Private Eye on William

[ItsTheSeasonOfTheStick]

I found this quite entertaining

Lift the lid on all your houses and their occupants, and your sources of income, assets and your wills. Then I'll say yeah William, you're alright mate.

It comes across that he wants an aristocratic lifestyle funded by the taxpayer

Keir is in listening mode? Is Charles really not expected to be around for very long at all, or are they just being prepared in case?

It does seem a little ghoulish to be making all these plans when his dad is alive!

I can't wait for him to divest himself of the hangers on.

The revelations in all their books and TV interviews will be so entertaining.

I suppose that's the nature of monarchy, though. It's the biggest job in the country, but you have to begin it the second that you lose your parent.

It's also weird that, depending on your predecessors reign, you can effectively get your 'retirement' for maybe decades beforehand, and then you might end up only just starting your job many years after most people have finished their own much less responsible careers.

It's far too big to only start thinking about and planning your reign once it begins.

That said, although William and his advisors clearly need to plan all of this, they absolutely can be discreet and do so without telling the public what they're intending.

I think they have all been working with the assumption that Charles will not be a 20 year King. More like 10 years max. William is therefore laying the foundations of what is to come. It’s evolve or die out.

The thing is, though, you can see how it all cycles through.

People want rid of the 'spares' who are seen as hangers-on; yet William seems to be fully including Charlotte and Louis in all of his future official plans for the royal family, presumably long after they've grown up - setting them up perfectly to be the hangers-on of the future.

Yes, he's obviously of a certain age and unlikely to be king for a very long time.

It's just with Keir getting involved now... but then I suppose this government could still be in power for another four years, and time marches on for all of us, so who knows?

The monarchy needs evolving to survive and he is already doing it in advance. Perhaps what he wants is a more European low key kind of monarchy such as err…. Can’t name them, and that’s the point. Our lot are on the front pages of far flung places usually for the wrong reasons.

It needs slimming down to a respectable helpful handful who do their duty for the public, and in return maintain their aristocracy status.

Good on him. Keep Ann and Sophie around, and have his DC as working royals. End of.

Then he and Catherine will need to step up and do a hell of a lot more work than they currently do.

The European monarchies are most certainly not "low level" 😂

Sounds like his plan.

I’m all for modernising the monarchy and slimming it down but there also needs to be greater transparency and accountability for it to continue.
I think the days of ribbon cutting are long gone and any visits should be more meaningful.

Then he and Catherine will need to step up and do a hell of a lot more work than they currently do

Well, I think that’s what the column is saying: less will be done.

I think it’s the way the monarchy needs to go: slow withering away rather than abolition which no one seems to have the appetite for at present.

If William is going to cut loose the already half-dead arts in favour of much healthier (arf) sport I hope Charles lives forever.

So he wants to retain all the perks, privileges, but wants to dump numerous charities
He definitely likes the sporting jollies ( and they probably count towards his target of appointments)
He’ll use the excuse of having a young family to avoid the less desirable foreign trips
He will change the Monarchy to suit their chosen lifestyle
Even when they do their appearances, they seem to be enjoying a good old jolly

There’s going to be a very dwindling pool of working Royals. Of course they need to pare back

I wish they'd tell us what this "work" involves and if they pay NI and use the NHS 😊

Intrigued by this idea of “the three heirs”. Not the heir and his siblings. Is the idea that if George doesn’t fancy it one of the others can do it, I wonder.

I thought W & C were scheduled to visit the US in 2026.

People can donate without royal patrons. Two weeks ago, the NY Times ran an article about a struggling zoo of "misfit" animals. I, along with thousands, read the article, cried, and donated. No celebrity sponsor needed.

Has everyone approving of a paired back monarchy missed this bit?

"Naturally the reform agenda doesn't involve downsizing the royal estates or bank balances."

William is patron of BAFTA currently and Kate of the V&A, National Portrait Gallery and Royal Photographic Society. As a photographer, artist pianist and ballet fan herself, it’s quite clear Kate has already made the arts an area of focus for her charity work. Perhaps Private Eye couldn’t be bothered fact checking?

Exactly. They want the money without the work.

Exactly, they're not longer required.