Prince William ‘is not a workaholic like his father King Charles’, royal expert claims

Prince William is a ‘loving and practical father’ and ‘not a workaholic like his father King Charles’, a royal expert has claimed.

The 40-year-old Prince of Wales made just 190 engagements last year, compared to his father’s 497, but former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has praised William’s different approach to royal life.

She said the father of three is putting his family first because he knows how much it means to his children. [Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five] ‘be around on weekends and holidays and whenever you can’.

William previously commented on the King’s workaholic nature, telling a BBC documentary in 2018 that he would like more “family time” with his hard-working father.

speaking to OK! magazineJennie said: ‘With the late Queen’s failing health, William probably had to take up his full-time royal job quicker than he expected, but now you can see just how committed he is.

“However, I also really admire the fact that he is not a workaholic like his father, he knows how important family life is…He seems to be a dedicated, practical and loving father,” he added.

When asked in the documentary Prince, Son and Heir – Charles at 70 BBC in 2018, if his father has “time to be a grandfather on top of everything else”, William answered carefully.

In previous years, Charles is said to have privately expressed his frustration that he is unable to see both his grandchildren and the Middleton family, a claim his aides have always furiously denied.

But his eldest son made it clear that he would like to have more ‘family time’ with his working father.

William said: ‘It’s something I’m working on more of, so to speak. I think he has time for that, but I wish he had more time with the children.

“Now that he’s turned 70, it’s the perfect time to consolidate a bit because, like most families would, you’re concerned about having them around and making sure their health is okay, and he’s the fittest man I know, but still I love you”. be in shape until the age of 95.

“So spending more time with him at home would be wonderful and being able to play with the grandkids.” Because when he’s there, he’s brilliant. But we need it there as much as possible.

Queen Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, added: “He’ll kneel and crawl with them for hours, you know, making funny noises and laughing, and my grandchildren absolutely adore him.”

The 40-year-old Prince of Wales (pictured with his three children) made just 190 engagements last year, compared to his father’s 497, but former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond praised the approach different from William about real life.

The King has been described as a ‘brilliant’ grandfather who will spend hours crawling on the floor and making silly noises with his little grandchildren. Pictured are Prince George, Prince Louis, Princess Kate and Charlotte, Prince William and King Charles and Queen Camilla in June 2023.

“He reads Harry Potter and he can do all the different voices and I think the kids really appreciate that.” Attendees said Charles couldn’t be more proud to be a grandfather.

The King, then Prince of Wales, happily showed the documentary crew an arboretum he planted for his eldest grandson in his Scottish home, Birkhall, which he calls ‘George’s Wood’.

Meanwhile, speaking about how hard-working his father is, William added: ‘He has incredible personal discipline.

‘So, he has, and he has frustrated me a lot in the past, he has a routine. The only way to fit all these things together is to compartmentalize them. The man never stops.

‘I mean, when we were kids, there were bags and bags and bags of work that the office would send him. We were barely able to get close to his desk to say good night.

Camilla said she tried to encourage her husband to “pace himself” but admitted he’s too driven to pay attention.

She smiled sadly: “My father once told me, ‘As you get older, you have to do one thing and that’s keep up.'” And I’d love to tell him to calm down, but I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.

In May, King Charles was revealed as the hardest-working royal of the last ten years, making nearly 5,000 engagements in that period, just ahead of Princess Anne.

The king, who spent most of the last decade as heir to the throne, participated in 4,854 engagements between 2013 and 2022, compared to 4,693 for his sister Anne.

In third place was his brother, Prince Edward with 3,155, followed by the Queen with 2,721 and Andrew with 2,289. The Duke of York’s fifth-place position is somewhat surprising considering he retired from royal duties four years ago in 2019. .

Sophie (2,253) and Camilla (2,084) were just behind, with Sophie stepping up last year to have the most commitments since 2014 when the Queen’s health declined.

But while Prince William (1704) and Kate (1024) are now two of the most visually prominent royals, they actually had fewer engagements than the lesser-known Duke of Gloucester (2056) and Duchess of Gloucester (1031). , respectively.

The Duke of Kent has also made a huge contribution to royal life despite often not being as noticed as others, having made 1,538 engagements in a decade.

Following him in the league table was Prince Philip (1,057), whose last engagement was in August 2017, almost four years before his death in April 2021. Philip had more engagements in the past decade than Harry (1,009). ) and Kate.

Meghan sits at the bottom of the list, having completed 179 engagements during her short royal life before she and Harry stepped down as royals in 2020 and moved to North America.

The data was compiled by the Mail’s Royals section based on figures collected each year by famed royal watcher Tim O’Donovan of Datchet in Berkshire.

The retired insurance broker uses the Court Circular, the official daily list of actual commitments, before writing down all the commitments, producing quarterly totals, and then sending an annual table of his results in a letter to The times.

Mr O’Donovan is always keen to point out that his work should not become a ‘leaderboard’ of actual individual performance, writing in his most recent letter to the newspaper in December 2022: ‘All commitments differ in time and content. There is also the time of preparation, be it a visit, an investiture or a speech.

Mail Royals compiled its totals from 2013 to 2022 to complete the ten-year analysis period, while going back a few more years to 2010 to give a broader view of how the number of engagements for each royal has changed.

Data from last year showed that Charles completed the most commitments with 497, followed by Anne with 474. In third place was Sophie with 280 and Edward just behind with 276.