Countdown to the Royal Wedding - Day 4: Has the Public Already Skipped a Generation in the Succession?

As someone who was around to witness the awful events of August 1997, with the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in France, and as a mother, sociologist and former educationist, I have often wondered how her children, William and Harry, would cope with that incredible loss and in such a public way. William, in particular, being the eldest, was very close to his mother, very understanding of her, and rather precocious. Though he was 15 when his mother died, he was a closeted and protected member of the Royal Family, a future king, who would simply have to toe the line in public regarding how he perceived events around his mother, to behave as he was directed. I wondered how he felt on learning of that sudden and incalculable loss and how it would affect his life afterwards. How would he feel towards the mistress that many Britons turned against at the time? Most important, how would it affect his perceptions when he was old enough to be his own man. What would he actually do?

Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall

Fast forward 14 years to 2011. Prince William is now 29 and is giving a powerful message of his own, relating to his mother, his cherished memories of her and the place he thinks she should occupy in the public memory. It seems quite clearly, that with his own engagement, and marriage on the horizon, William is determined to carve his own niche in the Royal Family (having been the first Royal Prince of such stature to have a rather public relationship with his girlfriend before marriage). He is not only dragging the Family into the 21st century but also re-establishing his mother's place within it without saying a single public word.

The most significant, and seemingly deliberate, thing he has done so far is to offer Kate Middleton his mother's engagement ring as her engagement ring too. That is the most powerful statement of alignment with his mother, and her treatment from his father, that he could possibly make. William could easily have got a brand new, and impressive, ring for his girl - the Royals are not short of a pound or two. But he knew that the minute Diana's engagement ring was given to Kate, the image of Diana would loom large and occupy centre stage in both the public and the press. Diana might be dead, but she will be right in the middle of that wedding on Friday, allowing comparisons to be drawn.

In fact, Prince William, since his engagement, has completely eclipsed his father in the public mind and the media.

Prince William and Kate Middleton


Charles' Dilemma
Prince Charles has never liked being upstaged. He was always resentful of Diana because she was obviously the more beautiful and charming, she was new and exciting, and she was the one the public wanted to see everywhere she went. Being the future king, and a Royal, Charles was not amused because he expected automatic adulation and hero worship. He had been schooled to follow his mother in the glory stakes, and to see his new wife grabbing all the attention was an anathema. Now something worse is happening.

Not once since Charles got married six years ago has the media referred to Charles and Camilla as the 'future king and queen'. Most of the talk around his accession has been mainly concerned with what to do with Camilla, as the public won't accept her as queen, and with many people openly wanting his son to accede to the throne instead. She has gradually improved in stature in the public eye, but the clear discomfort at her being a future queen has been dogging the couple since their wedding.

Charles and Camilla on their wedding day, 2005

Now, to make matters worse, every second word in the press relating to Prince William and Kate Middleton is of them being 'our future king and queen'. That must be galling to Prince Charles who is the next heir to the throne. On top of that, though Charles is Prince of Wales, and had his investiture there, he has never lived there, which has been like an insult to the people of Wales. Yet his son is actually going to set up home there, to live up to his title. Prince William also broke with protocol to spend Easter Sunday with the Middletons instead of with the other Royals at Windsor. Slowly but surely he is proving to be his own man.

The press love the new and the novel, and when that novelty happens to be a future - very handsome, intelligent and eligible - king of England, with an equally beautiful and intelligent young wife at the start of their public journey, untainted and appealing, it simply means little publicity for anyone else, not least for a woman regarded as 'ugly' by the British public and held partly responsible for Diana's demise. Prince Charles would be a very worried man at this moment as the longed-for throne, the one he has already waited 62 years for, recedes further and further into the distance. One is inclined to believe that Charles and Camilla will never see that throne because William and Kate will be on it!

By his mere presence and personality, William is gradually making his father and consort invisible and obsolete. A kind of payback which is almost chilling in its quiet effectiveness. The Queen has signalled a new era of acceptable Royal behaviour, a focus on the future instead of the past, throwing Kate in at the deep end as early as possible so that her transition to Royalty will be seamless after their marriage. During the last five months, Kate has been a princess in all but name, making the wedding a formality.

Charles would love his beloved Camilla to be given the title of future queen and appraised in the same positive way as Kate Middleton at present. But the way the public and press are focusing on the new couple and treating them as the de facto successor to the Queen, shows that they are hungry for something new and wholesome, and it isn't a King Charles or a Queen Camilla! The most recent poll revealed only a 14% support for Charles and Camilla on the throne. Considering the attention the William and Kate will now attract in everything they do, and the unfavourable comparisons with his father that will emerge, what an interesting future it promises to be as the stakes get infinitely higher!