Prince William Avoided the ‘Haphazard Fashion’ of His Own ‘Destiny’ Conversation With Prince George
Prince William and Kate Middleton have already had the talk with Prince George. A royal commentator believes it’s “definitely” happened. As in the 10-year-old is well aware he’s a future king. When it supposedly happened and why how the Prince of Wales discovered his own “destiny” played a big role.
Prince William and Kate Middleton talked with George in ‘more detail’ about being a future king in 2020
When did the Prince and Princess of Wales tell George he’s actually in line for the throne? According to royal biographer Robert Lacey, the conversation happened in 2020, likely around the time George turned 7.
“Prince William has not revealed to the world how and when he broke the big news to his son, ” Lacey wrote in Battle of Brothers (via Express). “Maybe one day George will tell us the story himself.”
“But sometime around the boy’s seventh birthday in the summer of 2020, it is thought that his parents went into more detail about what the little prince’s life of future royal ‘service and duty’ would particularly involve.”
The author added William and Kate wanted to tell George during a “controlled moment of their choice.” Their decision, Lacey explained, could be traced back to “William’s unhappiness at the haphazard fashion in which the whole business of his royal destiny had buzzed around his head from the start.”
George ‘definitely’ knows he’s a future king after William experienced a ‘troubling’ realization as a boy
Speaking on the July 20 episode of the Royally Obsessed podcast, royal correspondent Monique Jessen discussed how William’s set out to make things different with George when it comes to learning about being a future king.
Referencing a 2016 BBC interview where the now-father-of-three said, “There’ll be a time and a place to bring George up and understand how he fits in, in the world,” Jessen shared the 10-year-old likely knows what’s ahead.
“I think [George] is now [aware of his destiny],” Jessen began, noting “that’s a conversation which definitely has happened.” Part of the reason, she explained, is “because we’ve seen him do quite a few engagements on his own.”
So far in 2023, George has had an official role in his grandfather King Charles III’s coronation. He’s also made many public appearances, attending Wimbledon and doing volunteer work with his family.
“He had certain things that he did with the late Queen [Elizabeth II] and [Prince] Philip,” the correspondent added. “And I think it’s a fine line.” William and Kate “want to prepare him and they also don’t want to terrify him.”
Then, of course, there’s William’s own experience where he realized he’s not just part of the royal family but throne-bound.
“Also, I think William found it quite traumatic when he just wasn’t told when he was grown up and everyone expected him to know,” Jessen said, calling the “dawning” of the realization “quite troubling for him.”
“He’s definitely going to want to do things very differently for George,” she added.
William had ‘no idea’ about being a future king until starting school
As for how William realized he himself would one day take the throne, royal biographer Andrew Morton claimed in his 2011 book, William and Catherine: Their Lives, Their Wedding, the now 41-year-old figured it out from fellow students.
“Before William attended school, he genuinely had no idea that he was any different from anyone else,” Morton wrote. “His innocence of his position was soon ended by fellow pupils, who left him in no doubt who he was.”
“On one occasion,” the author claimed, “a classmate reportedly asked him: ‘Don’t you know the Queen?’ William looked at him and replied: ‘Don’t you mean Granny?’”
“Unsurprisingly, Harry was not slow to join the teasing of his older brother,” Morton added. “When William said once that he would like to be a policeman and look after his mother, Harry told him emphatically: ‘You can’t, you have to be King.’”
William is currently first in the line of succession. George is second followed by his siblings, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
