Regular readers of The Royalist will not be surprised by this week’s revelation that the most critical sinew of tension in the British royal family is not between Charles and Harry, but between Charles and William.
That father-son conflict has, behind the scenes, driven many of the dramas of the past few years, though the press has been generally reluctant to spell it out.
Tina Brown pushed it into the open this week, writing on Substack that Charles is “currently less irritated with the prodigal Harry than he is with his elder son and heir. Somehow, William’s parenting dedication always seems couched as a tacit criticism of the king’s own paternal deficiencies. And after five confirmed family vacations in the past seven months, William’s first-week-back diary pulsated with two outings: a father-daughter excursion to a Women’s Rugby World Cup pool match and a stroll through the Natural History Museum’s new gardens. Charles, despite his battle with cancer, has carried out official engagements on 175 days during the past 12 months.”
Tina’s insight backs up what the Daily Beast has been saying for weeks. On Aug. 31, the Beast reported sources describing “a very strained relationship between Charles and his son and heir, William.” Put simply, “William thinks Charles’ monarchy has failed to modernize. He thinks it still radiates pomposity and looks out of touch, thanks to Charles’ love of uniforms and ermine, and he disdains the prioritization of duty over health and well-being. Charles, meanwhile, believes William shirks the most basic element of the job—appearing, in person, across the country, rain or shine—and that his prioritization of family life over duty is inappropriate.”
On Sept. 1, the Daily Beast said that Charles, as a father, “instinctively wants to reconcile with Harry. William, by contrast, believes no member of the family should burnish Harry’s status by meeting him. One of William’s friends told me Charles risks repeating his mistake with Andrew: ‘William was right about Andrew, and he is right about Harry. Charles is weak.’”
