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William at 30: On the eve of his milestone birthday, an intimate portrait of a very modern prince
By
Katie Nicholl
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Surrounded by dense woodland and a
short walk from the Irish Sea, Bodorgan Hall in Anglesey is well placed
for a Sunday lunch away from inquisitive eyes. As often as not, roast
partridge or pheasant are on the menu, specialities of the hostess, Lady
Tapps Gervis Meyrick. It is just as likely that among those seated
round the table is the future King of England and his wife.
Sir
George Meyrick is one of Wales’s wealthiest landowners. In the eyes of
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, he is also one of the most trusted.
The Meyricks are at the heart of the quiet and utterly domestic
existence enjoyed by William and Kate – one spectacularly at odds with
any Royal precedent.
Since
the summer of 2010, the couple have rented a white-washed five- bedroom
farmhouse on a remote bay on the Meyrick estate. Hidden from public
view, surrounded by a thicket and reached by a private road, it has
proved an excellent starter home. Over at the ‘big house’, Lady Meyrick,
the daughter of Lord William Scott, brother of the Duke of Buccleuch,
has become a confidante to the young couple and something of a surrogate
mother to Prince William.
The perfect team: Prince William with his wife
Kate, Duchess of Cambridge by his side in Yellowknife, Canada, during
the couple's first royal tour last June
Prince William (right) on the balcony at
Buckingham Palace yesterday with the Queen, Prince Phillip, the Duchess
of Cambridgeas well as his brother and cousin Princess Beatrice
Just as the Cambridges insist
their staff address them by their Christian names, they call Lady
Meyrick simply by her first name, Jean. When they first arrived, it was
she who helped them to settle in and organised the services of her
cleaner. ‘Jean is easy-going and she and her husband love their time
with William and Kate,’ says a family friend. ‘The Meyricks divide their
time between their Hampshire pile and North Wales. When they are in
Anglesey, William and Kate are always invited over for Sunday lunch.’
Their
protection officers are quartered in the farmhouse’s converted
outbuildings, so William and Kate have the main house to themselves,
with the sounds of the sea and Anglesey’s rich bird life for company.
Their
daily life is strikingly simple. While Prince Harry has joked that his
brother has become ‘boring’ since his wedding, William couldn’t be
happier. He works on a shift rota as a search-and-rescue helicopter
pilot based at Anglesey’s RAF Valley; Kate is at home with Lupo, the
black cocker spaniel puppy she has trained to respond to a whistle. He
needs three good walks a day. She shops at the local supermarket, makes
jam, bakes and cooks; William’s favourite supper is roast chicken.
In
the evenings, they like to relax in front of DVDs and they recently
polished off The Killing – a series recommended to them by the Duchess
of Cornwall – in a marathon sitting.
Ceremony: William on horseback during
yesterday's Trooping the Colour, with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of
Kent and Princess Anne
They both love the outdoors and
are big walkers; the pair can often be seen striding along the beach
near their home in matching wellingtons and Barbour jackets. Their
favourite sweaters are ‘his and hers’ purple cashmere. A few Christmases
past, William gave Kate a pair of binoculars. She gave him a pair of
brogues.
William has always
been happiest dressing down; he has a plentiful supply of his
favourite brown chinos and light blue shirts. And he has a surprising
eye for celebrity-driven ‘cool’ – happy to splash out, for example, on
ultra-fashionable Orlebar Brown swimming trunks. He and his wife go to
the nearby cinema and their local pub, The White Eagle, and zip through
the lanes on William’s Ducati motorbike, Kate riding pillion.
It
is significant that they chose Anglesey to carry out their first joint
official public duty in February last year, when they launched a
lifeboat.
‘William and Kate
clearly have a great affection for Anglesey, which is reciprocated,’
Jack Abbott, chairman of the Trearddur Bay RNLI lifeboat station, said
at the time. ‘People round here have taken them to their hearts. You
won’t catch anyone tweeting gossip about them as they go about their
day-to-day business.’
One
friend says: ‘It’s all very normal, whether they are at home in London
or Wales. The last time I went round, William was pottering around
making tea and toast, very chilled and relaxed.’
Beyond Anglesey, Kate has taken up deer-stalking, one of William’s favourite pursuits.
‘We
were at a shoot with friends in Hampshire and William and Kate were up
at the crack of dawn to go stag-hunting,’ says one of the party. ‘They
came in just as breakfast was being served flushed from the cold while
the rest of us were still hungover.’
Happy at home: Prince William and Kate Middleton
at their first official engagement last year launching a new RNLI
lifeboat at Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station near their residence in
Anglesey, North Wales
With the help of Kate, then,
William seems to have achieved an enviable balance between his public
and his private life. But this year will see a subtle change. On
Thursday, he is 30. He will instantly become an independently wealthy
young man, responsible for a £10 million legacy, his share of the money
left in trust for him and Harry by their mother Diana. (His RAF salary
is £44,000 a year.)
His
public profile is expected to increase significantly. Later this summer
he is to be invested into the Order of the Thistle, with powerful
implications for the Monarchy’s determination to safeguard the Union.
Possibly as early as next year, his idyllic life in Anglesey will come
to a conclusion as he approaches a crossroads in his RAF career,
influenced, possibly, by the completion of work on his and Kate’s new
home in Kensington Palace.
It
will be a challenge. But if he can maintain the same informal yet
dutiful approach to his work, many believe he will be on the way to a
historic achievement: establishing a new template for a popular modern
Monarchy fit for the 21st Century – and one that would have been quite
impossible for any of his predecessors to comprehend.
Before
his own 30th birthday, in November 1978, the Prince of Wales – still,
at that time, single – had already made a rod for his back by suggesting
in public, at the age of 27, that the milestone would be a good age for
marriage. The burden of expectation grew heavier still when he visited a
Welsh goldmine and said he hoped there might be enough gold left for a
wedding band.
Charles was
already a full-time ‘working Royal’ by then, rarely out of the news, his
diary crammed with official engagements. On November 14, his birthday,
he opened presents over breakfast, welcomed visiting President Antonio
Ramalho Eanes of Portugal to the Palace, turned on the Christmas lights
in London’s Regent Street and attended a State banquet.
Very normal: Kate walks Lupo, the cocker spaniel puppy William bought her recently, with a bodyguard in tow
The following day, the Queen hosted a
dinner with the Duke of Edinburgh for 20, followed by a reception for
350 guests at Buckingham Palace. The guests included leading figures of
European royalty, who were entertained by a performance from the Three
Degrees. Charles spent the night dancing with Lady Sarah Spencer,
Diana’s older sister, and Lady Camilla Fane.
Nothing
of this sort has been planned for Thursday, William’s birthday.
According to one aide, there will be a private celebration, but William
expects to be working on the day itself.
The
contrasts between father and son go further. Charles at 30 seemed a
little uneasy in public (a long way, certainly, from the relaxed, rather
impressive speaker seen recently at the Jubilee concert). His interests
– classical music, for example – were judged to be on the intellectual
side, his appearance awkward. At the time, one commentator spoke of him
moving his hands as he talked, as if playing imaginary cymbals.
William,
though, has already mastered the art of appearing in public. His
confident physical presence and easy smile – helped, of course, by the
presence of his wife by his side – went down a storm on recent visits to
Canada and California.
Charles’s
situation has been more like that of the playboy Prince of Wales
‘Bertie’, who famously waited a lifetime before eventually succeeding
his mother, Queen Victoria, and becoming Edward VII.
At
30, Bertie’s existence seemed to be one continuous round of house
parties and evenings spent gambling (although, when he was finally given
his place in the world as King, he proved an unexpected success).
William,
instead, can recall the examples of George VI, the Queen’s father, who
was the Duke of York when he turned 30 and – with the abdication crisis
yet to come – had no thoughts of Buckingham Palace. Instead, he
concentrated on building a happy home life away from the public gaze.
The Queen and Prince Philip, too, were given some degree of privacy in
their early lives. At 30, Philip – already a father to Charles and Anne –
was stationed in Malta as a naval officer, where he could spend time
with his wife away from the cameras.
William’s
fortunate situation can be put down, in part, to the passage of time:
society has become less formal and so has the Monarchy. But it is also
the culmination of a long and concerted campaign by the Royal Family.
For
years, the policy of greater openness to the media seemed to backfire
and the House of Windsor found itself plagued by stories of its
misbehaving offspring. Now, though, there is every reason to hope that
William and Kate are bringing that chapter to an end.
William’s
love of a (relatively) simple life appears to be in keeping, too. The
Royal Household has been steadily reducing its budget – by up to a
quarter in real terms since 2009, according to Royal biographer Hugo
Vickers. It was no accident that, on the Buckingham Palace balcony, the
Queen appeared with only Charles, Camilla, William, Kate and Harry – a
slimmed-down Monarchy for a new era. It could, too, be seen as a sign of
the Queen’s approval for the two younger generations, who can be
expected to take on an increasing share of her Royal duties. She is now
86.
When they carried out
their first tour on behalf of the Queen in Canada last June, Kate proved
entirely capable and William seemed more relaxed and happy than ever,
delighted to have his wife by his side. Once a shy teenager whoÂ
disliked the attention he received, he was now lapping it up.
‘These
tours are seriously hard work and it’s nice to have someone to share
things with at the end of the day. Harry doesn’t have that, and it’s
hard,’ says one source who has travelled extensively with the Princes.
Last
week William and Kate undertook their first engagement with the Queen,
visiting Nottingham as part of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee tour of the
UK.
The Queen has
privately said she has two substitutes, Charles and William, and she
intends to use both. The 91-year-old Duke of Edinburgh is now recovering
from a bladder infection, but had already announced he was cutting back
on his engagements. ‘Memos are already coming down from his office,’
said one aide.
Down-to-earth: William's local, The White Eagle, in Anglesey
Another sign of his changing
role is William’s coming investiture, in July, into the Order of the
Thistle – the Scottish equivalent of the Order of the Garter (to which
William already belongs). This will raise his profile in Scotland at a
time when a referendum on Scottish independence seems ever more likely.
The
increased workload will bring with it, though, a dilemma about his day
job in the RAF. It is thought that William would like to stay in
Anglesey for another two years. Last month, Flight Lieutenant Wales
qualified as an Operational Captain – before that he was a co-pilot – so
he can now command the Sea King helicopters (following in the steps of
his Uncle Andrew).
Unlike
his younger brother, William will never be allowed to serve on the
front line. But his RAF job, he has said, provides him with a sense of
duty and purpose.
William,
then, must decide whether or not he wants to continue flying with C
Flight 22 Squadron when his current tour of duty ends next year. If he
chooses not to stay with SARF (RAF Search and Rescue) he has the option
of applying for another position in the Armed Forces, most likely the
Army, where he is a Lieutenant with the Blues and Royals regiment of the
Household Cavalry.
Alternatively,
he could choose to withdraw from military life completely to take on
Royal duties full-time, something those close to him believe is unlikely
at this stage in his life.
‘He
has still not made up his mind, it’s a decision he is thinking about
very carefully,’ says an aide. Those who know William well say he will
not want to give up a military career that allows him to be part of a
team. He also believes that his career has provided him with some of the
foundation blocks for being King.
Having a ball: A young William enjoys a kickabout in the grounds of Kensington Palace in 1984
‘It’s a very good way of understanding
the position and what it takes,’ he said recently. ‘You know, these
guys do the most incredible things the whole time. And what better place
to realise how to cope with pressure and stress than serving in the
Armed Forces and taking that experience with you?’
The
Queen and the Prince of Wales are both said to support William’s
current role as a serving officer, as opposed to a position as a
full-time Royal. But William knows he cannot be a soldier for ever.
In
September, the private office he and Kate share with Prince Harry will
move from Clarence House to Kensington Palace, when the couple will take
the keys to Princess Margaret’s former residence. This will undergo a
year-long refurbishment before it becomes their official London home.
The
Duke and Duchess have said they intend to keep their small group of
advisers, including their private secretary Jamie Lowther Pinkerton,
assistant private secretary Rebecca Deacon, their head of press Miguel
Head and their private diary secretary Helen Asprey.
Sir David Manning, one of the Queen’s advisers, will be on hand, too.
William prefers an informal working atmosphere and insists on first-name terms.
‘William
doesn’t like fuss, formality or too many people around him,’ says a
source. ‘He likes to work with a small team that he trusts.’
Unlike
his father, William does not have a butler and dresses himself. Kate,
too, has refused the services of a wardrobe assistant. ‘Being at Eton
helped. After all, he was not the only King there,’ said a fellow former
pupil. ‘No one lacked confidence in telling him he was a jerk if he
ever tried to pull rank – not that he did.’
His time there has helped him become more outgoing – in contrast with his father’s miserable years at Gordonstoun.
Whichever
way the decision about his military career goes, it will be made with
Kate, his wife of 14 months and a major support in private as well as
public life.
First steps: William in 1983 with his mother Diana, Princess of Wales
Poignantly, on their wedding
day, as they stepped into the State Landau to make their way back to
Buckingham Palace from Westminster Abbey, it was Kate who turned to
William to ask if he was OK. Kate has always looked after him: friends
recall how she would have a hot bath run for him and dinner on the table
when he came home from his training at RAF Cranwell.
Their
most immediate concern is likely to be providing a new generation. Both
have spoken of their wish to start a family as soon as possible,
although this probably means waiting until the Olympics and their tour
of Malaysia, Singapore, the Soloman Islands and Tuvalu on behalf of the
Queen in September are out of the way.
‘I
think they both would have liked children by now, but William knows and
Kate has learned that duty comes first, and this has been a busy year
for them,’ says one of their friends. ‘They both desperately hope they
will be blessed with children soon.’
Like
his father, William knows there will be a long wait before he realises
his birthright. At 63, Charles is the longest serving and most
experienced Prince of Wales in Royal history and with the Queen still in
rude health, both he and his son can expect it to be some time yet
before they succeed to the Throne.
‘As
I’m flying along in my helicopter through the mountains of Wales, I try
desperately hard not to think about it,’ said William about his future
Coronation. ‘That can wait until I’m a bit older.’
