Prince William gave several interviews to royal rota reporters when he was in Cape Town, South Africa. He complained about how 2024 has been “brutal” and “the hardest year of my life.” He also spoke to Roya Nikkhah at the Times of London, and he was asked specifically about his royal work and whether he would ever work more. He claimed that he wants to approach his work with “a smaller r in the royal” and how he’s “trying to do it differently and I’m trying to do it for my generation.” Because William rarely gives interviews, his comments actually garnered some international headlines. I was skimming NBC News’ coverage of his interview, and I ended up barking with laughter because NBC spoke to Republic’s Graham Smith, and they included his comments within their coverage. Like… the American media is not buying anything to do with the Incandescent Egg.
Elaborating on what [small-r royal work meant to him], Prince William said that “it’s more about impact philanthropy, collaboration, convening and helping people. And I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well, because I really care about what I do. It helps impact people’s lives. And I think we could do with some more empathetic leadership around the world.”
William has thought about how he might make his mark and approach things differently in both his current role as the Prince of Wales and, one day, as king, NBC News royal commentator Daisy McAndrew said. “He will be all too aware of how dangerous it is for the royal family to be seen to be out of touch or aloof and hence the emphasis on empathy and emotional intelligence,” she said.
British tabloids offered positive coverage, with The Mirror describing William’s comments as a “huge royal shake-up” and The Sun splashing: “MONARCHY WITH EMPATHY.”
But the comments have not received a universally warm response. Graham Smith, CEO of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, told NBC News of the heir to the throne: “His ‘r’ couldn’t get any smaller, to be honest. He barely does anything at all. He’s an incredibly lazy man who manages to get a pretty small splashing of engagements to look like he is busy.”
Prince Harry’s decision to step away from royal duties and his subsequent move to the United States has fueled a public conversation about the monarchy’s relevance and future in Britain.
“What Harry has done is shown that royals can walk away and do the right thing under their own steam. They can fund their own lifestyles and get celebrity endorsements and do just fine,” Smith said. “So why his brother feels that he needs to hang on to the titles and the status and the public money, I think, is a question that is only highlighted by Harry’s departure.”
LMAO. “His ‘r’ couldn’t get any smaller, to be honest. He barely does anything at all. He’s an incredibly lazy man…” Graham Smith is getting bolder in his critiques of the Windsors. I like that he name-checked Harry too, using Harry as an example of someone who walked away from the royal trappings and did just fine. In my previous story, I even said that William sounded like his idea of “small-r royal work” sounds a lot like what Harry does right now, as a Montecito-based philanthropist and humanitarian. Which is interesting, isn’t it? Because for William, the whole point of *everything* is that he wants to lord it over Harry. William wanted the status, the slumlord money, the royal trappings, but he only wanted that stuff because he thought Harry would be jealous. Instead, William is the jealous one and desperately trying to copy everything Harry does.
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