Here are some photos of Prince William making a visit to the Royal Mail in Heathrow today, the 6th. William has stepped out rather quietly in the past few weeks, sort of easing his way into a more regular schedule for a working royal. William and Kate will be returning to Kensington Palace soon, if they haven’t already, after spending much of their summer in Norfolk. They quietly returned to Anmer Hall after spending two weeks in Mustique after George’s school year ended. Both William and Kate are expected to pick up their public schedules this month, hopefully. Which brings me to this piece in the Daily Beast a few days ago – it’s all about how William and Harry still have a “strained” relationship with their father. We’ve heard this many times before, and personally, I think a lot of Harry’s negativity towards his father has dissipated over the past few years especially. But William? William still has a strained AF relationship with Charles. Some highlights from The Daily Beast:
The Daily Beast has been told by a source, speaking on condition of anonymity, that it is well known in the intimate circles of the higher echelons of the royal family that the two boys’ relationship with their father is “strained.”
“They are very different people and they just don’t get on. It’s as simple as that. They rarely see each other outside of official business,” the source said. The source also added that Charles “hates” William and Harry’s public “emoting” which has seen them discuss, in heartbreaking detail, the psychological troubles they endured following the loss of their mother, as part of their efforts to reduce the stigma around discussing mental health issues.
The writer Christopher Andersen told the Daily Beast that tension has also been brewing between Charles and William owing to disagreements over William and Kate’s work schedule.
“William loves his father and is tremendously loyal to him, but from the beginning he has said he is his own man and hates being told what to do. So whenever he’s pressured by Charles’ aides at St. James’s Palace to take on some royal assignment he isn’t interested in, William complains bitterly. William is also unhappy with Charles’s camp for promulgating the notion that the Cambridges aren’t pulling their weight. In fairness, they have three young children and there is no reasonable way they can be expected to match the hundreds of tree-plantings, plaque-unveilings, ribbon-cuttings, hospital visits, and walkabouts Charles and Camilla perform each year.”
These fresh suggestions of strained relationships—unexpectedly, perhaps, Harry is said to be more willing to compromise with Charles than William in the cause of keeping the peace—fit with other stories that have been doing the rounds, some of them for many years.
It would be SO funny to me if Charles was the one behind the work-shy narrative. He isn’t behind it though, and the fact that William thinks Charles is plotting against him with a work-shy narrative is… amazing. William has no one but himself to blame for it – if anything, his father coddled William into Will’s early 30s because Charles didn’t want to rock the boat and deal with William’s famous temper tantrums. Now that a lifetime of laziness has caught up to William and he’s expected to keep up a full schedule, suddenly DADDY IS BULLYING ME BECAUSE I’M WORK-SHY. Sigh…
In any case, Clarence House denied the Daily Beast’s story, so… whatever.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Oh brother. The horror of doing royal duties with 3 young children. The Queen managed to be Queen with 4. They have staff. They have resources to have MORE staff if needed. Just shut up and go to work, Will, or step aside.
Yes, and TQ was famously away from her children (as monarch) for long stretches of time and greeted Charles with a pat on the head after months away. Before she was Queen she and Philip raised their kids on Malta for two years—it’s not like she was carrying out many official duties.
I think TQ is absoulutely fine with Wills schedule since she thinks time with young children will benefit the monarchy in the long run. WIlliam has picked up his schedule in the past year and
HM has nothing to do with William’s schedule. It has been said many times, by official sources, that the royals set their own schedules. (And if you think William does anything approaching full time child care, I have a bridge to sell you).
Interesting the fanfiction persists about HM “giving two years off”. Never happened. Made up by fans and tabloids to try to explain away the laziness, esp after W&K publicly stated in the engagement interview they were getting straight to work. Walked that back a day or two after the wedding. More lies from them.
Princess Elizabeth did not live on Malta for two years. She visited four times in 2 years. Times of Malta kept track and has an article online detailing the exact dates she was there. Look it up. Queen Elizabeth’s stays in Malta over the years, Malta Times, November 2015.
Try to get your facts straight. Charles and Anne did not travel on her visits – four visits – to Malta. That’s the basis of the greeting story you’ve gotten wrong as well. HM greeted him with a handshake, not a pat on the head. That was in public, not her private greeting later out of sight of the cameras.
Anne has publicly stated she’s baffled at the notion that anyone thinks HM didn’t love them as much as any other mother. Charles is the only one of the kids who complains.
“If she’d been a disciplinarian and said ‘No’ to everybody, we’d have all been psycho-analysed out of existence on the basis that we had too controlling a mother. We’ve all been allowed to find our own way and we were always encouraged to discuss problems, to talk them through. People have to make their own mistakes and I think she’s always accepted that.” – Princess Anne
“I simply don’t believe there is any evidence what so ever to suggest that she wasn’t caring. It just beggars belief.” – Princess Anne
Yes, Tina. We keep hearing about how they’re such hands-on parents they cannot work. With the three nannies, multiple child-free vacations, and even taking separate skiing vacations at the same time and leaving the kids home with the nannies. Never any problem being away from their kids for fun, but use their kids as an excuse to get out of work all the time.
@nota
*mic drop*
I’m talking about her 1953 trip to Australia, etc, which saw her away for 7 months. That’s not modern parenting, even if William isnt as hands on as Kate. The children are obviously comfortable with him and he with them.
Also, QEII and Philip lived on Malta from 49-51. She did some chairity work but no, she wasn’t monarch and carried out far fewer royal duties.
The whole premise of this infuriates me. Most of us go back to work after having children. I had a job interview 4 days after having my 3rd child and went back to work when she was 12 weeks old, finding and paying someone I trusted to get my babies up, and ready for the day. My oldest was 4 and I left my house five days a week at 6:30AM.
This is the life most of us have, so their nonsense excuse about doing “hundreds” of events with three kids is completely infuriating. They live a very nice life high on the hog on the backs of those who DO have to go to work every day, so William, Harry and Kate, and I suspect Meghan will be just like them, need to shut up and go to work.
Sheesh.
No Prince whiny Willnot, The POW is not the one you, waity Lambridge did this all by entitled selves!
Strive to become younger brother and his P’ess – The HRH Prince Henry Sussex!
Imagine three events in one (1) week – not the least of which, his hardwork at Invictus Games, other charities and trips around GB and global, introducing his upcoming Princess.
Hey Royal Sparkle–I’ve missed you! Not quite sure whether you’ve been gone or I’ve been “gone” mentally, lol.
ITA 100% with what you’ve said. Of COURSE Wills is playing the blame and shame game. He should just grow the f**k up.
Charles is one of the most soppy, openly-emotional royals out there. HM might dislike their public emoting but not Charles. And yes, W&K are responsible for their own work shy narrative.
At least Kate has shown an healthy sense of competition since Meghan has strived.
She was doing royal work even at the end of her pregnancy and her husband was nowhere to be seen.
Willia not so much.
He did do a fairly big Royal tour…. He took the summer off and he’s out ‘working’ regularly. Hopefully, Kate will be back by October.
No William, you and Katie Keen are responsible for this narrative because its true, neither of you bother to hide it. I agree the he still has a strained relationship with Charles but its obvs that Harry doesn’t – the affection between father and younger son was evident at Harry’s wedding.
This is just the Cambridge’s looking for sympathy.
I agree Unicorn, it does seem that Harry has a much closer relationship with his father and now that Meghan’s here that relationship hopefully will grow even closer. I think the big part of the strained relationship has to do with the fact that William doesn’t like to be told what to do or to take advice from his elders. He’s mentioned that before in regards to not listening to his grandfather, so it only makes sense that he doesn’t listen to his father either.
Or maybe they just don’t approve of Charles’ actions which made their mum miserable. I still cannot understand how easily people forget who or what is Charles.
People are giving crap to McGregor over leaving his wife, but somehow Chuck gets sympathy. And at least William is working more and he actually seems like someone who wants to be a dad. Work shy is laughable when it comes to royal work.
Milla
I doubt that holds water with William as much as it does with the average commentors. Diana was on positive terms with Charles and Camila in her final years. So many forget this.
As facts are… william was coddled. Admitted to by loads of insiders, the royals themselves, and researchers. He does not have a grasp on what is expected of him and chooses to remain that way. Given his own comments to support this over years and recently.
This has nothing largely to do with diana. It has everything to do with a boy protected from the world and criticism to a man that refuses to live any other way.
They need to stop dragging Harry into this. When there are multiple photos of Harry interacting with Charles and Camilla very positively in the last few months and video as well, it’s obvious Harry doesn’t have any open resentment going on. Harry did more events over the summer than William, future king. Harry also set up two charities himself outside of the royal foundation work and William has yet to do that. Future king needs to step up.
That’s the funniest part of this whole thing. Why even mention Harry when, at least in front of the cameras, they seem to manage a loving relationship. Harry seems to genuinely enjoy his engagements to the point of creating foundations to do more of the work he wants to do.
William has had every opportunity to do the same, but instead is complaining to Daddy about the job given to him since he doesn’t seem to want to create one of his own.
I’m pretty sure Harry hasn’t done more events than william this year. I think William is lazy, but I think Harry is just as lazy, or even lazier, if possible. William has been doing quite a few events with little to no fanfair. I would like to see their totals YTD so far.
Harry Lazier? Sentebale, Invictus and 10 yrs in army.
William……. part time ambulance pilot.
Do they work as much as the reg joe? No but one is definatley lazier.
Imho, there’s a “work shy” narrative because W&K are work shy and always have been so using their kids as their excuse doesn’t really work. In fact has either William or Kate or even Harry ever attended a county fair like C&C do? I think the issue is that William only wants to do what William wants to do, what William’s interested in not what’s needed necessarily. While talking about mental health issues is wonderful, the bread and butter type of engagements are important too. These types of engagements, factory visits and plaque unveilings, help shine the light on the “ordinary” men and women who work hard every day to keep the country running and their taxes pay for William’s 2 houses. Personally I think it’s a mistake for the younger royals to avoid these types of engagements.
I agree, the ‘bread and butter’ engagements are what make the RF relatable to the people, otherwise they look out of touch and elitist (look how that worked out for the Romanov’s).
As for their mental health engagements, as far as I’m concerned they don’t do enough – at most its several big engagements a year. If its so dear to their hearts they should be doing them regularly, once or twice a month. Chuck does dozens of events every year for the Princes Trust and his other interests. The Cambridges as usual do the bare min, always have and always will.
He’s doing the bread and butter engagements right now and it seems like his schedule is going to be packed with them from now on. Harry, not so much.
To be fair, Charles is a notoriously dim, spoiled, sociopathic jackass, so I wouldn’t want to do anything with or for him, either. My mother is a gaslighting, ignorant narcissist who forces people into situations that make them react in a seemingly childish manner on order to make herself feel and look better. Charles is a creepy piece of garbage. Diana was too young (he groomed her) and he is disgusting. I find their relationship horrifying, and I cannot stand the sight of his perpetually bloated hands and his red, wobbly jowls. He is horrid.
“Charles is a notoriously dim, spoiled, sociopathic jackass,” He’s not dim.
Most of the Royals aren’t that bright (academically). Even with the absolute best schooling and tutors in England they perform average to poor. The children of William and Harry should be smarter because they (shock!) decided to not pick a partner from their own family tree for a change, I’d imagine this should add some smarts to the Royal fam.
Joan Rivers thought Charles was funny and interesting.
@mynameispearl…..The peculiar position of the royals makes it somewhat difficult to judge their academic performances.
What’s the Cambridges’ excuse for the years they were childless?
He was working in the air force and she had to adjust slowly to Royal life.
Is it me, or did i read so much shade in this?Not be expected to perform “tree-plantings, plaque-unveilings, ribbon-cuttings, hospital visits, and walkabouts”
Like William only does the stuff that “matters” so his numbers are lower. Or maybe I need another cup of coffee to take the chip off my shoulder.
William is the second coming of Andrew in terms of hubris. Except lucky for William, he will eventually be king so he’s better protected from his own stupidity.
I think he’s Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor. Workshy, complaining, entitled, heavy into partying to drown his sorrows about his privileged life, perpetual adolescent emotionally, intellectually incurious. Married a woman (or in this case her family) because he wanted to be coddled and fawned over by people who never demand he work.
Born two days apart (June 23 vs. June 21), and both Cancers if you follow astrology.
Spot on @nota – like we needed another one…..
Now who, exactly, doesn’t know what she’s talking about? Edward suffered unspeakable physical, psychological and reportedly, sexual abuse before he was five years old. Add to that the emotional and psychological neglect/abuse of notoriously frigid parents, further extensive abuse at boys’ school (documented) and God knows what else. When he was 18 he started ramblings about royalty doing more to support the common man and his father flew into a rage. Eventually David said screw it. I make no apologies for his dissipated character or the mess he made of everything he touched but I will not judge him so flippantly either. He was a deeply flawed individual and a victim.
Every human is deeply flawed and an individual. That doesn’t make Edward a victim, any more than it makes Charles one for being first born and wishing he didn’t have that pressure. He chose his path, was given a great deal of leeway, and when he put his own needs above the needs of the nation approaching war, he was thrown out.
Andrew actually works fairly hard, more than William does. So far this week for example he has done three engagements while William has done…a number that rhymes with HERO.
But yes I agree Andrew is loaded with self-entitlement and pomposity.
@Julia William has done 3 engagements this week so far. The best engagement: he was helping to rebuild the Grenfell youth boxing club. Not his first visit helping out. Cute charming videos of him.
Julia.. So, I guess the comments around here aren’t based on facts then? Will is the only senior member helping out with the Grenfell tragedy.
Btw, notasugarhere just described Harry lmao. I think he’s more of the same than people like to admit.
Can you imagine these two (William and Kate) with 9-5 jobs, dropping and picking up the kids from Daycare, doing their own laundry, grocery shopping and housework duties? lol.
They have NO idea how privileged and spoiled they really are. Nannies/ Chauffeurs/ Maids/ Guards/ etc etc Sign me up for cutting ribbons every day instead of working my boring retail job! I wouldn’t complain at all!!!
Maybe William would be living in his parents’ basement. He does seem rather lazy.
I’ve always had the impression that these 2 wants to live the life of the aristocracy of old – titles, money and privilege; and not having to do any work other than a little hobby jobs for a few hours a week or whenever the mood takes them.
He doesn’t want to be King and she doesn’t want to be Queen Consort – she is happy to be a trophy wife with a title and status.
I still think he will walk away from succession but it will only happen once TQ passes – he’ll take his family out of the line. Harry will be like his great grandfather, the one who unwillingly takes the crown from his man baby and lazy brother. History has a habit of repeating itself with the family,
Mummy Carole would never forgive him. At best, he’d remove himself from the line, make Harry do the heavy lifting being Regent, but Carole’s grandson still ends up as king.
@NOTA – yes Queen Carole would never let that happen. William or George on the throne is the only way she’s going to get a title, TQ and Chuck won’t give her one. Am not sure he’d step aside and dump it all on George. If he doesn’t want it, he’s not going to want it for his son either.
except the old aristocracy was never lazy..You don’t stay rich and powerful by being lazy. Most of them worked hard managing their estates or working on the street or becoming scholars. Some of them that were lazy and spent time on leisure ,ended up becoming bankrupt.
Harry can’t take up the crown. At best, he would be Regent.
If William takes himself and his kids out of the line, Harry would be next in line. As long as the kids are below 18 years old (or 21 based on Counsellor of State requirements), William or the government can remove all of them. There were even government plans to skip Duke of York and his two already-born daughters and move on to the third son in the midst of the Edward VIII abdication.
It’s great to have so many vacations and not have to work but a SUMMER IN NORFOLK? It rains there non-stop. And it’s cold.
Can I ask what cold is? Someone mentioned that very few people in England have air conditioners, so are summers normally chilly? Contestants in the GBBO are dying of heat in the tents, both this year and last.
England’s had a massive heatwave this year. But that’s rare, and something non-Brits pooh pooh because the temps are not that high by universal standards. Temps at the height of the heatwave were maybe 35-38C. But for us that’s a heatwave because of the humidity and because we’re not used to it. I’ve experienced truly high temperatures in countries like India or the southern USA and England at 32 feels hotter than Rajasthan at 42. Many travellers say likewise.
England is generally pretty mild (it’s never crazy hot or crazy cold), usually summers vary cool and rainy (not cold) to hot. It’s rarely boiling hot enough to need air conditioners. This summer was an aberration.
The person responsible for the work-shy Will narrative is literally anyone who can count.
::slow clap::
This narrative cannot be pushed if the Cambridges pumped up their numbers. Simple. I found it amusing the article mentioned ‘to be fair’ they are raising their young family. Uh, so are the rest of the UK young couples while paying their mortgage, groceries, school fees and healthcare. Anyway if I’m not wrong, he did more engagements so uh, does he want a pat on the back or something.
Perhaps he wasn’t getting the pat on the back he feels he deserves for stepping up the past few months? He’s probably stepping up to get away from three young children.
Like this narrative really requires anyone to push it, it’s pretty apparent to anyone with functioning brain cells.
God of mercy. If the royals do half of the work regular folks do it means they will collapse. They do charity “work” with tons of staff at their beck and call.
The staff are the ones who do the research, planning, logistics, speech writing, letter writing, etc. What they need to do is to just turn up in designer clothes, cut ribbons, smile, shake hands and pose for the cameras. Can any of them, especially the younger ones cope in the real world, without a retinue of staff and the luxury? Will, Harry and Kate have always been extra lazy. I say extra because as far as I’m concerned, they don’t do much. Meghan and Kate are morphing into trophy wives of rich princes who accompany their husbands to charity gala and events in designer clothes and smile with guests.
Nothing ground breaking or spectacular from both women. Rihana built a hospital, LeBron built a school for less privileged kids and gives tons of scholarships, Madonna built a hospital, Bill gates is a world renowned philanthropist, Michelle and Barack have an amazing foundation. What very serious impact has heads together had? Not really much compared to the money spent and the hype.
Gees! Give them some time! All of the folks you mention were in their roles for quite some time (many years) before they created those charitable programs. Meghan’s been a member of the royal family for like 4 months. Harsh!
-Duch
If you think for one second that Meghan is going to step out of the “trophy wife” role that Kate currently occupies, I have a nice bridge in Brooklyn to sell you! Seriously. 4 and 1/2 months since the wedding and 21 or 22 events from the Sussexes. Meghan is going to fall into the entitled and lazy lifestyle, just like the other three. She has shown no sign of rebelling against any of Harry’s expectations for her.
“tree-plantings, plaque-unveilings, ribbon-cuttings, hospital visits, and walkabout”
Gee, sounds like a rough life. You really have it hard there, dude 🙄
tbh all that sounds awful to me.
Are we ignoring the fact that William’s numbers this year have greatly improved?
Have they? We’re 2/3 through the year and he won’t catch Andrew, Sophie or Camilla, let alone Charles or Anne.
They’ve improved, sure – but they were so low overall (relatively) that they really had no place to go but up.
I’m looking to see how if they continue to improve.
Harry’s numbers are even lower, and he doesn’t have the excuse of having children
Harry some how manages to escape critism
Many of Harry’s do not get counted.
This has been addressed several times a year here on CB during the annual tallies.
What seems to be the culprit is William or kate can be at 1 event and have it counted as 2 or 3. Harry can have an event and it’s called a private meeting and not be counted. Invictus was largely ignored 1 year for him as an event. He wasn’t doing nothing. It’s just business as usual to never let the spare outshine the heir.
Really. This has been covered at length with direct info from official royal counts and calendars.
@FLORC, I think you know that this year, they have been counting Invictus. In fact, I believe I read here that they are even counting each individual day or event at INvictus as an additional event for Harry.
There are always those around to apologize for poor Harry.
That’s right, FLORC. His Invictus things, WWTW, Sentebale have generally not been counted. Or counted as “1”. Even two days he spend in Scandinavia last year doing two full days of orienteering workshops with kids counted as “1”. Whereas with Kate even her private briefing meetings are now counted, and they are not counted for anyone else.
Harry’s events are now all counted and he still hangs 50 engagements behind William LOL
Don’t make excuses for him. The brothers have the same definition and vision of their work.
Don’t you love their definition of “work”? Get dressed up be driven to an event, put in an appearance and look interested, be driven home. Sign ME up.
Poor dears have to spend 45 minutes at an event 🙁 the horror!
Then get home and try to avoid all the people that have been picking you apart from the top of your hair to the tip of your toes.
I would love to know on average how many hours a week they work! I bet it would be less than 5.
I had to laugh at the excuse that they can’t work full time because they have kids. Well, what do the rest of us do? Either both parents work and children go to childcare/stay with a nanny or go to school or one parent stays home while the other one works.
What do they do all day? I would go insane if I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs.
I can believe that Charles and William have a strained relationship, or maybe just not much of a relationship.
I can also believe that Charles is annoyed at William’s work habits. He’s 36 years old, he’s not 22. Even with three young kids, he can do more work. And when he DOES work, people respond well.
William needs to be like Charles. I follow their twitter and IG, and every day I’m basically just like “oh, Charles is doing 4 events again today.” Then William does 4 events a week and its like, GASP he’s working!!!! His schedule should be relatively full. The fact that it is only starting to fill up in the past year is shameful.
Especially when you consider their events usually last about 45 minutes, what’s he doing the rest of the day?
There is no “narrative” it is that elusive thing nowadays – the Truth – William is work-shy and he only picks the glamour/sporting events…the football, the rugby..BAFTA’s etc – he doesn’t want to meet – or introduce his young family to- the great unwashed British public who help to fund his lifestyle but he’ll rub shoulders with celebrities now and then. What a let-down.
“Oh God!!! *sighs dramatically, drapes self onto a chaise longue, snaps fingers at staff for a large G&T*. I’ve just looked at my work diary for the week and I am SO run off my feet! Monday I have an extremely large ribbon to cut and a whole five minute speech to make. Tuesday I am going to make a three minute video in my garden where I say the same things about the importance of emoting whilst wearing a Heads Together headband. Wednesday, can you believe I’ve got to spend most of my evening in a box at the theatre?? Quelle horreur! And then I’m retiring to a spa Thursday and Friday because that’s THREE whole engagements in just one week!!! That’s usually more than I do in a month. This Harry and Meghan competition lark is EXHAUSTING me. The peasants better praise me for how hard I work or else I’m going to have a serious strop. You there – yes, you – mop my fevered brow at once.”
Yeah, Wills. We really feel for you. Poor, iddle, widdle King-to-be.
Awesome. Thanks for the laughs. 🙂
Willi, Kate and Harry are lazy, work shy entitled rich royals. Simple and short. No need whitewashing any of them.
Very true but the Fail is determined to try. They have 2 stories about ‘poor old Kate’ today. One is about how she had to ‘borrow’ socks for George and Charlotte during a shopping trip to Peter Jones buy new shoes as they were in their sandals (they’ve pitched it as a rookie parent mistake but its probably because the nanny normally does it) and secondly how the heartbroken Kate, after the 2007 breakup, went to Dublin and attended a champagne art show reception where she mingled with local footballers and other celebs.
Poor dears, they have such are hard life!!!
Where does the info about abuse and Edward VIII come from?
I think I’ve figured it out!!!! Normally you work for many years, then retire. Since William has to work as a King until he dies, he’s decided to retire first!
Whining Willie is at it again. *Rolls eyes* You’re life is so hard, William…so so hard…
Harry had strained relationship with Charles too?
Lol, I guess you missed the Summer of Diana….. That was the truth and Charles was furious because WH purposely left him out haha. The rest of it is Royal PR fluff starting from Harry and Charles’ Christmas radio interview last year. Royals know how to act accordingly and friendly in public/in front of the cameras. It’s different behind closed doors.
I love how someone was trying to explain away William’s laziness….he doesn’t want to go to ribbon cuttings, he just wants to so the stuff hes interested in….huge eye roll. the stuff hes interested in could fill a thimble. how many royal events involve heavily drinking with your mates, flirting and dad dancing?
Of course, people with kids don’t work. And they all have plenty of staff also!
Agh…
The narrative of William hating Charles is just taboid fanfic because the Royal Family has become so boring. Happy family stories don’t sell.
They all are perfectly fine.
William and Harry don’t need to work more. We may think they should but they disagree. They have a different plan for the future. It was said they all will focus more on less charities. It fits perfectly with that story about the slim downed monarchy.
All the work the Queens cousins and Charles siblings do will end with them. Their charities will lose their royal patrons.
William, Harry and wives will do their own charities. Same goes for the kids later.
They’ll do what the other european royal houses do. Kick out the overplus. Downsizing the monarchy.