The programme was called The Reluctant Traveller. The host: a Canadian comedian. The platform: a streaming service that can reach 75 million people. Everything about Prince William’s revealing conversation with Eugene Levy was different – and modern.
The title could apply to the Prince himself. His mother once told me how the burden of kingship weighed heavily on her young son’s shoulders. But he had no choice. He was born to travel the path that leads to the crown being placed on his head.
Now, at 43, William is no longer a reluctant traveller. He is optimistic about the future and he has thrown down a marker (a gauntlet would be too old-fashioned) to say he is going to do things his way. And if that means ditching some long established, arcane traditions, then so be it.
The message that screamed out from this 40-minute interview was that William is not prepared to accept the status quo. He knows that popular support for the monarchy, although still relatively strong, is slowly ebbing away.
To survive, it’s critical that the institution makes itself relevant to young and old. And so he is going to question anything and everything that seems to him to be out of tune with the 21st century. He will not accept that things have to be done in a certain way simply because that’s what’s happened for decades or centuries gone by. The monarchy, he says, must be fit for purpose.
The film’s image of the future King arriving at his castle, casually dressed, on an electric scooter was a powerful illustration of the old and the new: a castle steeped in 1000 years of history; and a modern Prince who may be surrounded by tradition, but will not be bound by it.
So, I hear the old guard shriek, what about all the pomp and pageantry? That’s what we expect from our royalty, that’s what we love. What about the carriages, the crowns and the crowd pleasing? Well, William’s not daft. He knows that the ceremonial side of things is part of the gig. He accepts that tradition is important and he’s not going to ditch the whole lot. But, as he said last year, he thinks he can be Royal with a small “r”.
That overused word “protocol” could take a back seat with William as king. Who wants to bow or curtsey these days? Who finds the words “your majesty” or “your royal highness“ trips off their tongue? I’ve always thought it was a nonsense and have never curtsied or said “majesty” or “highness”. A handshake should surely be quite sufficient, and William could make that clear.
square JENNIE BOND Prince William’s snub of Buckingham Palace is just the start
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I wish I could have read his mind during the coronation service for his father. How strange it must have been to think that one day you, too, would have to wear a weird white smock, before being draped in multiple heavy robes and presented with two mighty swords, then don a bizarre huge glove on one hand and try to balance a weighty crown on your head? Is that the image of a modern monarch?
I suspect William’s coronation will look very different, although he accepts that some of the mystique that tradition lends to the occasion must remain.
Whether the curious Knights of the Garter procession at Windsor will survive the chop is less predictable. Elderly lords and ladies, along with the royals, processing in their blue velvet robes and black hats with great white plumes, is always a sight that makes the Princess of Wales and Duchess of Edinburgh quietly titter. A signal, perhaps, that pantomimes like this need to change.
William has already shown that he is prepared to face criticism for shaking things up. He and Catherine have taken on far fewer patronages than others. Instead they concentrate on a core group of key causes where they feel they can connect with communities and make a difference. Impact is what it’s all about.
They have also prioritised their children over constant duty, provoking accusations that William, in particular, is lazy. But the royal family is precisely that. A family. We’ve witnessed just how dysfunctional they have been in the past and how that can rock the monarchy. William is determined to keep his family safe, secure and stable. If he does that, he will be a better king and so will his son.
In the end, this programme showed us that the Prince of Wales is very much his own man and positively focused on the road ahead. As Eugene Levy himself concluded, William is altogether a “nice, open and human” prince for the modern era.
Jennie Bond was the BBC’s royal correspondent for 14 years
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