Prince William

by Penny Junor

  That evening they hosted a glittering, red-carpet, all-star, A-list BAFTA dinner, of which William is President, for three hundred at the opulent Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles. It was aimed at persuading American film-makers to use young British talent; and stars such as Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman and Quentin Tarantino were queuing up to pay $16,000 a table. But the hottest ticket was to an exclusive brunch the following morning at the Beverly Hills home of billionaire Hollywood producer and owner of the New York Giants football team, Steve Tisch. Forty-five guests including some of the richest philanthropists in the country, plus a few stars, like Reese Witherspoon and Catherine Keener, enjoyed a personal introduction to the Duke and Duchess. It was to launch Tusk Trust’s US Patrons’ Circle. How much they paid was left to the guests but 45 minutes of royal time brought in donations and forward pledges of nearly $ 1 million.

  The assault on California was a quick and easy way to part the mega-rich from their money to help the poor. It was done in the best possible faith and with good taste – and it was an excellent outcome for everyone concerned. It seems churlish to find fault. Yet, having watched him earn such admiration and respect from those hundreds of thousands of people of Canada, who look up to him as their future King, there was something distasteful about the sight of him – he who oozes integrity from every pore – and his intelligent young wife selling themselves so brazenly.

  That said, the trip wasn’t all pay-to-view, and my suspicion is he was happier during the two and a half hours spent with ex-servicemen than he was at any of the champagne-fuelled celebrity dos. It was an event Nick Booth at the Foundation had arranged, called ‘Hiring Our Heroes’, in partnership with the organisation ServiceNation: Mission Serve. It was essentially a giant job fair, held at the Sony Studios, as William said in his speech, ‘to help those returning from active service to open a new chapter in their lives and find employment when they retire from the military. Catherine and I both have friends back in Britain who could benefit from a brilliant initiative like this. I am delighted, therefore, that our Foundation – and in that I include Harry, my low-flying Apache pilot of a kid brother – is a partner in today’s event. We have much to learn from you.’

  ‘Hiring Our Heroes’ was a good example of the convening power [of the Prince],’ says Nick Booth. ‘It was about moving the story forward for returning veterans. Physical rehabilitation has been done to a degree, but what next? It was a question that Prince Harry asked and it was a very good question.’ A conversation over a cup of coffee with some former colleagues in America then led to the event at Sony where the Prince’s name enabled them to bring together veterans in search of work with employers, government labour departments and chambers of commerce. Hundreds of servicemen and women were hired that day, and within a month forty cities said they would like to do hiring fairs across the US; there are now five a week and over a hundred have been completed. ‘I spoke to the US head of the Chamber of Commerce last week,’ says Nick, ‘and they are swamped off their feet. It’s a great example of catalytic philanthropy.’

  The Foundation will go on raising and distributing money. In January 2012, it announced a three-year partnership with the newly launched Forces in Mind Trust set up to help veterans suffering, as many of them do, from poor mental health, family breakdowns and substance abuse. Speaking after the premiere of the film War Horse in London – the proceeds of which went to the Foundation for this partnership, and to which six hundred military personnel had been invited – William said, ‘To support this vital process of transition, Catherine, my brother Harry and I are delighted that our Foundation will be working in partnership with the newly formed Forces in Mind Trust. Together, our aim is to provide a cohesive approach to tackling the many problems that some ex-service personnel and their families experience when making the move back into civilian life. Whether through finding new opportunities in employment, in mentoring and training, or in support to families, it is our intention that no serviceman or woman – or their dependants – should fear a future out of uniform. Giving them this confidence, and the opportunity to develop their extraordinary skills and talent for the benefit of wider society, is the very least our country owes them.’

  Members of the Household agree that they haven’t always got the balance quite right but say, ‘It’s bloody difficult when you have got charities that can make millions and millions of pounds literally out of an afternoon, and it’s not immediately understandable to them when we come back and tell them they can’t because the Duke and Duchess don’t do that. What it demonstrates starkly is the difference between realm and non-realm. In the realm it’s all about meeting the people, future subjects, and there’s none of that in America. There, they are nothing more than grade A celebrities and what do you do with them? You exploit them; you make money out of them, they make money out of you and everyone pats each other on the back.

  ‘But if you think about it, most royal visits are in support of Foreign Office objectives and what are they? They’re about prosperity in the UK, about bringing in business – it’s about money. But, no, we shouldn’t be going the route to pay for access.’

  A NEW DECADE

  William has striven for normality all his life; he has tried to brush aside his titles, to be plain William or Will, to hop on his Ducati 1198S for a game of five-a-side football with his mates in the park. He has enjoyed popping into the pub for a pint, shopping in the supermarket, stopping for a takeaway and seeing a good film at the cinema. All those things could have been brought to him at the touch of a button. He need never have made his bed or ironed a shirt or cooked himself an omelette. His house could have been full of staff and his bath run and his clothes laid out for him in the mornings by a valet. It’s how his father has always lived and it’s what William was brought up with. But he didn’t want that. He chose to live the way his school friends lived. That has been a great part of his appeal and goes a long way to explain how someone born to his position and his circumstances has reached his thirty-first year with such sanity and so many endearing qualities.

  But he was born to be King and as he goes into a new decade, as a married man, as the Duke of Cambridge, with two official foreign tours under his belt and a third coming up shortly, there is a sense that those days of carefree normality may be waning. Next year he and Kate will move into Princess Margaret’s apartments in Kensington Palace and will have a small number of staff to look after them. Their lives will be entering a new phase and supermarket shopping in central London will not be an option.

  In the last two years, since his trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2010, the change in him has become very noticeable. He always knew what he wanted, but now he is far more sure of himself and instead of asking tentative questions or wanting advice, he says what he thinks and what he wants, and asks his team, in the politest possible way, to make it happen. He is also growing into his title. There is not a hint of entitlement but a definite shift from the boy who would like to have been able to forget he was an HRH, to the man who knows it can add value. ‘It makes me do backflips,’ says one of his team, ‘because it means he’s really getting it – and Harry is pretty much on his heels, as usual. They’ve just evolved. They’re now leaders in their own right, in a very cool way.’

  Their advisors believe their role in life is to provide leadership. Not political leadership but moral and community leadership. ‘You ask the man in the street, “What do you think of the leadership of this country?” and the really intelligent, instinctive, Sun reader, of which there are millions out there, full of common sense, will say, “What bloody leadership, mate?”And then you say, “What about the Queen?”And he’ll say, “She’s great.”There’s a disconnect because he immediately thinks you’re talking about political leadership and it doesn’t have to be political. Monarchy is about leadership; and these two are natural-born leaders. You can argue till the crack of dawn over whether leaders are born or made, but these guys have got it and that can’t be wasted.�
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  It could be a very long time before William gets the top job. His father, who will accede to the throne before him (no matter what opinion polls might say the public wants), is still waiting. And as the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee in the rudest of health at the age of eighty-six, Charles, now sixty-three, looks like having to wait a while himself.

  There is no knowing quite what the monarchy will look like in the future; or how it will be funded. It is something that Buckingham Palace and the Treasury discuss and something that the Prince of Wales gives thought to and has views about. William and Harry are not yet interested in the grand strategic plan – ‘Who would when you’re trying to fly a helicopter in a force 10?’ says one of the Household, who now spends most of his time pondering the subject. ‘That’ll come. They don’t want to work out the shape of the monarchy in twenty-five years’ time and what their children’s role in it will be and that sort of thing, which, let’s face it, is finger in the wind sort of stuff. They’re buzzing with ideas about soldiers and veterans and, “What about asking BAFTA to put on a show for the Centrepoint kids, and what about getting Wellchild kids to go up Helvellyn [a fell in the Lake District] with Mountain Rescue?” These are the sort of things they come up with every day and it’s huge fun.’

  The only detail that is certain about the future is that if they have children, the eldest child will inherit the throne regardless of sex. The Queen was keen to see the ancient law of primogeniture repealed; also the law prohibiting anyone marrying a Roman Catholic to accede.

  Everyone who knows Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, without exception, says what an incredible mentor he has been for William and Harry. He has helped them both through some difficult years, and understood the importance of giving them space and allowing them to achieve their personal goals. He is as pleased as punch with the finished product, but would say, ‘They are such cool guys, it’s very difficult to go wrong with them. Prince Harry has his moments but even with old Harry and his wild moments, the guy’s instincts are absolutely one hundred per cent brilliant. He just gets it; a very light finger on the tiller. People used to say to me, “You really must find something for young Harry to do.” Now they say, “God, you’ve got to find something where the country can really capitalise on Harry,” which is so great.’

  ‘I don’t think you can underestimate Jamie’s importance in all of this,’ says Julia Samuel. ‘He has great vision and William trusts him. He’s a brilliant combination of being tough as old boots because of the SAS, so he doesn’t get scared and quite likes danger and intensity, but he can think laterally. He plans; it’s like doing a campaign, every step ahead, which is what you need to keep someone secure. And he has a real genuine love for them, and I think the boys feel that. He’s put down very good foundation stones for their professional public role and taught them how to think about things.’

  Having put those foundations in place, those who know him well say that Jamie may shortly hand over the reins to someone else. ‘He believes that after seven or eight years even the best person runs out of ideas, and whoever works for William and Harry needs to be at the top of his game. We have the most brilliant team here who can deal with the operational and tactical level, but you’ve got to maintain the focus at the strategic level because otherwise this thing will lose its potency. These guys will be so busy that they’ll need somebody behind them just to say, “Is that the right route actually? I know you want to go down it, but have you thought how that might influence the project in the Foundation you’ve got going at the moment? Or aren’t there lots of other people doing that? Is that something where you can really add value?” If you look at the Queen’s reign, she’s been sixty years on the throne and she’s had eight private secretaries, and there’s been a normal, natural friendly evolution of all those. That’s one every seven or eight years. I think there’s a bit of a revolving door thing here; you go in, do your bit and you come out again and the worst thing you can do is hang on, the worst. The person who comes next is going to have to be skilled at bureaucracy in the best sense of the word. Jamie would say that’s simply not his game. His successor would have to be up to speed on the nuances of committees in Whitehall and know the corridors of power and how it all works - almost like a diplomat.’

  Whoever takes over the job come the time, and whatever the monarchy looks like in twenty years’ time, barring accidents, one thing is certain: the partnership that William and Harry have built up during Jamie’s tenure is likely to be the linchpin for its future. Diana joked that Harry was ‘the spare’, but he won’t be a spare languishing in the wings as spares in recent times have. Harry pulled a blinder on his Diamond Jubilee tour of the Caribbean in March. Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica’s prime minister, who had announced she wanted to get rid of the Queen as head of state, ‘was reduced to a blushing, hugging schoolgirl at her first meet-and-greet with the Ginger One,’ said the Daily Mail. The paper called him ‘the Royal Family’s secret weapon’.

  Confessing himself to be an amateur historian, Jamie is known to compare the Princes to the fourteenth-century heir and spare, the Black Prince and John of Gaunt. One of the team concurs, ‘in that you’ve got a really trusted sibling who is incredibly complementary to you in character as well as in outlook and belief and ideals and values and that sort of thing, which Harry undoubtedly is with William, who can share a lot of the burden and can apply different skills and talents at a very high strategic level to some of the issues you’re going to have to face. And there may be things that might not be quite appropriate for the top man to do but the one down could do.’

  ‘For instance, Prince Harry’s clearly proven area of focus is disadvantaged, forgotten children around the world. He’s magnificent with young children, not far short of brilliant – you can see a lot of his mother in that. As everyone recognises now, you’ve got a huge problem brewing with disaffected youth, right down to when they first get excluded from school at the age of five, and somebody has got to address that. In some ways it’s much easier for somebody who’s not elected, or politically driven – somebody who has continuity and empathy and no angle on it, which is one of the strengths of monarchy. Harry would be perfectly suited to take that burden, or share it with the King and his Queen, both internationally and domestically. He could take his passions to a strategic level. It could be linked to an international organisation like Save the Children or the Red Cross.

  ‘The Princess Royal’s model is an interesting one, where she has been closely involved with Save the Children and travels around the world in a very non post-Imperial way, being a fantastic ambassador. Extrapolate that perhaps a bit more, and put a statesmanlike ring to it, and that’s where I could see Harry ending up. If Prince William as King has got a younger brother who is doing that sort of thing, it could only be to his advantage and to the advantage of the country – particularly since they get on so well.’

  The current Household’s vision is a long way into the future. Right now, both Princes are serving officers with careers of indeterminate length ahead of them, and both fit in royal duties, foreign tours, charitable appearances and their private lives around their jobs. William’s profile is higher than his brother’s at the moment because of the feel-good wedding and because Kate is glamorous and wears fabulous clothes and has finally filled the gap left by Diana. They are a golden couple who, as their tour of North America proved, have the world at their feet. They are global superstars; they are what every A-list celebrity dreams of. Their fame gives them power that opens wallets and doors, their presence brings a sprinkling of fairy dust to every gathering. But there are dangers. Fame is seductive – and destructive – as Diana discovered. It is also notoriously fickle and this couple needs to be opening wallets and doors and sprinkling fairy dust long after the A-listers have been passed over for younger models or have sunk into wrinkled retirement.

  William genuinely has no interest in celebrity. His knows, rightly, that the spotlight is on him because of who he hap
pens to be, which was an accident of birth. But he knows he can use it to the nation’s advantage. He has many of the best qualities of both parents in him, but the person he most seems to model himself on is his grandmother.

  ‘She cares not for celebrity, that’s for sure,’ he told Robert Hardman. ‘That’s not what monarchy’s about. It’s about setting examples. It’s about doing one’s duty as she would say. It’s about using your position for the good. It’s about serving the country and that really is the crux of it.’

  William spoke to Robert for his biography of the Queen because she specifically asked him to; he hates talking about himself, but his observations were very illuminating. Particularly one about her succession at the age of twenty-five.