Here are some photos of Prince William at a Rugby World Cup match on Sunday – he apparently flew to France via private jet, because Mr. Earthshot can’t take a f–king train to save his life. Public transport with peasants? No thanks! William looked constipated as he watched the Welsh team beat Fiji. He’s patron of the Welsh Rugby Union. This appearance was specifically designed to overshadow the Invictus Games and I doubt William would have bothered to go to this match if Harry wasn’t already in Germany. Anyway, speaking of William’s tenuous connections to Wales, Kensington Palace did a full briefing to Vicky Ward at the Telegraph about William’s first year as Prince of Wales and what’s ahead for him. A large chunk of this piece is just delusional embiggening and sycophantic ranting about William’s “popularity,” but there are several pieces of interesting news in here, including the fact that this 41-year-old man refuses to learn Welsh for his job.
The work-life balance: Few can have faced such a daunting prospect as the Prince of Wales last September when the demands of his normal yet hectic schedule almost doubled overnight. While his commitment to being as hands-on with his children as possible remains unchanged, Prince William has had to add to his portfolio of personal projects, the demands of running the vast Duchy of Cornwall estate. So it is a tribute to him – as well as to his wife, the equally busy Princess of Wales – that the royal work-life balance seems to be remarkably intact.
Laser focused: Sources close to them say that “laser focused” William and Catherine “know what they want” when it comes to their working lives, editing their own speeches and peppering aides with questions about every brief. Reflecting on his first year as the Prince of Wales, one well-placed source said: “It’s a huge remit to take over, especially from someone who had been in the job for more than 50 years. That can’t be overestimated. There’s a lot for him to get his head around, and although he and his father worked closely together, there will have been a lot of ‘listening and discussing’ his future path.”
No Prince of Wales investiture, no learning Welsh: Whereas the King spent nine weeks at Aberystwyth University learning the Welsh language and history before his 1969 investiture as Prince of Wales, William has opted for a different tack. For him, there will be no investiture ceremony. Instead, he will make frequent visits designed around thoughtful community initiatives. As trialled during a visit to the South Wales Valleys in April, the Prince and Princess plan to stay in independent B&Bs, supporting the local tourism industry, rather than leasing their own Welsh property as Charles did. William always makes a passable attempt to “lean into” Welsh phrases with a cheery “Bore da” (good morning) or similar. However, while he recognises the importance of the language there are no current plans to learn it himself.
Wales just got Keen’d: “The question they have asked themselves is how they can be the Prince and Princess for Wales, in addition to, of Wales,” one source said. “They are very focused on deepening the trust and respect of the people of Wales and will do that by spending more time there.”
Keen about the Duchy of Cornwall: Another new string to William’s bow is the Duchy of Cornwall, the 135,000-acre estate he inherited and which generates an annual income of some £24million for his family. “He has been keen to continue the great work that his father did, but to do it in his own way,” a source says. “He has been thinking about how to take the lessons from Earthshot or from the Royal family’s work on mental health, and apply them to the Duchy. He wants to mesh all the best strands of his work to create holistic support for tenants and landowners.”
Missteps: The year of transition now over, the children will be less visible in the coming months as they focus on school. If there have been any missteps for the Waleses in the past 12 months, they have been mercifully few. One was William’s decision not to break away from his holiday to support the Lionesses in the Women’s World Cup final. The backlash proved a rare warning that the insistence on ring-fencing family time would not always be acceptable.
Family dramas: More recently, there have been whispers that the King is keen to ensure he is not upstaged by his elder son, occasionally putting his foot down and insisting that he calls the shots. On a personal level, the private revelations made by his brother, Prince Harry, in his memoir, Spare, and on the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, have had an indisputable impact.
It really is so funny that William has thrown a year-long tantrum about how he REFUSES to learn Welsh or have a Prince of Wales investiture ceremony. You know why that is, right? It’s because he’s so consumed with copying Harry and competing with Harry. William is too lazy to do the work of embracing his actual role as Prince of Wales because his one-sided “feud” with his brother is his sole focus. For all the talk about how William’s workload “doubled overnight,” you wouldn’t know it from his actual schedule. He largely refuses to travel, he barely does bread-and-butter royal events and he doesn’t announce his minimal schedule lest protesters show up. Everything about William is a carefully constructed mirage and he demands to live inside this self-made bubble where he’s the keenest, the most important and better brother.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Bordeaux, FRANCE – Prince William, Prince of Wales, in the stands during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 – Pool A match Wales vs Fiji Islands (32-26) in Bordeaux, France. Pictured: Prince William BACKGRID USA 10 SEPTEMBER 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* 
Bordeaux, FRANCE – Prince William, Prince of Wales, in the stands during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 – Pool A match Wales vs Fiji Islands (32-26) in Bordeaux, France. Pictured: Prince William BACKGRID USA 10 SEPTEMBER 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* 
Bordeaux, FRANCE – Prince William, Prince of Wales, in the stands during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 – Pool A match Wales vs Fiji Islands (32-26) in Bordeaux, France. Pictured: Prince William BACKGRID USA 10 SEPTEMBER 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcWtkboNye9OhnJioop67pLG%2BqJ2Yr5GhsrSrx5qqmKaflLC2vtGepa2XoKGur7%2B%2BraaYpJWWv6%2Br1p6jrKCPpL%2BgtMCvnJiZnpS2r8LErKuirKWnsnA%3D