Prince and Princess of Wales future roles

[wannable]

This would also mean Queen Consort Camilla.

[Trudie]

I don't see a problem either. Kate in the last several years has stepped up her game. I think at first acceptance may be a bit harder for William since his father has held the title for 60+years. The last time the title was publicly used was 20 years ago and as I said Kate has upped her game with engagements and has proved herself admirably.

[sandy]

Kate did work before the maternity leave. But both Kate and Will probably won't be seen much now. Whether they step up to full time duties still remains to be seen.  I don't see a problem with William and Kate as Prince and Princess of Wales provided they maintain full time royal duties.
Double post auto-merged: May 11, 2018, 05:07:57 PM

This would also mean Queen Consort Camilla.

And it would mean the Queen passed on which I hope is not soon.

[TLLK]

Whether they step up to full time duties still remains to be seen

As QEII's grandsons and their spouses have been transitioning from part time to full time, we're seeing an increase in the number of patronages/charities/military appointments that they've taken on over the years. At this point in time though, they do have significantly fewer patronages than their grandparent, parent, aunt/uncles and QEII's cousins. Most of those royals have dozens if not hundreds of patronages/charities/military appointments.   As the patronages/charities/military appointments for the grandchildren increase, so will the number of annual engagements being performed. (Even though KP has not released an official announcement regarding Harry being part or full time, I'm going to consider him full time.)

Another very large royal site has been keeping tabs on the engagements that are performed by all of the working members of the BRF They base the tally on information published in the printed version of  the Court Circular. (The online version is not accurate.)

Currently for QEII's grandchildren: their engagement tally reflects the following from Jan. 1, 2018 to May 3, 2018.

William-78 -Currently the patron, president or honorary colonel, air commodore or sub commodore for 22 organizations.
Kate-49- Currently the patron, president or honorary air commodore of 15 organizations.
Harry-55-Currently the patron, president or honorary colonel, commodore of 18 organizations.

(Information gathered from the official British monarch website and includes the recent patronage/charity/military appointments for the Cambridges and Prince Harry.)

(I didn't count the organizations in which the brothers or Kate  are currently honorary members ie: Automobile Association.)
(Meghan's joint or solo engagements will not be tallied until after the wedding.) 

[Nightowl]

I think Catherine will do an admirable job someday as Princess of Wales when she gets that title with William.  Now is not the time for her to be pursuing lots of royal duties as she is still a young mother with babies at home. NO amount of nannies or housekeepers or whomever can take the place of a *mother*.  IMHO for now I would hope that some can see her main duty in life if raising her children and teaching them the values of being royals someday.  Being a mother is first and foremost the most important duty right now that she can perform, all else will wait and let other royals pick up the events that need to be attended to.

[TLLK]

@Nightowl-I do believe that while the children are not all in school full time that she'll follow the example of the other royal ladies before her who saw an increase in their duties and appearances when their children entered school full time. Even Anne had few engagements when her children were young.   :)

[TLLK]

 

Kate and William do manage to leave the house for vacations and other fun events. I don't think Kate doing say 6 hours a week or less would hurt them.

The Queen's grandchildren will have to pick up more patronages and hold more meetings for that to occur if you are thinking of these six hours being public events that the press is invited to.  Keep in mind that it does require their charities to spend some money to put on the bigger events that attract the press ie: fundraising events or open houses. That's part of the reason why most royals only visit them publicly  about twice a year. :) There are private events such as regimental dinners or meetings at KP with various organizations that might receive a mention in the Court Circular but do not involve the press being in attendance.

William is already taking on some of QEII's tasks ie: investitures which are scheduled throughout the year at regular intervals and he's been accompanying his grandmother to some of her events ie: meeting various Heads of State so that has shown an increase in his presence.

[wannable]

I actually like that W&K (and Harry, I don't know if he will continue or all will add on zillions of patronages or not) are focused on a dozen issues/charities, and their Royal Foundation and Royal Forums.  The public remembers these constant yearly actions rather than the hundred/thousands of charities visited by QEII once a year, Quantity effort but not the Quality effort. HM case is like going to work and doing 1 thing only daily and different to the rest of the year, each day lived as such, end of the year throwing arrows at all directions.

Apart from the other routinely yearly formalities; investitures, tours, receptions and the like. 

[sandy]

All of the young ones IMO need to move from the "fun" patronages involving watching sports. And graduate to the more serious issues.

[TLLK]

Actually most of the senior royals have some sporting patronages particularly those that have a cultural or historic tie to the UK ie: rugby, tennis, cricket, etc..  Royals in other nations around the world have similar involvement with their nations' sports as well. QEII, the DoE, the PoW, DoC, PR, DoY and EoW have had or currently are patrons of sporting organizations.

IMO the grandchildren have taken on very serious issues especially with their interests in mental health, homelessness, AIDS, hospice care, conservation, endangered species, bereavement, veterans,  and support hospitals that  provide care to the UK's citizens.

[sandy]

Some sporting patronages not most or paying attention to them the most.

[TLLK]

The sporting patronages like  other organizations, aksi have charitable foundations attached to them too. So if a royal visits an event in which the goal designed to promote youth fitness in football, swimming, tennis, equestrian, rubgy etc.. Than I don't believe it is  the same as attending a match. Also some sporting events have set dates for events in which the royal would be expected to appear. The Princess Royal is the UK's Olympic Representative for the IOC. It would be expected for her to appear at an Olympic Game to support the team and meet with other IOC officials as the nation's  designee.
Double post auto-merged: May 12, 2018, 02:20:18 PM

Princess Royals just had a sports related event yesterday as President of the Royal Yachting Association. Like the other working royals, she appears to have found a good balance with her patronages/charities IMO.

[LouisFerdinand]

When Catherine becomes The Princess of Wales, hopefully the public does not compare her to her mother-in-law when Diana was Princess of Wales. They are entirely two different ladies. They may have the same title. Why do comparisons have to be made?

[royalanthropologist]

To be honest, I think Catherine is more on the Queen Mary or even QM side of things...absolute loyalty to her husband and the institution as well as a composure that is surprising for someone who is not yet 40 . You get the feeling that with Catherine, the monarchy will be safe. She will never do anything to upset the cart. 

[oak_and_cedar]

I was just thinking about this after Reading the thread about PC's future reign. I wonder how PW will be as king?
We've heard and read about PC being outspoken as POW. So we can make estimated guesses about how he will be when he is king.
We also know what issues are close to his heart. We, or I atleast, don't know that much about PW. What is his reign going to be? Has he shown or given clues as to what kind of monarch he would be? Would it be more like PC or QE? And what issues does he care about?
It would be quite interesting, i think, to have a discussion around that. Don't know if this subject has been brought up before so please forgive me if i'm being repetitive.

[Curryong]

I think William has given a few clues as to what sort of monarch he will be. I feel he will be more like his grandmother than his father, will be very quiet, very discreet and really value his privacy and family life. I can't see him being controversial like Charles in taking up causes and writing many letters to Government ministers in pursuit of them. However, what he does share with his father is an interest in the environment and I can see him involving himself in those issues and in keeping up work with endangered animals and against wildlife poaching.

[amabel]

He also clearly cares about Mental health issues and I think that has been a cause of his....but I agree that I think he cares more about his private life and family than making hs mark as POW or King.. unlike his father.

[royalanthropologist]

And that there may be the beginning of problems. I do not think the British will tolerate a disengaged king who is all about enjoying family life. William will have to drastically up his numbers in terms of engagements. The quiet style will keep the republicans at bay for a bit but I think in about 30 years time, the monarchy will be on very thin ice. The true monarchists will start dying out and William in his 60s will look every bit as stuffy as his father is today when compared to the young generations at the time.

[amabel]

The queen has always been dutifiul, but she has always been shy and not very good IMO in the public engagements side of the job... She does it, but she's stiff and has not got an easy manner and her heart is really in her private life, not in 'the job"... Will is the same, in that he does the job, but he's rather shy and awkward and would really be happier if he could lead a more private life and work as a pilot or manage his estate...

[wannable]

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but let's see. He said in the BBC Charles 70th special that he is his own man and will be handling the DOC and position as POW very differently from his father....whatever that is, his dad IMO has been the best ever POW.

[royalanthropologist]

Yes. It is good to be one's own person. However, I must say that in terms of the activities of POW (not the private life) Charles has set the gold standard. Never have we had such an influential POW with such a wide range of activities. Those are hard boots to fill and William has his work cut out. I can only imagine the headlines of the duchy went into the red after years of being in the green or the engagements fell drastically. The "wants to spend time with his family" stuff will be wearing very thin soon. He and Kate need to really up their game in terms of engagements and interests.

[TLLK]

I agree that Charles has been the best prepared and a very dedicated Prince of Wales but I believe part of this is due to the fact that he's been the longest serving Prince of Wales in history. He truly needed to and managed to find purpose in a life that was largely meant to be an extraordinarily long period of "waiting." At age 70   Charles  will see yet another of his peer group ascend to the throne in April, while he will likely be in the same role for a few more years. Yes Charles and William are increasingly taking on more of QEII's duties but until then, they're both in a holding pattern. I believe that Charles' reign will be shorter than his mother's and William's tenure as PoW will be shorter than Charles'. Also  I do believe that there will be a smaller pool of royals performing engagements on behalf of the monarch in the future, so the future Prince and Princess of Wales will likely be very active especially if age begins to limit the King/Queen Consort's activities.

[wannable]

Yes. It is good to be one's own person. However, I must say that in terms of the activities of POW (not the private life) Charles has set the gold standard. Never have we had such an influential POW with such a wide range of activities. Those are hard boots to fill and William has his work cut out. I can only imagine the headlines of the duchy went into the red after years of being in the green or the engagements fell drastically. The "wants to spend time with his family" stuff will be wearing very thin soon. He and Kate need to really up their game in terms of engagements and interests.

Precisely, the BBC interviewer asked him, and Prince William said there is no booklet or standard, position description however one wants to put it.  He said, one has to make it as one thinks it should be for each POW.

I hate using the generalized words usually said when asked (but one doesn't want to spill/disclose until its ones time), hence I don't want to get ahead of myself, but Prince William said that he has his own 'ideas' and will 'modernize' the DOC and POW, the smile in his face when he said those words, whilst his eyes looking intently at the interviewer who is not shown in camera, but to the public viewers. Goose bumps in a 'good' way, but hey.  Sometimes ideas/modernization may be shot down by his experts that work in the DOC or courtiers when he is POW.  Or the other way, the employees/staff at both DOC/POW will say that's a lightbulb moment, let's go for it!

Honestly I can't wait for the new era, in a good way of course, wishing Her Majesty QEII long live the Queen.

[amabel]

I agree that Charles has been the best prepared and a very dedicated Prince of Wales but I believe part of this is due to the fact that he's been the longest serving Prince of Wales in history. He truly needed to and managed to find purpose in a life that was largely meant to be an extraordinarily long period of "waiting." At age 70   Charles  will see yet another of his peer group ascend to the throne in April, while he will likely be in the same role for a few more years. Yes Charles and William are increasingly taking on more of QEII's duties b

Who's that then?  I think that William like his father will have a bit of a wait to take on the throne.. but I don't think it bothers him the way it did Charles. I think he's happy enough having had years of freedom form full time royal duties and being able to spend time with his wife and small children

[TLLK]

Who's that then?

In April the Japanese Emperor Ahikito will abdicate and his heir CP Nahurito will ascend to the Chrysanthemum throne.