William, Prince of Wales

[royalwave]

Bringing this discussion over from Catherine's thread...

There was some speculation that one of the reasons William seems more "level headed" than Harry is because the family invested in him more and treated him differently as the heir. Everyone that is except Diana, who insisted the boys be treated equally and paid special attention to Harry so that he wouldn't feel left out.

I'm a little over halfway through Valentine Low's "Courtiers" and one of the Queen's former private secretaries, Christopher Geidt, is described as taking a special interest in preparing William--making sure he joined meetings the Queen had with foreign leaders, encouraging Will and the Queen to make time in their diaries every few months to talk about official business, and encouraging William starting to receive a version of the "red boxes" of government reports that the Queen got. This was of course after Diana's time, but I think once William finished college and began to be treated more and more like a future king the difference between him and Harry became more stark and that was probably the beginning of some of Harry's dissatisfaction with things. Christopher Geidt is described as having a very close relationship with William and they would often discuss approaches to world affairs. William has had a very clear picture of where he is going in life for quite some time, and his main goal is to be good at it and secure the future of the monarchy.

I don't know if Harry fully realized until around the time that William was settling down with Kate how much of a supporting act he was supposed to be. The third wheel, so to speak. The military was a bit of a saving grace for a while, but I think it was harder to map out a path for him that would keep him happy even before Meghan entered the picture. Once William and Kate started having children Harry has often been described as feeling more and more like he had a "shelf life" and had to move quickly to make any sort of impact before people lost interest in him. He's described as fearing he would turn out like Andrew, and folks always had to reassure him that that scenario didn't have to be the case and he could forge his own legacy. He never really believed it. So, he was already primed to take everything as a slight whenever he felt like he was having to play 2nd fiddle to Will, or that his wife wasn't being treated as the superstar he believed her to be. I think maybe he thought that marrying someone he perceived as so perfect for the role, and such a bright light for the family, was going to fix things for him and re-elevate him to the status he desired. Everyone would realize what assets the Sussexes were, single-handedly modernizing the monarchy and all, that they would get to call the shots. Maybe he was just incredulous when that turned out not to be the case and also when it became clear that Meghan really, really was not actually suited for the role at all.

[scarlett210]

I still think a lot of it boils down to temperament and personality. If Harry were the heir and had all of the attention and guidance, would he have lived up to expectations? I'm thinking no. Fundamentally Harry is a bad combination of spoiled, immature, lazy and frankly, more than a little dim. You can look at somebody like Princess Anne, who took her secondary role and ran with it as an example of somebody with ambition, maturity and lack of ego. Somebody who knew the job and just wanted to do it well. Because at the end of the day, Harry still had major opportunities and could have really made the role his own. But instead he's all wrapped up in perks, and fussing over titles and who has which ribbon on their uniform, which is...just pathetic, frankly. And something I don't think William is quite so concerned about. And the constant worship of his mother and trying to turn his wife into his mom is quite bizarre and unhealthy. Not only does it show lack of insight, of major mental health issues, but is highly, highly and weirdly immature.

Somebody said it's so odd how the future king and queen seem so down to earth and relatable compared to Meghan and Harry and it's true.

But what really shows H&M's true colors is their treatment of staff. It says something about their values and who they are as people. And who William and Kate are that they wouldn't stand for it.

Maybe that's a long way of saying Harry is a lousy person and it's about him, not about the institution and he'd be a lousy person no matter what.

[ahah]

I think there are two big differences between Anne and Harry which come into play here. First, Anne wasn't raised with one parent insisting that she was just like Charles. Both of her parents were invested from the get go in understanding that Charles had a destiny that she would never have, and she was not fooled into thinking anything else. Second, she had Andrew and Edward to see that times when she was excluded were not personal - they were duty.

[scarlett210]

While we have heard that Diana wanted to treat the boys as equals, I find it hard to believe that Harry didn't know and understand from an early age that is brother would be king and what that entailed. It would seem like you'd pick something like that up by osmosis, if anything else. But one of the problems Harry seems to have is a penchant for believing in the fantasy world he's created in his head and not reality.

[featherhat]

In 2017 Harry said that "no one in the family wants to be King" and I think that's still true today. Harry doesn't actually want to be King, he doesn't want to have to do Red Boxes every day except Christmas, he wants all the perks of being King but none of the responsibility. Maybe also some of the money (that funds the offices) of his brother and father.

William was also said to want to be very careful how they broke the news to George about his status, as seemingly his young self had a rude shock that he couldn't be whatever he wanted to be. In that profile "The Other Brother" in 2021, Roya Nikkah interviewed a few "high placed sources" who said that they didn't actually think William was going to do the job until recently. Unlike Harry, he pretty much had to stand his ground and insist that he took the Air Ambulance job to prove to himself and others that he wasn't just a performing monkey.

My personal first "he can do this" moment was his 2018 tour of Israel, Palestine and Jordan, so many different , often diametrically opposed view points in 4 days and most came away happy he had been there. Obviously the nuts and bolts work was done by FCO officials but if he had fucked up publicly it would have been disastrous.

I sincerely do NOT feel sorry for Harry as "spare" because even assuming everything had gone well he could have disappeared off to Africa for months at a time as he always claimed he wanted to do. William as POW can't now do that.

Harry's "shelf life" was in his own head. Even if William never had kids and be was his brother's heir he wouldn't hog the media limelight forever (which is what he says he doesn't want but he's lying), which is what he seems to be equating everything to (somewhat ironically) and even with George growing up he still had 20 years before he started royal duties. The media always finds the younger generation more interesting. Which most breathe a sigh of relief over in terms of private lives and just get on with it for the public causes.

[Ladybug]

William and Catherine last night at the BAFTA awards (note the pat on the ass she gives him)

Not a fan of the gloves with this dress on Catherine, but William looks great in that tux.

[tiggertoo]

I liked the gloves. It gave the look a more dramatic, modern spin. Although, never having worn gloves like that, I was thinking I would just want to rip them off after a while.

[lordofthefries]

I loved the gloves - I thought it was a great way to have a gown re-wear have a completely different flavor from its original appearance. Mostly, I like to see Kate stepping out of her comfort zone and have some fun with fashion.

[Ladybug]

William made a surprise visit to Poland today to visit British and Polish troops.

I like that he dressed business casual and didn't wear a uniform or military-like outfit.

[tiggertoo]

He represents his country and the RF very well. Thank goodness he’s the eldest and not H. It may have been an Edward and George situation repeating itself.

And he’s come a long from the first post in this thread which says he fell off his pony. 🤣.