Prince William Hints at His Feelings on Royal Family Drama for First Time, Admitting Family Issues "Overwhelm" Him "Quite a Bit"
The Prince of Wales said "doing the job" as a royal didn't worry him, but with family, "it’s more about upsetting the rhythm."
Prince William gave one of his most personal interviews ever while speaking with Eugene Levy in an episode of Apple TV+'s The Reluctant Traveler. In the new episode, released Friday, October 3, the Prince of Wales discussed everything from Princess Kate's cancer diagnosis to his kids not having cell phones, and he also opened up about how becoming King didn't necessarily stress him out, but "family" was the one thing that did.
Levy joined Prince William for a tour of Windsor Castle in the episode, asking the royal, "Do you ever get overwhelmed just by the sheer history of the place?" The Prince of Wales explained that while he didn't feel overwhelmed by "history," per se, it was something that he was "careful" to consider. "I think if you’re not careful, history can be a real weight and an anchor around you and you can feel suffocated by it and restricted by it too much," he admitted.
After explaining he wants to shake things up a bit as King while also respecting "tradition," Levy wondered what did overwhelm the Prince of Wales. "Yeah, I think stuff to do with family overwhelms me quite a bit," William replied. "You know, worry or stress around the family side of things does overwhelm me quite a bit. But in terms of doing the job and things like that, I don’t feel too overwhelmed by that. Not now, anyway."
Prince William spoke about his feelings on family with Eugene Levy in The Reluctant Traveler.
Prince William and Eugene Levy talked over a pint during the episode.
Although he didn't mention the ongoing rift with his brother, Prince Harry, or the recent scandals surrounding his uncle, Prince Andrew, the Prince of Wales said, "When it’s to do with family and things like that, then that’s where I start getting a bit overwhelmed—as I think most people would, because it’s more personal, it’s more about feeling, it’s more about upsetting the rhythm."
Multiple royal sources have recently noted that Prince William feels the family should take a harder stance on Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, while The King doesn't want to disown his brother.
As for Prince Harry, he held a private meeting with King Charles last month when he was visiting London for several events related to his charitable causes. William, however, did not see his brother. The Prince of Wales mentioned Harry once during The Reluctant Traveler, noting that when it comes to Prince George taking the throne one day, he wants to make sure that his son doesn't have to deal with the same issues that he and Harry did.
"Obviously, I want to create a world in which my son is proud of what we do, a world and a job that actually does impact people’s lives for the better," the Prince of Wales said. "That is caveated with, I hope we don’t go back to some of the practices in the past, that Harry and I had to grow up with—and I’ll do everything I can to make sure we don’t regress in that situation."
