New interview with William

[elprup]

Some interesting snippets here. He comes across as very sensible, grounded and decent. I was slightly surprised to hear him mention Harry’s name!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-15156825/Prince-William-agenda-reform-monarchy-King.html

I just looked at the BSC in Geography at St. Andrews. Based on the course load, it is a really practical major for someone who is going to rule an island kingdom undergoing climate change.

https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/geography/geography-bsc/

BTW, I have a sibling who has an undergraduate degree in math from an Ivy League college and who went into a math- based profession. He is a photographer in his spare time, reads an enormous amount of non-fiction, goes to museums, and loves classical music. People are more complex than their undergrad majors.

Well, the interview was filmed back in February and the schedule was down to Apple as part of the whole series of The Reluctant Traveller so not something the royals had any control over.

In my view, that would be a huge improvement. Trundle the HoS out when state thingies need doing, and ignore them the rest of the time.

Make British Constitution a compulsory subject in schools for a decade or so, then start a debate about alternative systems. Preferably coupled with a push towards a proper PR system, because why should the anachronysm that is monarchy be replaced but the anachronysm of the UK voting system be retained? Let's all modernise!

What do you mean by " academic" ?

Two thirds of fuck all.

He strikes me as just as troubled as Harry is but William has got the intelligence to look for a solution instead of just throwing his toys out of the pram.

I disagree. If he were in the same position as Harry he'd be just as ill adjusted.

The difference is that William has Royal advisors making sure he doesn't put a foot wrong (or a serious foot wrong).

Left to his own devices, William would be an entitled man wondering why the world doesn't owe him something.

I definitely should have been more clear with "Victoria" when it seems that at least 50% or so of Queen Victoria's descendants were given that name. She was Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, the daughter of Princess Alice, who was Queen Victoria's daughter.

They are very different people by all accounts - even Diana pointed out that William is deep like his father and the country is lucky to have him, whereas “Harry is an airhead, like me”. It’s pretty common for siblings to respond to the same family situation in completely different ways.

Agree. This is the impression I get. No matter their qualifications, Philip and Charles have an intellectual curiosity that I don't see in William or TLQ. William is a Windsor to his bones.

Diana was a dyed in the wool Monarchist. She would never have said anything other than ' William would be a great King'. She died when he was 15.
And what does ' a great King' do anyway? Good at going to swanky dinners and costing up to objectionable Presidents?

She didn’t say he would be a great king.

I watched it. I think William came across really well, humble and genuine. Of course there will be an element of PR control but I do think he is a good person.
It wasn’t said, but I came away with the impression that Charles became King because he had to, not because he wanted to and therefore is just coasting along and not making any big changes. Whereas William seems genuine in wanting change for the society and the royal family as a whole.

Highest of the lot of them does not make him clever or intelligent, when the rest of them all got unbelievably low results for such prestigious schools attended

So what does ' the country is lucky to have him' mean then? Actually its worse. Hes saying the we should all count ourselves lucky that her teenager was going to be our King!

The poster never said it made him clever or intelligent - they were responding to someone who suggested he wasn’t as bright as QE2 or KC3 by pointing out he has the best academic qualifications of the three of them. I’m sure that even with limited intelligence they would all be able to follow this simple argument that seems to have defeated you.

Whatever the view of William I am glad to have a constitutional monarchy to hold residual executive powers and to avoid a President Trump type or President Blair. As things stand we could even have had a President Farage. So much prefer the stability of Charles and then William.

Personally after the awful speculations of his wife’s disappearance last year, I think that William has shown himself to be a relatively calm mature person. I would be still spitting at the bit had I gone through that whilst my partner had cancer.

She was making the point that the brothers are very different. So given that one is going to be king, we’re lucky it’s William and not Harry because W is a deep thinker like their father and H is an airhead like their mother.

Someone upthread said that William was not as affected as Harry because if he were he’d respond in the same way. I am saying that’s not necessarily the case as they are different people. It’s very common for siblings who have grown up together to respond in different ways to their upbringing.

The dynamics between William and Harry are rather different than Charles and Andrew.

C&A had decades as senior serving royals together, H quit fairly early on. C&A had a long lived mother who doubtless influenced the dynamic. W&H lost their mother young and seem to have different attitudes to her memory.

It's not the same at all.

Thanks for your sarcasm, ever present 😂

Of course he can’t do anything that would make a big difference. Negotiating peace in the Middle East would be an absolute NO. He can not get involved in politics unless he plans to abdicate first.

He can make a big difference raising the profile of local causes by opening pensioner centres in Hull, seeing the work done by a school, or being the neutral representative of the country. He needs to do a lot of that though to be making any real difference. It might be dull repetitive stuff but anything more is politics and that is a definite no constitutionally.

Charl s had been waiting decades to become king. Of course he wanted it. But he is also an old man and even without cancer had less energy for the role.

No sarcasm in there, all very straightforward in meaning 👍

Nothing has defeated me thanks.
My point that, despite the best education, in the country, William didn't achieve anything to write home about. An average achievement from Eton I would say.
Average at best all of them, maybe they don't think it's that important or they have to bother with it. They don't have to strive for anything do they? It's all handed to them on a plate

You really are determined to sneer at St Andrews University!
For your information The Guardian 2025 guide placed it second in their U.K. rankings while the 2025 Complete University Guide placed it 4th .
It is Scotland’s top University and is NOT easy to get into .
A 2:1 from there is not to be sniffed at .

’didn't achieve anything to write home about’.

What are you talking about?

A 2:1 shows a strong academic performance and certainly something to be proud of!