Duke of Cambridge: What Now for William? Future Duties, Roles, Responsibilities

[Lumutqueen]

The Duchess of Cambridge has a thread - www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f269/duchess-of-cambridge-duties-and-roles-29262.html

I've PM'd Warren so I don't know if this thread wants merging with Catherines. But since William has now left the RAF, that thread appears redundant in discussing what William will do next and the MODs might have to clean it up every once in a while.

Now there's a correct place to discuss what William should do next.

The Kensington Palace Press Release; Press release

His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge is to leave operational service in the Armed Forces.

He completes his Tour with the Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Force at RAF Valley, Anglesey, after more than seven-and-a-half years of full-time military service.

He will continue to support the work of The Queen and the Royal Family through a programme of official engagements, both at home and overseas, with The Duchess of Cambridge.

The Duke will work closely over the next twelve months with the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. He will expand his work in the field of conservation, particularly in respect of endangered species.

The Duke will continue to work with his charities on issues relating to children and young people, veterans and serving members of the Armed Forces. The Duke is currently considering a number of options for public service, a further announcement on which will follow in due course.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George are expected to move into their official residence at Kensington Palace within the next few weeks.

Prince William to take gap year: quits military but won't be increasing number of royal engagements | Mail Online

Preparing to be King: Prince William says goodbye to RAF after more than seven years | UK | News | Daily Express

 

[Dman]

I think it should merge. These threads will become the main focus of our conversations now.

 

[Skippyboo]

I can see the Cambridges doing more overseas travel. Maybe 2 trips per year instead of one. Focus on the commonwealth countries.

 

[Iluvbertie]

A full-time royal is one who does nothing else but royal duties, in my opinion - William and Harry were serving officers in the military so weren't full-time and Kate, as William's wife also wasn't full-time.

Harry will remain part-time.

How many duties - given their ages - to do the job properly should be around 400 a year for William and 300 for Kate - but she will be given more time to get up to that many due to having a young child and no doubt another one in the nearish future - as in 2014/15 giving her until 2020 before the second one starts school and until 2027 until she really needs to be at about 400 - 500 with the second child in high school - if the reports are true and they aren't sending them to boarding school.

William is currently around 50, unless there is an overseas tour, and is reportedly taking another year off from really embracing royal duties to decide 'what public service' he will do next - which sounds like he is still looking for something to do other than a life of ribbon cutting and empty speeches - the life his father has had since his mid-20s.

 

[Osipi]

I can see the Cambridges doing more overseas travel. Maybe 2 trips per year instead of one. Focus on the commonwealth countries.

I do see them doing more overseas travel too but I don't see them focusing on the commonwealth nations per se.

What I've noticed is that there is a trend now for global involvement with their work with William heading the United for Wildlife organization and Harry's Sentebale and work with wounded warriors and perhaps some that don't come to mind at this time. We're seeing Kate's patronages working together towards a common goal even. All three of these younger royals form what is known as the Royal Foundation which umbrellas their interests.

Their mission:

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are recognised the world over and they are uniquely placed to help others. The Foundation is the culmination of their charity lives so far and will be the principal vehicle for Their Royal Highnesses' future charitable activities."
The Royal Foundation

This all takes preparation, organizing, planning and managing. Basically I see it as William not only having to be a king in the future, but in the meantime be a CEO on a global scale. He's relatively inexperienced right now and perhaps over the next year will be doing what I would describe as Top Dog Training 101 in various fields that he'll be working in as the Dynamic Trio (Wills, Kate and Harry) set the pace into the future.

For all we know, in time The Prince's Trust will become part and parcel of William's inheritance and that's something that took Charles decades to create and mold into what it is today. Nothing of what the royals do is empty and vapid with ribbons, waving and photo ops. There's a purpose behind them.

Its time for William to prepare for the future. I'd rather see him do less duties now and focus on learning the skills he'll need in the years to come.

 

[Skippyboo]

We know there are plans/hopes for a Australian/NZ trip next year so with the past trip to Canada that covers the 3 biggest realms. I know if I lived in NZ and the Cambridges went to Italy instead of NZ I would be upset. If England qualifies for the World Cup, there would probably a trip to Brazil that you could tie to a trip to the Caribbean nations.

The Irish Guards are in Afghanistan right now maybe their colonel can go visit them before they come home .


Realistically, the Cambridges probably have a 5 year window to have all their kids, bond with them and use their fame to highlight their various interests. Once Charles accedes, William will have his hands full with the duchy of Cornwall and more royal duties.

 

[LadyGabrielle]

True Skippyboo. Five years seems to be an adequate amount of time to power up and really do what is required of them. Another child? Probably. I would think they would at least have two. I just cant wait to see what the future holds for them. Its so exciting.

 

[Royal_Fan_2013]

I think, they must have two children (one heir and one spare). So they will have at least two children. I hope the second child will be a girl

 

[Queen Camilla]

IMO, William should increase his royal duties.

This year 200+
2014 400+
2015 500+
2016 600+
2017 700+
2018 800

Unlike his father, William does not have anything on scale of the Princes' Trust, the Duchy Originals, organic farming etc and since he is quite young he can handle 800 to 1000 engagements a year. The Queen at 87 still does 400-600 per year in addition to the red boxes, her healthy young grandson can do as much.

 

[QueenMathilde]

Did Charles take time off to be a new father? On one hand I can see him wanting to spend time with his new baby but on the other he's going to draw more criticism towards himself and Kate. But maybe, despite the press reports they are going to be out there doing more royal duties - they were just at the Tusk Trust and that seemed to go well for them both.

As for whether or not we should start a new thread, it's a bit less confusing where to put things the less threads we have. We might want to have a set number open and then close them as we open new ones. Just a thought.

 

[Dman]

I agree, they will be doing more.

 

[MarNoe]

I seem to remember reading that the Queen herself said that William and Kate should have a few years to "just be a married couple with children" like she and the DoE had on Malta. I'd be willing to bet that the number of engagements the Cambridges do is strongly influenced by the Queen.

 

[cinrit]

Unlike his father, William does not have anything on scale of the Princes' Trust, the Duchy Originals, organic farming etc and since he is quite young he can handle 800 to 1000 engagements a year. The Queen at 87 still does 400-600 per year in addition to the red boxes, her healthy young grandson can do as much.

To be fair, William's father didn't have anything on the scale of his present Princes' Trust when he was 31, either. I wasn't paying much attention back then, but I don't think he was doing 800-1000 engagements per year, either, which would be quite an achievement. That equates to 2.19-2.73 engagements per day, every day of the year.

 

[AdmirerUS]

IMO, William should increase his royal duties. Unlike his father, William does not have anything on scale of the Princes' Trust, the Duchy Originals, organic farming etc and since he is quite young he can handle 800 to 1000 engagements a year. The Queen at 87 still does 400-600 per year in addition to the red boxes, her healthy young grandson can do as much.

I would challenge anyone to do 1000 openings/meet and greets/dog and ponies a year and not become a complete cynic. It would rapidly degenerate into what we see with politicians running for office here in the US. All smiles, no content and no ability to lead. For all that the public loves to see a member of the family, these events don't do much to help William develop the qualities he will need when he becomes king. He needs to be developing the abilities he needs to be the king he wants to be.

The point is that the DOC wants to build something on the scale of the Prince's trust and that will take time. But that effort will make him a better monarch in the long run. Charles did not build the Prince's Trust or Duchy Originals by doing 1000 public events a year. He did it behind the scenes at his other work. The same holds true for Prince Phillip's DOE Awards and other work.

In an 1000 appearances you shake maybe 50,000 people's hands. With other work the royals transform an unlimited number of people's lives.

Maybe we need to put stopwatches on this out of the public eye work so the family gets credit for the important things they do.

That's not to mention the time he needs and wants to spend raising his family and supporting his wife. That's not public appearance work either but I think every good parent needs time to focus on this. And with the future heir to the throne - how can you stint William on the time he spends with the family?

 

[AdmirerUS]

I enjoy sarcasm - so this op-ed piece made me chuckle. Privatize the monarchy...
Privatise the Royal Family or watch it die, says Fleet Street Fox - Fleet Street Fox - Mirror Online

 

[Winnie]

Responsibilities of this couple----what ever the Queen requires, as it should be ----and then what ever else they are truly interested in to honor their position and country. Taking a year off to be with new family warms my heart. Would not have crossed Charles' mind to do so.

 

[royal-blue]

Although I think 800 engagements a year is probably an unrealistic expectation, I really do think that William and Kate should be doing considerably more on the royal front. Ok, they have a new baby, but for years now Kate has been "building up" to being a full time royal, and now William is taking a year "weighing up his options". The Queen was monarch at the age of 25 and yet these two, who are 6 years older than that, seem to be doing as little as possible. I respect William's service in the RAF, but as a 25 year old who works 50-60 hours a week, I think their reluctance at becoming full time working royals makes them look plain lazy.

 

[cepe]

Responsibilities of this couple----what ever the Queen requires, as it should be ----and then what ever else they are truly interested in to honor their position and country. Taking a year off to be with new family warms my heart. Would not have crossed Charles' mind to do so.

Unfair - he wasn't given the option as far as we know. HMQ, for example, requested that he leave the navy in order to support her jubilee as heir to the throne and then didn't really make use of his time.

She has learnt a lesson from that and Charles is sympathetic to the couple.

But I think that they may have gone too far - these 2 need to get on with it. And they need a Pr/press office who are less careless in how they express the actions of the Cambridges. Using the phrase "gap year" was plain dumb.

They need Jamie back!

 

[miche]

KP didn't use the word gap year, that was the press who did that

 

[cepe]

But they did infer that he had not made any concrete plans and was not going to increase his workload.

 

[Dman]

I agree, the royal couple and their Kensington Palace officials didn't do the best job in explaining the plan and left a great deal of people, including the media and royal correspondents rather confused. The royal reporters was very confident in reporting that William was leaving the SAR and the couple leaving Wales but they had a very hard time in explaining the couples future plans.

I think the couple should step up their official duties and charitable ventures and I think they will but I think that should've been communicated better by the couple and their official team.

 

[Queen Camilla]

IMO, the plan for William is to shadow the DOE & the Queen.

He will take over running of Balmoral & Sandringham from the DOE. He will manage it during the remaining years of the Queen's life, through Charles' ownership & through his own life.

He will be joining the Queen when she meets with her PM & foreign dignitaries. The NZ PM was his 1st.

He might take over some of the DOE charities.

 

[Osipi]

This totally makes sense to me.

I think a lot of times where there is a big, successful business and the CEO has a son that is going to take over the ropes, the smart CEO has the son learn all the ropes from the inside out over time building up to the day the reins are handed down from father to son.

In William's case, the ropes are to be passed from Granny to Dad to him so he has time to learn from the best.
.

 

[Duchess of Durham]

If this is indeed the plan, I think it's a smart one.
.

 

[katmen]

I would say, that there is too much bias to quantity a not quality. I prefer less engagements but with broader and more meaningful influence on public life.
His first and most important role is to be a king and the best way how to learn is to accompany HM on her engagements preferably on the place of DoE.

 

[Dman]

Well, I agree that William should be more incorporated into the business of the "Firm." Catherine accompanies The Queen on royal engagements every now and then and I think that's a great thing for her current role and future role.

 

[cepe]

IMO, the plan for William is to shadow the DOE

He take over running of Balmoral & Sandringham from the DOE. He will manage it during the remaining years of the Queen's life, through Charles' ownership & through his own life.

He will be joining the Queen when she meets with her PM & foreign dignitaries. The NZ PM was his 1st.

He might take over some of the DOE charities.

nteresting ideas, but not that straightforward, IMO.

The DoE does not run these 2 estates, there is an estate manager at each. he may have oversight, so that could take up as much as 1 day a month.


He wont be with the Queen when she meets the Pm because they are confidential meetings between the Monarch and the Head of Governmente. Care will also be taken that Charles is not sidestepped, so that needs to be taken into account.

foreign dignitaries, well I would shift that to Commonwealth dignitaries. That is something that he needs to get a handle on. I think that if he could work/spend time with the Commonwealth Secretary, that would be very beneficial.

The British public, however, want them both out there doing home events. they need to be seen on British soil and initially that means not going on overseas trips. These are sometimes seen as "holidays".

In order to take over some of DoE's charities, the DoE needs to agree. Mmmm???

It is very difficult for William because what he wants is to do something worthwhile. animal conservation does not grab the public imagination in the way it grabs his.

He needs/wants a job, not random duties. it cant be political, dangerous, financially risky ( ie could he lose other peoples money), or commercial.

He probably wants to go and work in Africa but there is no way the 2nd and 3rd in line will be allowed to do that as its so dangerous.

Makes me realise that being young and royal is not great.

 

[Skippyboo]

There is not a need to pit brother versus brother. It is not an election for future King. William, Harry and Kate share a household, a foundation and work as a team. Both men risked their lives in the military and know what their future roles are.

 

[muriel]

That's very useful. For me, the key line was:
"The Duke is currently considering a number of options for public service, a further announcement on which will follow in due course."
.

 

[Skippyboo]

I think everybody is getting a little stir crazy coming down from the high of George's birth. Before we could pick names and birthdays and now there has been so little royal activity for the past month- were a bit news deprived. Maybe Wills , Kate, George and Lupo can go for a walk in Kensington gardens .