King Charles Likely Finds It ‘Tough’ That ‘All Eyes Are Always on’ Prince William
King Charles III is well, king, but he’s not the star of the show. That role goes to his son and heir, Prince William, which, a royal historian says, is likely “tough” for the 76-year-old monarch. Ahead, how the Prince of Wales has “grabbed the headlines” from his father. Plus, the “deal” they made about stealing the spotlight.
‘William has grabbed the headlines’ from King Charles recently
Speaking to the U.K.’s Mirror, historian Dr. Tessa Dunlop discussed the Prince of Wales’s meeting with Donald Trump in Paris, France, on Dec. 7, 2024. Despite the king’s status as the leader of the British royal family, she explained, William took the spotlight.
“It must be tough for Charles, a man who waited over 70 years for the big gig, to play second fiddle to his son” she said. “Time and again recently,” Dunlop continued, “William has grabbed the headlines” instead of his father.
Along the way, he’s showcased a combination of skills from his late mother, Princess Diana, and grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. “These days, the Prince of Wales effortlessly blends his mother’s charisma with a careful study of the late Queen’s canny constitutional rule.”
She went on, referencing William’s visit to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and a Christmas lunch at homelessness charity The Passage. “All eyes are always on William and the Waleses,” she said.
Even when Buckingham Palace announced the king’s cancer diagnosis in February 2024 it was soon overshadowed by Kate Middleton’s own diagnosis. The king’s health news “took second place to the Princess of Wales’s shock diagnosis,” Dunlop said.
The king has a long history of being ‘overshadowed’
Playing “second fiddle” to William is nothing new for King Charles. He’s spent much of his life in the no. 2 spot behind other royals. First, it was his late mother, Queen Elizabeth. Then, later, Diana, and now, William.
“The King, for so long overshadowed by his extraordinary mother, now finds himself outperformed by his eldest son with William’s weekend jaunt in Paris another painful reminder of who holds royalty’s trump card,” Dunlop said.
The king’s late ex-wife, Diana, “was the star of the show, and he wasn’t. And it was something that he found very difficult to take,” royal biographer Andrew Morton told Business Insider in 2022. (The Crown depicted the king’s jealousy. Prince Harry also discussed it in post-royal life.)
King Charles has a deal with Prince William about ‘stealing his limelight’
To manage the awkwardness of William taking the spotlight, King Charles reportedly has a deal with the 42-year-old.
“They worked out a kind of accommodation of how much limelight each is going to be allowed,” Clive Irving, a royal author and expert, told Express. “Because Charles is always very jealous of the other people stealing his limelight.”
The supposed “deal” also involves William’s wife. “He’s worked out a deal now whereby William and Kate can have an allotted percentage of the limelight,” Irving explained. Their “working arrangement” seems to be “maybe 40 percent [for William and Kate] and [King Charles] keeps 60 percent.”
The Duke of Sussex revealed in Spare how King Charles and Queen Camilla “didn’t want Willy and Kate getting loads of publicity.” Why? Because they didn’t like it when the pair drew “attention away from them or their causes.”
“They’d openly scolded Willy about it many times,” Harry wrote. He continued, recalling an incident where Kate’s scheduled visit to a tennis club overlapped with the king’s plans.
“Told that it was too late to cancel the visit, Pa’s press officer warned: Just make sure the [former] Duchess [of Cambridge] doesn’t hold a tennis racquet in any of the photos. Such a winning, fetching photo would undoubtedly wipe Pa and Camilla off the front pages. And that, in the end, couldn’t be tolerated.”
