What now for William & Catherine: Future Duties, Roles and Responsibilities


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I think that what the British press, and public, would like to see is that a 33-year-old able bodied man, who does receive many perks at the expense of the British taxpayer, work somewhere, just somewhere close to 40 hours per week. As far as we can see, he doesn't come near it.

That's the issue, not whether they are human beings, or needs a private life, etc, etc. Nobody quibbles with that, that's not the issue. But I'll point out that IF the sources are true, and Will does not even work a 20 hour shift and took off the entire month of December, leaving others to give up part of the holiday they would have off, in order to cover for him, then he's not treating anybody very well, is he? Nor does he give a toss about their private life. Would you agree, that if he is not pulling his weight, and that's an "IF" at this point, he's not merely idle. He's selfish.

And IF this is merely a PR problem, then Will had better spend what great or little free time he has getting some competent people on board.
 
I think that what the British press, and public, would like to see is that a 33-year-old able bodied man, who does receive many perks at the expense of the British taxpayer, work somewhere, just somewhere close to 40 hours per week. As far as we can see, he doesn't come near it.



That's the issue, not whether they are human beings, or needs a private life, etc, etc. Nobody quibbles with that, that's not the issue. But I'll point out that IF the sources are true, and Will does not even work a 20 hour shift and took off the entire month of December, leaving others to give up part of the holiday they would have off, in order to cover for him, then he's not treating anybody very well, is he? Nor does he give a toss about their private life. Would you agree, that if he is not pulling his weight, and that's an "IF" at this point, he's not merely idle. He's selfish.



And IF this is merely a PR problem, then Will had better spend what great or little free time he has getting some competent people on board.


I don't think that we have enough credible information to say that William is treating other people badly or that he's being selfish. BUT I do wish this entire episode would have been handled better by BP, and I do wish that they publicized or put out more information about what goes on behind the scenes. Sounds like it's time for another "day in the life of royals" series, but this time with someone other than the queen.
 
I'm really starting to believe that its not about the number of engagements or royal titles or even being an heir to the heir. Its about getting life right. This family is also a very human family that just happens to live in a fishbowl where everything they do or or don't do is dissected, analyzed and these royal figures are moved around on a chessboard as we would like them to be.

I don't think there is one member of the British Royal Family that is exempt from wishing things were different than they were/are. HM probably could have done without becoming Queen Regnant at a very young age. Philip might have wanted to keep active with his military career longer. Charles may daydream about being an ordinary farmer with plenty of time for painting and Harry finding a career as a game warden in Africa. You get the picture. It was in this vein that William was expressing his difficulty at one time in finding a balance that works. I think balance is the key word here.

Perhaps over the years with the mistakes that were made and resulting chaos that followed, they've come to realize that although duty and service are what is expected of them and they do give it freely, it shouldn't be that their own happiness and well being suffers because of it.

These are very human people and not puppets.

If a royal wants a normal life, then walk away and leave the royal life behind (=start with 00000 in the bank) and no handouts of any kind from any royal family member or anything gotten from being a royal, such as no house from granny/father, no land from any of them either. In other words, don't walk away independently wealthy like the Duke of Windsor did. Walk away penniless and pay for everything with your earnings, like a majority of people on this Earth. You don't have to cut all familial ties, just all of the financial ones. Let's be honest, some royals have walked away with nothing because they want it that way. I believe one of King Leopold I I I of Belgium's daughter did just that. There is also a Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha that lives in Canada and works a normal job. He and his family visit relatives in Germany, but that's the extent of it. Walking away is doable only if you really want to. It seems so many ex-royals crave media attention, but if restored to their former thrones, would start whining again. Let HRH THE Duke of Cambridge keep whining and he to may one day become an ex-royal. Most of Britain would say good riddance and I also have no sympathy for him. He should thank his higher power constantly and consistently for being born into a family that can GIVE him the best in life.
 
Walking away doesn't do anything for William because he can't renounced the rights to the throne for George or Charlotte. If William converts to Catholicism tomorrow which is the only way right to remove him from the line of succession. George and Charlotte are still there before Harry.


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William does seem to want it all ways and that's impossible so he has to make a choice. If I was to walk up to the gates of Buckingham Palace, for example, and request that my children get to play in the palace pool like Prince George does I would get told no and that George gets this because he's royal. On the upside, my children get to play in public areas without getting their photos taken by the press because they are not royal. But, hang on, William thinks that his children ought to get that too. The bottom line is that he and his family can't get it every way and his moaning really is tiresome to say the least.
 
William does seem to want it all ways and that's impossible so he has to make a choice. If I was to walk up to the gates of Buckingham Palace, for example, and request that my children get to play in the palace pool like Prince George does I would get told no and that George gets this because he's royal. On the upside, my children get to play in public areas without getting their photos taken by the press because they are not royal. But, hang on, William thinks that his children ought to get that too. The bottom line is that he and his family can't get it every way and his moaning really is tiresome to say the least.
Isn't part of the royalty gig specifically that they do have privilege?
And by your reckoning, anyone, including the regular staff who use the palace pool (and they do) should have to parade in public for pictures, right? Or maybe it is that anyone who uses the pool should "pay" with hours of labor in kind. Again, that's never how I have understood royalty to work. Or BP palace pool use either.
 
Isn't part of the royalty gig specifically that they do have privilege?
And by your reckoning, anyone, including the regular staff who use the palace pool (and they do) should have to parade in public for pictures, right? Or maybe it is that anyone who uses the pool should "pay" with hours of labor in kind. Again, that's never how I have understood royalty to work. Or BP palace pool use either.

I interpret sophie25's comment to mean that William has the right, due to his position of privilege, to use the Palace pool that most people (ignoring the employees for now, because they have contractual privileges) cannot use, but he also wants to use the places that ordinary people have access to and he wants to be able to do that without being photographed.

He wants to be Royal and eventually king, and to be able to enjoy the enormous privileges attached to that position, and for people to be on their very best behaviour around him and call him Your Royal Highness and Sir and to bow to him, and for his wife to be dressed in expensive clothes and wear fabulous jewellery that only that family has access to, but he also wants to be treated like an ordinary person when it suits him. He wants everything, and he wants it on his own terms, and he whines when he doesn't get his way, and a lot of people are fed up with him.
 
Lots of wealthy people have access to things other's don't, people more wealthy than the royals. There's nothing wrong with that...if you want it bad enough, work for it.

IIRC I've never heard that William (or Harry) requiring their titles or 'sir' to be used, let alone requiring bows and curtsey's.

I think it's ok that he wants to try to be somewhat 'normal' when he can (and I think the people want and expect it) ...I don't think the monarchy can ever go back to how it used to be with the wall of separation pre-Diana or even pre-the Queen Mother. In other countries the monarchies are much more 'normal' ...seems to me the main reason the BRF can't allow that close access is due to the public demand (media demand) to their lives...they have to be able to retreat. This really is no different than a wealthy person or a celeb.

The monarchy is a Tradition. Few believe there's some sort of God given right or special bloodline that makes one royal. The royals have very little power left. As long as the people want that Tradition the will expect a balance...but I think as time goes on they will phase down more as things change culturally.


LaRae
 
^^^ Good post Pranter. Also if you were to do a bit of research at the British Monarchy website, it explains that no one is required to use titles, bow or curtsy when meeting a member of the BRF. However many people ask how to follow the tradition so they explain it. If someone chooses to work for a royal family, then they can expect to follow the traditions of that royal house.
 
The press for Wills & co isn't going to get any better until he steps up and takes on some more responsibilities
He is the future King of England....
I know he's not the crown prince yet but he's close enough and when you look at the shockingly low number of public engagements he does compared to others in the BRF and his peers in other royal families you have to wonder why
 
^^^IMHO the press isn't really interested in covering William's engagements and quite possibly Harry's as well. Photos of them meeting with charities, government officials and performing investitures are not selling papers/magazines. Photos of their private lives however are an entirely different manner. And with Harry they're really wanting photos of him on his off duty activities and/or with a new girlfriend. I believe the tabloids are truly after Kate and candid paparazzi style photos of the kids out and about. The same type of photos that they stalked and harassed their late mother for decades ago.

So the trio could increase their engagements but I believe those won't really satisfy the press' desire for intimate photos and details of their private lives.
 
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Will is called work shy for not working
Will releases photos of his children so all is forgiven
Will was on holiday when photos were taken but that's ok because he let us see some holiday snaps of the children. Winner !!



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William only left full-time military service two years ago. Which is expected of a future king

It's taken Charles and Anne decades to build up patronages and regiments but if we are to believe what we're told by Richard Palmer, the royal family is going to be reduced with hundreds of charities being scraped.

I believe that until Charles is king nothing drastic will change.

Prince Harry is much closer to the throne than Andrew , Edward or Anne and he's done just a few engagements this year.

The royal family does thousands of engagements a year and only a handful get covered in the national press so it's not about engagements. Edward and Sophie are currently in the Caribbean and no one is covering them at all.

What the tabloids want is Kate out and about and they figure the best way to achieve this is to try and goad William to becoming a full time royal
 
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I think the press do want to see the young royals working, and it's not all about just wanting to get to Catherine.

William & Catherine and Harry do a great deal behind the scenes, but unfortunately, their work don't get the proper highlighting as it should. The media would like to have opportunities to photograph the royals attending meetings, hosting lunches and dinners, but the palace don't publish any pictures of these events, nor do we hear anything about them. By doing this, I think, it does a disservice to the young royals and their work, it leaves the press out to dry and reduce them to searching for a royal topic to write about. Also, the public and royal watchers don't get a real insight into how hard working the young royals really are. It's an real and legit issue that I think the young royals and their palace officials should fix.

The Official Royal Court Circular really don't publish everything the young royals do. Also, the Monarchy website pretty much sucks when it comes to updates.

Now, I totally understand and fully support how the Cambridge's handled their recent family skiing trip. The press wants to go back to the time where they knew the locations where the royal family vacationed and met the royals there for pictures. It didn't work out so well back in the day, and now William & Catherine are doing the family vacations their own way. Members of the media will just have to suck it up and understand the Cambridge family position on this.

I do think their should be more transparency between the young royals, palace officials and the media when it comes down to official royal duties though. The young royals aren't lazy or workshy, but when there's less insight on the official work William & Catherine and Harry do behind the scenes, when not conducting public engagements, it gives the impression the young royals aren't doing their fair share.

Just my take on things...
 
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It seems to be a general consensus that William should "up his game" and get out there and do more of what royals are supposed to do and he's "work shy" because he's not living up to the expectations of some.

From what I've read, it seems like it is thought that it is almost a given that William can up his game at any point in time whenever he wants but he doesn't want to. Do we really know this is the case? Who does what and where and how they get there is up to the head CEO of the Firm which is HM, The Queen herself and those that are well above William in the Firm's hierarchy.

As the Queen's reign is heading into the sunset years, I don't think it'd really be wise to have W&K as the "power couple" doing full time royal duties 24/7 as it would naturally draw attention away from the actual heir to the throne. Their time to shine as the heir and consort will come when Charles ascends the throne.

I think things are just fine as they are now. The Firm has never been one to bend under media pressure and I don't believe it will start now.
 
It seems to be a general consensus that William should "up his game" and get out there and do more of what royals are supposed to do and he's "work shy" because he's not living up to the expectations of some.

From what I've read, it seems like it is thought that it is almost a given that William can up his game at any point in time whenever he wants but he doesn't want to. Do we really know this is the case? Who does what and where and how they get there is up to the head CEO of the Firm which is HM, The Queen herself and those that are well above William in the Firm's hierarchy.

As the Queen's reign is heading into the sunset years, I don't think it'd really be wise to have W&K as the "power couple" doing full time royal duties 24/7 as it would naturally draw attention away from the actual heir to the throne. Their time to shine as the heir and consort will come when Charles ascends the throne.

I think things are just fine as they are now. The Firm has never been one to bend under media pressure and I don't believe it will start now.

I thought William did up his game by conducting Investitures on the Queen's behalf, he and Catherine now attend State Visits and the Royal Diplomatic Corps receptions. Catherine just took on her first military appointment and more is due to come. To me, the Cambridge's have stepped up their game officially, but the problem is less transparency between the palace and media on the young royals work when they're not conducting official engagements publically and there's less picture opportunities.
 
I thought William did up his game by conducting Investitures on the Queen's behalf, he and Catherine now attend State Visits and the Royal Diplomatic Corps receptions. Catherine just took on her first military appointment and more is due to come. To me, the Cambridge's have stepped up their game officially, but the problem is less transparency between the palace and media on the young royals work when they're not conducting official engagements publically and there's less picture opportunities.

You see it, I see it and the rest of us here sees it but obviously the media is less than impressed and still call Wills "work shy" and "gentleman farmer" and whatever else they can think to throw at him. If they don't have anything to write about, their aim is to goad them into doing something to fill their articles with.

One thing W&K are not going to allow to happen is for anyone to cackle with glee at having their "cash cows". They're above that and know from experience that you give a inch, they'll want a mile. To set the rules and the line in the sand of what they will not and cannot tolerate from the get go is going to make it easier for them when they do step into the glaring limelight as full time royals. In this respect, I think its wiser not to publicize each and every move they make behind the scenes.
 
:previous:I agree with everything you've stated Osipi.:)
 
William only left full-time military service two years ago. Which is expected of a future king

It's taken Charles and Anne decades to build up patronages and regiments but if we are to believe what we're told by Richard Palmer, the royal family is going to be reduced with hundreds of charities being scraped.

I believe that until Charles is king nothing drastic will change.

Prince Harry is much closer to the throne than Andrew , Edward or Anne and he's done just a few engagements this year.

The royal family does thousands of engagements a year and only a handful get covered in the national press so it's not about engagements. Edward and Sophie are currently in the Caribbean and no one is covering them at all.

What the tabloids want is Kate out and about and they figure the best way to achieve this is to try and goad William to becoming a full time royal
:previous: I agree. The good work done by the older members of the BRF is IMO too often ignored in favor of the younger ones so I agree it is not just about engagements.
 
I think the press do want to see the young royals working, and it's not all about just wanting to get to Catherine.

William & Catherine and Harry do a great deal behind the scenes, but unfortunately, their work don't get the proper highlighting as it should. The media would like to have opportunities to photograph the royals attending meetings, hosting lunches and dinners, but the palace don't publish any pictures of these events, nor do we hear anything about them. By doing this, I think, it does a disservice to the young royals and their work, it leaves the press out to dry and reduce them to searching for a royal topic to write about. Also, the public and royal watchers don't get a real insight into how hard working the young royals really are. It's an real and legit issue that I think the young royals and their palace officials should fix.

The Official Royal Court Circular really don't publish everything the young royals do. Also, the Monarchy website pretty much sucks when it comes to updates.

Now, I totally understand and fully support how the Cambridge's handled their recent family skiing trip. The press wants to go back to the time where they knew the locations where the royal family vacationed and met the royals there for pictures. It didn't work out so well back in the day, and now William & Catherine are doing the family vacations their own way. Members of the media will just have to suck it up and understand the Cambridge family position on this.

I do think their should be more transparency between the young royals, palace officials and the media when it comes down to official royal duties though. The young royals aren't lazy or workshy, but when there's less insight on the official work William & Catherine and Harry do behind the scenes, when not conducting public engagements, it gives the impression the young royals aren't doing their fair share.

Just my take on things...


This is one area where I think the Swedish RF really excels at. If there's a meeting or Official Working Dinner, it's both on the Official Calendar for all to see and at least one picture taken, then posted to their Official Website. So the public does know they're working hard behind the scenes and not just doing the glitzy engagements.

The British RF could do it this way too and it would certainly help w/the "work shy" stupidity that's on going.

JMO and 2 cents Cdn.




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^^^The Spanish courts follows a similar pattern to the Swedish counterparts. I agree it is a good way to demonstrate that the BRF is working, but this may be a change that will happen when one reign ends and another begins.
 
This is one area where I think the Swedish RF really excels at. If there's a meeting or Official Working Dinner, it's both on the Official Calendar for all to see and at least one picture taken, then posted to their Official Website. So the public does know they're working hard behind the scenes and not just doing the glitzy engagements.

The British RF could do it this way too and it would certainly help w/the "work shy" stupidity that's on going.

JMO and 2 cents Cdn.




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I agree. I think it's important for the royals official work behind the scenes to be highlighted. The nasty "workshy" headlines would not only go away, but everyone would get a chance to see the young royals at work, and folks would be chance to see what it really takes to be a working senior royal. Again, it's about transparency. Outside of the few and far between engagements the young royals carry out, the media is looking for a good and legit royal story to cover. When scarce material is given, the media get testy.
 
Stumbled upon this yesterday when researching Prince Charles' riding career.

William has been labeled workshy for some time. Here is a Sun's article from March of 2009.

Prince William has reportedly been lectured by his father Charles to involve himself in more royal commitments.

The report comes just a few weeks after the 26-year-old was accused in a TV documentary of carrying out only 14 engagements as compared to his father, who touched 84 at the same age.

A palace adviser added: "William is a very lucky young man who lives an extremely comfortable life.

"But he often doesn't see that his privileged life comes with some serious responsibilities."

Prince Charles ?lectures Wills to do more royal duties? | TopNews
 
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When it comes to privacy for the Cambridge family. I support them, and the royal family and palace support them too. I just think, if everyone want to give this marriage and family life a chance to survive, a certain amount of privacy is needed. William and Catherine must be able to sit back, relax, and be able to be husband and wife and parents without having the media shoved down their throats.
 
Stumbled upon this yesterday when researching Prince Charles' riding career.

William has been labeled workshy for some time. Here is a Sun's article from March of 2009.

The report comes just a few weeks after the 26-year-old was accused in a TV documentary of carrying out only 14 engagements as compared to his father, who touched 84 at the same age.

Its comparing rutabagas and parsnips. Charles was heir to the throne and a full time royal at the time while at the same age, William was heir to the heir, in the military and doing some royal engagements.

The fishing for cash cows has gone on for a long time hasn't it? :whistling:
 
When it comes to privacy for the Cambridge family. I support them, and the royal family and palace support them too. I just think, if everyone want to give this marriage and family life a chance to survive, a certain amount of privacy is needed. William and Catherine must be able to sit back, relax, and be able to be husband and wife and parents without having the media shoved down their throats.

Just like the Queen and Prince Phillip had early in their marriage and she was the heir! Heck they lived in Malta when the DoE was stationed there!


LaRae
 
Just like the Queen and Prince Phillip had early in their marriage and she was the heir! Heck they lived in Malta when the DoE was stationed there!


LaRae

Yeah, unfortunately, that was during a time when the media held the Monarchy in high regard and respected their right to privacy.
 
Yeah, unfortunately, that was during a time when the media held the Monarchy in high regard and respected their right to privacy.

They (media) don't have enough sense to not kill the goose that lays the golden egg nowdays. They just want to cause trouble.

Similar to the US as well...Just think if Kennedy was running now. HA.


LaRae
 
Its comparing rutabagas and parsnips. Charles was heir to the throne and a full time royal at the time while at the same age, William was heir to the heir, in the military and doing some royal engagements.

The fishing for cash cows has gone on for a long time hasn't it? :whistling:

In 1974/1975 Charles was still in the Navy when he was 26 years old.:whistling:
Charles left the Navy in 1977.

Sorry do not understand your 2nd comment, please explain.
 
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