It’s no secret that Prince
Charles’s relationship with his sons Prince William and Prince
Harry has had its ups and downs. It hasn’t always been straightforward and
easy, especially after Harry chose to step back from royal life.
The Duke and Duchess of
Sussex made the effort to return to the UK to celebrate the Queen’s
Platinum Jubilee earlier this month, although they kept a very low profile
and were hardly seen interacting with Charles.
While tension may still
exist between Charles and his younger son, his bond with his eldest and
the future King, William, has remained strong. Even before the royal
family’s rifts and troubles came to light, William always had a nice word
or two to say about his dad. Take a look at what William has said in the
past…
Prince
Charles is committed to his sense of duty
Both Charles and William will
one day be King, something that will always bring them together especially
after William welcomed children of his own, knowing that Prince George will
follow the same path. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge have a
shared bond over their sense of commitment to duty and service.
William has previously spoken
about how disciplined and how much of a workaholic Charles is. To mark the
Prince’s milestone 70th birthday, the BBC released a documentary, Prince,
Son and Heir: Charles at 70, where they interviewed family members and those
closest to Charles.
“He has amazing personal
discipline,” William said in the documentary. “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.”
Prince
Charles is determined to get the job done
In the same documentary,
William was asked whether he had a birthday message for his father. He replied:
“I’m very pleased that he’s made 70. You know if you ask him if the job’s
done, it’s not.
“But more than anything
I’d like to see his passions and his interests and the things he’s been
campaigning for come to fruition completely for him. He hasn’t even reached the
point that his natural progression should do – i.e. being monarch. So, you
know he’s still got his job to do.”
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Prince Charles can be an embarrassing dad
It’s hard enough having the
future King as your dad, but William and Harry have previously opened up about
cringe-worthy moments as children. During ITV documentary When Ant And Dec
Met The Prince: 40 Years Of The Prince’s Trust, William reminisced on how
Charles had a habit of “rabbiting on” and would laugh at all the
wrong moments.
“I was in some sort of
Christmas play and I was a wizard and I came on and I narrated it,”
William reminisced. “There was meant to be a bit of pyrotechnic explosion
in front of me and I jumped on stage and nothing happened, and so I started
reading it and of course at this point I was quite panicky and then the
pyrotechnic went off as I was reading.
“I was like ‘Er…’ and literally
he couldn’t stop laughing the whole way through the production and so several
times I’d stop, I’d cast an eye across, a big death stare, and then I’d try and
get back to my lines. It was terrible. Honestly.”
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Prince Charles is a ‘brilliant’ grandfather
Appearing on Prince, Son
and Heir: Charles at 70, William described his dad as being a
“brilliant” grandfather, although he wished he could spend more time
with his grandchildren.
On whether Charles has time to
be a granddad, the Duke 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.
“I think he’s… 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 okay. 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 you know, play with the grandchildren. Because when
he’s there, he’s brilliant. But we need him there as much as possible.”
