King Charles Warned William: 'Don’t Make My Mistake and Put Royal Duty Before Your Family'
EXCLUSIVE: Prominent royal expert Ingrid Seward says Charles urged his son to put his family before a lifetime of royal duty.
KING Charles warned Prince William against making a big 'mistake', according to a prominent royal biographer.
Before he ascended the throne, he told his son not to repeat his own experience of allowing royal duty to come before family life, according to Ingrid Seward. Speaking exclusively to The Royal Observer’s new show, Palace Unfiltered, bestselling author Ingrid Seward reflected on a decision that has distinguished William’s path from that of previous heirs: he was given time to establish a career and family life before becoming a full-time working royal.
Seward said King Charles, then-Prince of Wales, encouraged his eldest son to make use of that period precisely because it would not last forever, as she suggested that advice has helped shape the Prince of Wales’s approach to his wife and children. “I know that the King, or he wasn't King then; he was Prince of Wales, I think he said to William, ‘You have to do something with your life now,’” Seward suggested, who has just published her book, Catherine & Diana: The Inside Story of the women who shaped the monarchy.
Prince William went on to work as an air ambulance pilot, a career he continued after marrying Catherine and becoming a father. Seward said Charles's advice went further, telling his son to spend quality time with his family before the responsibilities of royal life became permanent, saying: "He said, 'You have to do this before you take on any royal duties because you're going to be doing royal duties for the rest of your life. And don't make the mistake that I made, and you know, put duty before family.' And he did say this to William."
The recollection provides an intriguing backdrop to one of the most persistent debates surrounding William and Catherine: the balance they have struck between raising Prince George, 13, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, eight, and carrying out their duties as the future King and Queen.
Prince William's workload has faced scrutiny at different points during his royal life, but Seward suggests that the space afforded to the couple when their family was young was not simply William withdrawing from responsibility. It was his father, himself shaped by decades as heir to the throne, who had encouraged him to use a period of relative freedom while it remained available. Seward believes the approach has worked for the Prince of Wales, telling The Royal Observer: "William followed it and I think it's been incredibly successful.”
King Charles's own experience provides an important contrast. He became Prince of Wales in 1958 at the age of nine and spent more than seven decades as heir before succeeding Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. William's route into full-time royal life was deliberately more gradual.
However, after the Princess of Wales announced in March 2024 that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer following separate major abdominal surgery, William reduced his public engagements while his wife underwent treatment and their family adjusted privately.
According to Seward, Charles completely supported his son's decision, as she stated: "When Catherine, you know, had that terrible cancer, and William was, you know, really really at her side, and Charles said to him, 'You know, take time off, don't worry, you have to look after your wife. This is the most important thing you can do at the moment', and of course Charles was down with cancer as well."
The circumstances were particularly unusual because Charles was undergoing cancer treatment himself. With both the King and Catherine receiving treatment, Queen Camilla maintained a busy programme of engagements during a period when two of the monarchy's most prominent figures had stepped back.
Seward believes that period also altered perceptions of Camilla, who assumed a more visible role while supporting her husband and continuing public duties. “That’s when Camilla shone because she sort of briefly took the mantle of both of them,” she said. Reflecting on the Queen’s increased public presence while both Charles and Catherine were undergoing cancer treatment, Seward added: “She stood up as Queen and sort of took over. I think, although it wasn’t intended that way, it did her a huge amount of good, and people saw that she was actually a very special person."
The Prince and Princess of Wales have continued to approach royal life differently from generations in which a heavy diary of engagements was often treated as the clearest measure of service. Their work has increasingly concentrated on a smaller number of long-term projects, including William's Homewards homelessness programme and Catherine's work on the early years. Seward believes that more focused approach will continue, telling The Royal Observer: “They take on far less than, for instance, Diana used to. They concentrate more on the things where they can really make a difference, or hope they can make a difference.”
That approach does not remove the expectations attached to being heir to the throne, nor does family life exempt William from scrutiny over how he fulfils the role. His position will also change considerably when he eventually becomes King. Seward expects that distinction to shape the years ahead. She told the Royal Observer:
“I think as long as King Charles and Queen Camilla are around, William and Catherine will put family first,” Seward said. Looking further ahead, she added: “Once Charles dies ... William's going to become monarch and then you have all the duties of the monarch, which is what happened to Charles. As long as he was Prince of Wales, he could concentrate on his charity work, and he wanted to do as much as he could before he became king, because once he became king, you're really beholden to the government in many of the things you have to do."
