BTW Regarding William's work: I always thought William was never the pilot of any SAR helicopter. He was always the co-pilot. Not sure why that was, maybe precisely because there is an eye to not having him be the responsible pilot for exactly the reasons mentioned here. The former I thought was a fact (correct me if I'm wrong); the latter is my speculation as to why the former may have been the case (so disregard if not a fact).
Also, was not the SAR gig far more dangerous than will be this up-coming one? Flying a helicopter above stormy Welsh seas sounds like it could be tempting fate. This one sounds more sedate though no less worthy.
I like the idea that by living at Sandringham, William is starting to slide into overseeing an estate he will have to oversee in a few years. Maybe he will work alongside his grandfather. Maybe Philip doesn't have the wherewithal to be doing any of that anymore. Anyway, it all looks like it's falling into place.
I remain someone who thinks William being allowed to do what he loves is a healthy thing. It's in keeping with his interests and training. It can only be a win-win.
In a recent poll, William was the most popular royal but this was published at the same time that another poll said more people preferred Charles to be king than William.
I think this is great. I recall when this was not so. I think Charles will be a superb monarch. He deserves to be king one day.
I grew up during the Prince Charles/Princess Diana years. My mother was an avid Princess Diana fan. (I am of William's generation). I recall 'Majesty' magazine in the house. I recall pouring over the pictures of the pretty princess. However, my mother changed her views in the early 1990's and while I was a teenager I was not following my mother's change of heart - and was definitely anything but interested in royalty. I do know that I had my own adolescent reactions to Diana by that point. (In fact, I have an aversion to getting into conversations about Diana. I almost feel like I 'know too much', having been around that dialectic so long. There are things about that whole time that are very obvious and dealing with anything but the clear facts is tiresome.)
As the years went on and I became adult, my mother and I would talk about royalty - world-wide, not just British. (Our family adored Queen Silvia of Sweden!) I inherited my mother's massive library on royalty. While I hate to think that I am a 'Republican' because my mother was a 'Republican', or 'Democrat', or 'Liberal', or 'Conservative' (using this only as an example) because of all those conversations with my mother regarding Diana and Charles, and reading all the books she had, I feel I have a good sense of the history of all that. My bias is in the direction of how my mother saw things, but her views were pretty well grounded in facts.
That said, it is for those reasons that I am heartened that there has been a turn-around in regards the public's views of Charles being king. I know it was not always so.
I agree with Queen Camilla's points. Just recently in a DM article linked here, the DM speculated that William was petulant 'like his father'. Knowing what I 'know' via my reading and what my mother 'spun', I know it is far more likely that William has inherited his mother's gene for petulance since he favors her in all other ways. One does see a tendency to attribute anything possibly negative in William's character to Charles. Diana is very noticeably never mentioned as a negative influence while Charles freely is. It's inexplicable unless you know the history. Still, I don't have a dog in that fight. I, who am a particularly disinterested party to all the scuffle, see that bias in the tabloid press very clearly. It shows up even here in the chat.
It is what it is. It's good to see that the public has moved on and Charles will have his day-in-the-sun.
I dont think Charles is jealous. He loves both his boys. More speculation mainly by posters who dont like him. The line of succession will not change.
Nor do I. I expect he is more pragmatic these days in his maturity.
Even when Charles was supposedly 'jealous' of Diana's popularity, I don't think it was actually 'jealousy'. It was quite complicated back then. A bit more layered. But then I read the history like a Shakespeare play. I don't see what others see who 'lived it'.
William wants to contribute directly to society. He has found a way to do that. Good for him.
Exactly so. In fact, I am rooting for him to keep-on-keeping-on with a job he loves right though his king-ship. Radical thought, I know. In a way, I think this 'stubbornness' of William's (if that's what it is) regarding this speaks volumns about his character. This I will attribute to Charles (and Diana) but the father is important in this regard. William saw two parents, for all their personal faults, who worked. In Charles' case, William saw a parent who worked hard on his interests. Though in William that work-ethic has not translated into intellectual pursuits or a love of ribbon-cutting, it has translated into a desire to be meaningfully engaged. It's a good thing. I laud William his insistence. Yes, good for him.
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