Prince William is a ‘hands-on, caring dad’ and ‘not a workaholic like his father King Charles’ because he ‘knows how important family life is’, royal expert claims
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Prince William is a ‘hands-on, caring dad’ and ‘not a workaholic like his father King Charles’, a royal expert has claimed.
The Prince of Wales, 40, carried out just 190 engagements last year, compared to his father’s 497 – but former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has praised William’s different approach to royal life.
She said the father-of-three is prioritising his family because he knows how much it means to his children [Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five] ‘to be around at weekends and holidays and whenever he can’.
William previously commented on the King’s workaholic nature, telling a BBC documentary in 2018 that he would like to have more ‘family time’ with his hard-working father.
Speaking to OK! magazine, Jennie said: ‘With the late Queen’s ailing health, William probably had to step up to his full time royal job quicker than he might have hoped, but you can see now how committed he is.
Prince William is a ‘hands-on, caring dad’ and ‘not a workaholic like his father King Charles (pictured together)’, a royal expert has claimed
‘However, I also very much admire the fact that he’s not a workaholic like his father, he knows how important family life is… He seems to be a full on, hands-on, caring dad,’ she added.
Asked in the Prince, Son and Heir – Charles at 70 BBC documentary in 2018, whether his father has ‘time to be a grandfather on top of everything else’, William answered carefully.
In previous years, Charles is said to have privately expressed his frustration that he doesn’t get to see as much of his grandchildren as the Middleton family, a claim his aides have always furiously dismissed.
But his elder son made clear that he would like to have more ‘family time’ with his hard-working father.
William said: ‘It’s something I’m working more heavily on, put it that way. I think he does have time for it, but I would like him to have more time with the children.
‘Now he’s reached his 70th year it’s a perfect time to consolidate a little bit because, as most families would do, you are worried about having them around and making sure their health’s OK – and he’s the fittest man I know but equally I want him to be fit until he’s 95.
‘So having more time with him at home would be lovely, and being able to play around with the grandchildren. Because when he’s there, he’s brilliant. But we need him there as much as possible.’
Queen Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, added: ‘He will get down on his knees and crawl about with them for hours, you know making funny noises and laughing, and my grandchildren adore him, absolutely adore him.
The Prince of Wales (pictured with his three children), 40, carried out just 190 engagements last year, compared to his father’s 497 – but former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has praised William’s different approach to royal life
The King has been described as a ‘brilliant’ grandfather who will spend hours crawling on the floor and making silly noises with his little grandchildren. Pictured, Princes George, Louis, Princesses Kate and Charlotte, Prince William and King Charles and Queen Camilla in June 2023
‘He reads Harry Potter and he can do all the different voices and I think children really appreciate that.’ Aides said Charles could not be prouder to be a grandfather.
The King, then Prince of Wales, happily showed the documentary crew an arboretum that he planted for his eldest grandchild at Birkhall, his Scottish home, which he calls ‘George’s wood’.
Meanwhile, speaking about how hard-working his father is, William added: ‘He has amazing personal discipline.
‘So, he has – and it’s frustrated me in the past a lot – he has a routine. The only way to fit all this stuff in is things have to be compartmentalised. The man never stops.
‘I mean when we were kids there was bags and bags and bags of work that the office just sent to him. We could barely even get to his desk to say goodnight to him.’
Camilla said she tried to encourage her husband to ‘pace himself’ but admitted he is too driven to take any notice.
She smiled ruefully: ‘My father once said to me, ‘As you get older, you’ve got to do one thing and that is pace yourself’. And I would love to tell him to pace himself, but I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.’
In May, King Charles was revealed as the hardest-working royal of the past ten years – carrying out nearly 5,000 engagements in that period, just ahead of Princess Anne.
The King, who spent most of the past decade as heir-to-the-throne, carried out 4,854 engagements between 2013 and 2022 – compared to his sister Anne on 4,693.
In third place was their brother Prince Edward on 3,155 – followed by the Queen on 2,721 and Andrew on 2,289. The Duke of York’s position in fifth place is something of a surprise considering he stepped back from royal duties four years ago in 2019.
Sophie (2,253) and Camilla (2,084) were just behind, with Sophie stepping up last year to do her most engagements since 2014 as the Queen’s health declined.
But while Prince William (1,704) and Kate (1,024) are now two of the most visually prominent royals, they actually carried out fewer engagements than the lesser-known Duke of Gloucester (2,056) and Duchess of Gloucester (1,031) respectively.
The Duke of Kent has also made a huge contribution to royal life despite not often being as noticed as others – having carried out 1,538 engagements in a decade.
After him in the league table was Prince Philip (1,057), whose last engagement was in August 2017, nearly four years before his death in April 2021. Philip carried out more engagements over the past decade than Harry (1,009) and Kate.
Meghan is at the bottom of the list, having completed 179 engagements during her short royal life before she and Harry stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and moved to North America.
The data was compiled by the Mail’s Royals section based on figures put together each year by famed royal watcher Tim O’Donovan from Datchet in Berkshire.
The retired insurance broker uses the Court Circular, the official daily list of royal engagements, before noting all the engagements down, producing quarterly totals and then sending an annual table of his results in a letter to The Times.
Mr O’Donovan is always keen to point out that his work should not be converted into a ‘league table’ of individual royal performance, writing in his most recent letter to the newspaper in December 2022: ‘All engagements differ as to time and content. There is also the time taken in preparation, whether it be a visit, investiture or speech.’
Mail Royals compiled his totals from 2013 to 2022 to complete the ten-year period for analysis, while also going back a few further years to 2010 to provide a longer view of how the number of engagements for each royal has changed.
The data for last year showed that Charles completed the most engagements at 497, followed by Anne on 474. In third was Sophie at 280 with Edward just behind on 276.
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