Several days ago, the chief executive of the Duchy of Cornwall made a big announcement. The duchy plans to “sell off” a fifth of their real estate holdings and turn that money into affordable housing and environmentally-friendly housing. This is Prince William’s big scheme for the ancient duchy – liquidating assets, shuffling the money around and hoping that no one ever mentions the word “audit.” Unsurprisingly, this big announcement was met with a collective shrug – not even Buckingham Palace seemed to care, and King Charles was the one who transformed the duchy into what it is today. William is ripping apart his father’s legacy, as well as the legacy Prince George will one day inherit. But I think the collective shrug had more to do with William’s lengthy history of overpromising and underdelivering – people simply don’t believe that he’s going to oversee some huge changes. Well, royalists are big mad that William’s big duchy news was barely a 24-hour story. So Richard Eden is now trying to convince us that William’s duchy news “spells disaster for Harry and Meghan’s future.” Pitiful.
Often characterised as ‘work-shy’ and reluctant to undertake the vast number of engagements carried out by members of the Royal Family decades his senior, Prince William will have surprised some people with one particular piece of news this week.
Not his unfettered celebrations last night in Istanbul with some of his oldest friends – as Aston Villa, the football team he so passionately supports, won the Europa League, their first major trophy in 30 years. No, it was the announcement that the heir to the throne would sell off a fifth of the Duchy of Cornwall, the £1billion estate which he inherited after his father became King in 2022. The sell-off will happen over the next ten years, as William plans to invest £500million in tackling the crises in nature and housing.
…No one will have read William’s announcement this week more closely than the Duke of Sussex, who was always envious of his brother’s position of heir to the Duchy of Cornwall and future king.
Prince Harry and Meghan quit official duties to seek a fortune across the Atlantic before attacking the Royal Family at every opportunity. Despite this, King Charles has declined to take any action against his son and daughter-in-law.
He has allowed Harry to retain his position, fifth in the line of succession. He has also permitted the pair to keep their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles, even though they regularly use them in their commercial activities, in apparent defiance of the agreement made with the late Queen Elizabeth at the ‘Sandringham summit’ in 2020.
Even more generously, the King has allowed Harry to remain a Counsellor of State, meaning that he could, in theory at least, stand in for the monarch if Charles was unable to carry out his duties because of illness.
‘William will take a much harder line with Harry and Meghan when he’s king,’ predicts one of his friends, who declines to spell out exactly what that will mean for the California-based couple.
What we can deduce from this week’s radical announcement about the Duchy of Cornwall – as well as his intense display of emotion at the Aston Villa game in Istanbul – is that William will be different. And that whatever action he takes against the Sussexes, it will be dramatic.
Could it be that Prince William is also overpromising on the Sussexes? For years, “sources close to William” have insisted that William will punish and destroy Harry and Meghan, he’ll take away their titles, he’ll order them to stop making money, he’ll strip them of their Montecito mansion!! And like everything else, William can’t deliver on his promises. He runs away and hides whenever Harry is in town. He hides behind unnamed sources and palace insiders. He gets his henchmen to do his half-assed dirty work. Anyway, I have no idea what William’s duchy news has to do with Harry & Meghan, but this is the only way the left-behinds can make news anymore. “Harry was paying attention to William’s announcement, we swear! Harry is worried!”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
