THE KING OF CHANGE

As the Prince of Wales signals a clear shift in direction for when he takes the throne

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When it came to spelling out his intentions, Prince William couldn’t have been clearer. In a wide-ranging interview with film star Eugene Levy, now streaming on Apple TV+, he was more candid than ever about how things will be different when he succeeds his father.

“I think it’s safe to say that change is on my agenda - change for good,” he told Levy, as they discussed his future role as king and how his son, Prince George, will one day succeed him. William added: “And I embrace that, and I enjoy that change - I don’t fear it.”

We should have seen it coming when we saw him coming - zooming around Windsor Castle on a scooter. From his choice of interviewer - the Canadian movie star of American Pie and Schitt’s Creek - to his choice of transport, this was a savvy way of nodding to the “more relaxed, less remote” shift in direction we can expect when he is in charge.

“I think if you’re too intrinsically attached to the history, you can’t possibly have any flexibility,” the prince said. “Because you worry that the chess pieces move too much and therefore no change will happen.”

Change is inevitable because Prince William is still relatively young, at 43. May the King reign for many years to come - but, having come to the throne at the age of 73, our next monarch was always going to be a much younger man, with a younger frame of mind.

King Charles endured a Victorian childhood. His mother, Elizabeth II, who succeeded at the impossibly young age of 25 when Charles was only three, necessarily had to hand him over to a series of nannies as she took up the heavy burdens of office. Her long state visits abroad meant the young Charles was left at home for weeks on end, raised more by the institution of monarchy than by the monarch herself.