William Could Make Things ‘Stormy’ for Monarchy If He Challenges Government Advice, Warns Author
As heir to the throne, Prince William is expected to remain politically neutral while maintaining cordial ties with world leaders. However, in his new book, royal author Valentine Low claimed that the Prince of Wales is planning to adopt a "more robust challenging of advice." Commenting on the same, Low warned that if William continues questioning the advice of the Prime Minister, it could 'fracture' his relationship with the UK government. The author noted that the Prince’s approach is in stark contrast to that of the late Queen Elizabeth.
In his book, Power and the Palace, Low recalled how a 2021 profile of William in The Sunday Times reported that he had allegedly told friends that, when he is King, there would be "more private, robust challenging of advice." Backtracking his claims, the author told GB News, "I wonder, when William said that, had he consulted with his private secretary, did he actually think it through? Because there’s no doubt, the advice from a prime minister to a sovereign, it’s not advice in the sense of the word that you and I think." Low opined that the ‘instruction’ from the government has to be followed, and not doing so could cause ‘all sorts of problems.’
The Prince’s remarks were allegedly linked to the fallout from the prorogation of Parliament in 2019, when Boris Johnson sent Jacob Rees-Mogg to Balmoral Castle to secure Queen Elizabeth’s permission. He continued, "If the monarchy has the upper hand, and they start challenging advice, that could be really, really stormy. But if the monarchy doesn’t have the upper hand and the Government’s strong, there’s no way they could challenge advice."
By contrast, Low believed that King Charles had gone "out of his way to be accommodating" to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, conscious of his past reputation as a "meddling Prince of Wales." He added, "You can see that in the way he was so accommodating about the invitation to Donald Trump for a second state visit." The author noted that while this was not the advice of the King nor the Prime Minister, there might have been a ‘certain to and fro’ about it. He continued, "Although privately they might have raised an eyebrow, on the surface they said, absolutely, we’ll extend the standard invitation and welcome President Trump with open arms."
Ultimately, the royal author concluded about the Prince of Wales, "My suspicion is William will row back from that position when it comes to the reality of being King." While Low believed that William is currently not going around questioning or challenging advice, the "future looks very unpredictable" if he chooses to when he takes the throne. The Prince and Princess of Wales are currently looking forward to their important role of welcoming Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for their second UK state visit on September 16.