coronation when he won’t be King for decades like his mother.
Camilla and Sophie seem to do some important advocacy like talking about VAWG which I approve of but I will be waiting to see if William puts his money where his mouth is or is just more of the same and wants to move away from ribbon cutting as that’s the sort of engagement that he dislikes most. The only disrupting I see is prioritising his children over work which is good for his marriage and children but not really for the Firm.

He’s the guy who attracted the investors, filmed for marketing and presents the awards. Of course there are minions who actually research and analyse the ideas and compare them. You can’t really assess proposals without someone with scientific knowledge understanding how the solutions work.

It is a good idea to invest in small ideas and while it’s not as effective as The Prince’s Trust, it’s better than doing nothing. As someone who studied Geography at uni and green issues being considered meaty but not political, it’s an easy win for him.

Prince William is really irrelevant to most people though.

He was behind the right to male children to always be at the top of the line of sucession. Female children became equal at the time him and Catherine were starting a family.

The money spent by Earthshot for their glitzy events in the past has been more than they give out in grants and prizes. I'm not sure that's still the case. The people who have won and been publicised by Earthshot are astonishing. But they are doing that already and then some of them get a prize. It remains to be seen what William does. He seems lazy, wants to prioritise his kids so can't possibly do more than 100 or do engagements a year, yet spends weekends ( when his children are at home) texting people running the Duchy of Cornwall, which enriches him personally ( yet 2 years later hasn't learnt how to do a tax return!) His job is to keep his family on the Throne for as long as possible. That's his ' life's work' just as much as it always has been. He's no more a ' moderniser' than the rest of the Windsors ( including Harry) . They'll do what needs to be done to keep themselves on the Throne.

That extravagant coronation was a monstrous and tone deaf embarrassment. I’d hope when it’s William’s turn, he adopts a model like the Danish..

What does your idea of a modern monarchy entail?

I am genuinely interested in yours and others thoughts of how they keep the monarchy going but do more to modernise. It’s refreshing to have an actual civil conversation rather than a ‘let’s all bash William’ thread 🥰

If they want to survive in the long term they need to listen to the people and make their ethos and mission relevant to what we the people want. There definitely needs to be reform and transparency. I will be very disappointed if the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall don’t reform based on the dispatches investigation (although admit it will be slow to implement and not 100% philanthropical as it’s still a private land holding/business at the end of the day).

If everyone else is doing the work and he's a figurehead, going to the occasional event/zoom.meeting, that's not anything like a full time job. Not even part time. He could very easily do both considering how many engagements he does.

I find the article interesting but I take issue with “ the quiet disrupter “ , it’s a misleading and negative term which has nothing whatsoever to do with Williams alleged goals .

If the monarchy was dissolved today, what difference would people see in their day to day lives?

I think the RF has made a conscious decision to allow William to do less and spend time with his children while they are young. In 5 years or so he will have to, at the very least, be taking over a number of Charles' duties. He also won't be able to rely on siblings as Charles has done to carry out public events. Things will have to look a bit different. He will likely have a lot longer in the top job than Charles.

@PrettyFlyforaMaiTai, I commented after reading your op and before reading all the subsequent posts, I’m sorry to say that any thread started about William always goes this way !
its why not many people risk starting them!
the topic and article you posted is interesting and worth discussing but I’m not sure it’s possible without being attacked or called a forelock tugger if you comment positively.
good luck.