Prince William hasn't been shy about sharing his vision for when he becomes King. In the latest episode of The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy, the Prince of Wales spoke about his hopes for a more modern monarchy, sharing, "change is on my agenda." Although he didn't mention specifics in the episode, several royal experts have weighed in on some likely areas the future King William might tackle—and it turns out he's already put some new rules in order.
In an article for the Telegraph, journalist Melissa Twigg pointed out that William runs a much more informal operation as Prince of Wales than his father did. "Already, the staff at the Duchy of Cornwall have become accustomed to not donning ties when William visits, having previously always done so for Charles," she wrote.
It's a sentiment that has also been shared by royal author Valentine Low, who previously shared (via the Sun) that Prince William "wants it to be casual" at his Windsor home, Adelaide Cottage. "The kids run around the office, and he does not want it to be stuffy," a palace insider told the author. Members of staff have thus been advised "to not wear formal attire unless it is appropriate to do so."
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, told the Telegraph that the Prince of Wales is unlikely to keep some of the more formal household decorations. The King "even has his paper napkins stamped with his royal cypher," she said, adding, “I don’t think William is going to want to do that."
"Maybe he would just keep his father’s cypher, but I can’t see him getting all the uniforms changed, and I think he might get rid of a lot of the unnecessary decorations on plates and glasses," Seward shared.
While he might not be a monogrammed glasses guy, the Prince of Wales told Levy that even though he wanted to shake things up in the monarchy, "tradition" was still a vital part of royal life. "I think it’s very important that tradition stays, and tradition has a huge part in all of this, but there’s also points where you look at tradition and go, 'Is that still fit for purpose today? Is that still the right thing to do?'" he said.
At the end of the day, royal historian Hugo Vickers told the Telegraph that there's a fine balance when it comes to changing the monarchy.
"I'm sure Prince William will want to be much more informal," he said. "But he mustn't throw away the things that people enjoy. It is so tempting to dumb things down, but once you have done that, you can’t always get them back again. He needs to be careful."
