I like it when William visits one on one with people. I remember a while back when he visited that elderly lady who had complained about the Queen using the same photo on her birthday card greeting that gets sent to people over 100 yrs. or something. Anyone else remember that?
I don't know of any other royals who do this sort of thing, going to their home to sit and talk with them. Obviously he can't do this often but it's nice to hear about even if it's occasionally.
I remember that story somewhat. Didn't the Queen then invite her to a garden party or something too?
In this situation with Mr. Rees, I think it was very doable for William as Mr. Rees lives in an area in close proximity in North Wales to where William is stationed now. The big factor here is that William is approachable and is actually eager to do things like this. As I said before, I bet the both of them were "over the moon" having the chance to meet each other.
I do honestly think that in situations like this, we're seeing the results of what Diana tried to hard to impress on the boys when they were growing up. I never really knew until I read some of the books written about Diana and her life outside of her public engagements was that she would often go and just visit with folks that might need it just because she could and sometimes she would even take William with her. One of the examples was when she'd visit the hospital where Dr. Khan was working, if he was busy she'd just go "pop" in and talk with people. Both of the boys grew up I think to value the life of each and every person that they meet and have learned that there's not only people out there that are in genuine need of their support as far as charities and patronages go but also people that have done things that are remarkable and worth listening too.
I know I've said in other threads comments about Diana being called the "People's Princess" and my opinion didn't seem very flattering... it was regarded by myself as being kind of a "spin" by Mr. Blair and also her comment in the Panorama interview where she states "I'd rather be Queen of people's hearts" as a slur to HM. Perhaps my opinion needs to be changed.
Just with these two incidents that are spoken of in this post, the one with Mr. Rees and the 100 year old lady that said something about a photograph and it was paid attention to, I see something happening here.
As you said Sereta "I don't know of any other royals who do this sort of thing, going to their home to sit and talk with them." I think we ARE looking at something new. I'm sure its been done before and for various reasons and probably took some scheduling but I do think that in these cases, its William himself that hears about something and makes sure he's going to do something about it because he wants to... not because its a PR visit on the official court calendar type of thing.
Perhaps we're looking right now at the future "People's King". With his mother's outreach to the people and actually caring about them and with his father's passions for global warming and conservation and earth awareness, I think the UK and Commonwealth (should there be one at the time) is going to have another wonderful monarch on their hands.