Prince William plans to keep doing the school run when his father dies and he becomes king, according to a bombshell newspaper profile that will do little to assuage speculation about the health of the cancer-stricken King Charles III.
The profile, in The Times of London, says William will be an informal monarch, more comfortable at a football ground than a racecourse—as shown by his recent pre-game analysis at a match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain.
He will focus on projects that deliver “impact” at “scale,” sources tell the newspaper.
But it is the notion of a “school-run king” that jumps out from the extensive Times report, appearing to back the suggestion—previously reported in detail by the Daily Beast—that the U.K. is indeed in a “pre-succession” era.
British news outlets are restricted in what they can say about the king’s health by strict press and privacy laws, but the profile, headlined, “What will change when William is king?” makes it abundantly clear that William’s team are already prepping for the death of Charles, 76, who is now entering a second year of cancer treatment.
The Times says that William will bring a more relaxed style to the “top job,” and continue to protect his family’s privacy. It goes on to cite one “well-placed source” as saying that William will continue to do the school run as king.
Given that his youngest son, Prince Louis, turned 7 this week, and the royals typically attend boarding school from the age of 13, that suggests that royal insiders are thinking about a six-year timeframe for the succession.
The inference is likely to infuriate the king’s closest aides, but it meshes with what sources have told the Daily Beast.
In October this year, for example, the Daily Beast reported, “When King Charles III ascended the throne, most people expected he would live as long as his mother (96) or father (99). Since his diagnosis with cancer (of a still-unidentified type), few but the most ardent optimists really believe that any more.”
The Daily Beast has also reported that Prince Andrew is seeking to “run out the clock” on Charles, fighting attempts to evict him from Windsor’s Royal Lodge in the knowledge that, come the change of reign, his living arrangements will be fairly low on King William’s list of priorities.
While Buckingham Palace has been far more open and honest about the king’s health than it has been with the health conditions of previous monarchs, they have not said what specific type of cancer Charles has, or what the prognosis is. They have said that he continues to receive treatment on a weekly basis to manage the cancer.
