Prince William, known as the Duke of Rothesay while in Scotland, and King Charles III attend the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication for King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Photo / Getty Images
Few have faced such a daunting prospect as the Prince of Wales last September when the demands of his normal yet hectic schedule almost doubled overnight.
While his commitment to being as hands-on with his children as possible remains unchanged, Prince William has had to add to his portfolio of personal projects, the demands of running the vast Duchy of Cornwall estate.
So it is a tribute to him – as well as to his wife, the equally busy Princess of Wales – that the royal work-life balance seems to be remarkably intact.
And the payoff for the 41-year-old Prince, as he marks his first year as heir, is that this ability to keep all the plates spinning means that his desire to make a difference remains viable.
With the Earthshot Prize, likened to a green Nobel prize, and Homewards, the commitment to eradicate homelessness, he has made no secret of the lofty heights to which he aspires.
Hannah Jones, CEO of the Earthshot Prize, has described William as a “visionary” who is “wonderfully ambitious”. Others have told, with wry smiles, how he pushed his team on a daily basis ahead of the launch of Homewards earlier this year.
Meanwhile, although aides feign nonchalance about popularity polls, it has escaped no one’s notice that he is consistently voted top of the charts.
Just last week, the latest YouGov poll saw him net an impressive 74 per cent positive ratings, placing him just ahead of the hard working Princess Royal, and his wife.
Increasingly viewed as the modern face of the monarchy, he has proved himself a steady and dependable heir, respectful of royal tradition yet crucially, willing to instigate change.
When the Prince found himself elevated to the position of heir apparent on this day last year, it was made clear that his focus was on serving and supporting the King.
But it was equally obvious that he would take a different approach to the role to that of his father. Whereas Charles was given the title as a three-year-old boy and had oodles of time to consider how best to use it, William took on the mantle as an experienced, senior royal with his own clearly defined ideas and interests.
So the dawn of the Carolean Age was a moment for which both the Prince and Princess of Wales were well prepared. As a result, the couple embarked on the new era with a quiet confidence and an insistence that they would do things their way.
Sources close to them say that “laser focused” William and Catherine “know what they want” when it comes to their working lives, editing their own speeches and peppering aides with questions about every brief.
That vision has become ever clearer over the past 12 months as they have set out the parameters for their new roles and are now firmly positioned – alongside their three children – as the future of the Royal family.
Reflecting on his first year as the Prince of Wales, one well-placed source said: “It’s a huge remit to take over, especially from someone who had been in the job for more than 50 years. That can’t be overestimated.
“There’s a lot for him to get his head around, and although he and his father worked closely together, there will have been a lot of ‘listening and discussing’ his future path.” The secret to his mastery of balancing the royal portfolio in practice means applying bespoke approaches to different areas of his life.
On the international stage, we are seeing a more confident statesman. In the past year, the Prince has travelled to Boston for the Earthshot Prize ceremony and to Poland, on a “personal mission” to praise British troops working near the Ukraine border.
Later this month, he will cement that reputation as he spends several days in New York on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly, convening world leaders to talk about climate change.
Then in November, the Prince will host the third Earthshot Awards in Singapore, an opportunity he hopes will allow him to inspire environmental change across Asia.
Closer to home, the new Prince and Princess of Wales are taking a considered approach to the land attached to that title.
Whereas the King spent nine weeks at Aberystwyth University learning the Welsh language and history before his 1969 investiture as Prince of Wales, William has opted for a different tack.
For him, there will be no investiture ceremony. Instead, he will make frequent visits designed around thoughtful community initiatives.
As trialled during a visit to the South Wales Valleys in April, the Prince and Princess plan to stay in independent B&Bs, supporting the local tourism industry, rather than leasing their own Welsh property as Charles did. William always makes a passable attempt to “lean into” Welsh phrases with a cheery “Bore da” (good morning) or similar.
However, while he recognises the importance of the language he has no current plans to learn it himself.
Instead, social-media messages about engagements in Wales will be published in both languages and Kensington Palace will include Welsh language broadcaster S4C on engagements.
“The question they have asked themselves is how they can be the Prince and Princess for Wales, in addition to, of Wales,” one source said. “They are very focused on deepening the trust and respect of the people of Wales and will do that by spending more time there.”
Another new string to William’s bow is the Duchy of Cornwall, the 135,000-acre estate he inherited and which generates an annual income of some £24 million for his family.
Having become, by default, one of the country’s largest landowners, he has been particularly focused on getting to grips with its management.
“He has been keen to continue the great work that his father did, but to do it in his own way,” a source says. “He has been thinking about how to take the lessons from Earthshot or from the Royal family’s work on mental health, and apply them to the Duchy. He wants to mesh all the best strands of his work to create holistic support for tenants and landowners.”
Nowhere is the juggle more considered than the Prince’s own family. When his grandmother died, he was still in the process of settling his young family into their new home, Adelaide Cottage, on the Windsor estate.
Having relocated to the relatively modest five-bedroomed property, the children were barely two days into the new term when they found themselves nudged up the order of succession, a then nine-year-old Prince George now second in line to the throne.
William is acutely aware of the huge interest in his young children, who will one day carry the responsibility of monarchy on their own shoulders.
For now, it is a careful balancing act, but the Prince and Princess are determined to give them the most normal life possible.
With the recent flurry of big royal set-piece events – beginning with the Platinum Jubilee last June and ending with the King’s first Trooping the Colour a year later – the public has been treated to plenty of attention-grabbing antics by George, 10, Charlotte, 8, and Louis, 5.
The year of transition now over, the children will be less visible in the coming months as they focus on school. If there have been any missteps for the Waleses in the past 12 months, they have been mercifully few.
One was William’s decision not to break away from his holiday to support the Lionesses in the Women’s World Cup final. The backlash proved a rare warning that the insistence on ring-fencing family time would not always be acceptable.
More recently, there have been whispers that the King is keen to ensure he is not upstaged by his elder son, occasionally putting his foot down and insisting that he calls the shots.
On a personal level, the private revelations made by his brother, Prince Harry, in his memoir, Spare, and on the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, have had an indisputable impact.
William has always been an old head on young shoulders, aware of his responsibilities and the life of duty expected from him.
“He has this unwavering commitment to duty and service,” one source close to him says. “He takes the role extremely seriously and is incredibly focused on working hard but also supporting his father as King.”
Quietly revolutionary, carefully paced, the new Prince of Wales has already turned much royal tradition on its head. But in keeping with his style, there has been no big reset. Instead, he has calmly turned up the dial, continuing to focus on his key themes while gradually shifting the landscape.
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