Prince William “won’t commit” to a royal role bestowed upon him by his dad King Charles, a former royal staff member has revealed.
After King Charles III became the UK’s monarch in September 2022, he issued a lengthy statement about the new royal reshuffle.
As part of the update, Charles said of his eldest son Prince William: “He succeeds me as Duke of Cornwall and takes on the responsibilities for the Duchy of Cornwall which I have undertaken for more than five decades.
“With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the centre ground where vital help can be given.”
These responsibilities included taking on the Highgrove House and Garden, a residence near Tetbury in Gloucestershire, loved particularly by Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla.
The royal residence was also once the family home for Charles, his ex-wife, the late Princess Diana, and their sons William and Prince Harry in their younger years.
While Highgrove was automatically passed down to Prince William in 2022, Charles’ former gardener believes it’s unlikely that he’ll reside there in the future.
Jack Stooks worked closely with Charles by looking after the gardens at Highgrove for 21 years. The gardener, who stepped away from his role last year, said the Prince’s foundation now rents the garden from the Duchy of Cornwall, as a form of protection.
“Before he became King, I think the idea was that they needed to make sure that the garden was actually protected,” Jack explained.
“So I think he thought that William probably wouldn’t move into Highgrove once he became King, so the idea was, ‘Let’s protect it somehow’, so it was given over to the Prince’s foundation. So the Prince’s foundation now rents the garden from the Duchy of Cornwall.
“The king rents his house from William and William rents two of his houses from the King, so yeah, it’s quite odd, isn’t it? To think that he’s on their property, and the other ones are on the other property.”
Quizzed on whether this may be down to Highgrove perhaps being too much of a responsibility, Jack said: “I think that William’s obviously got his own family now, so he’s got his own family unit and they’ve been brought up at Armer Hall, and also now at the Adelaide cottage.
“Highgrove was very much his mum and dad’s home [where they] were brought up, so it’s like a family home that mum and dad lived in.”
Furthermore, Jack believes it would be “unfair to Kate” if they moved into Highgrove, following constant comparisons between her and William’s mother.
“That’s like her having to step into Diana’s shoes,” he shared. “And she’s so often compared to Diana in the press, which I think is unfair because, yes, I know she’s the Princess of Wales and I know that Diana was the Princess Wales, but they’re very separate people.
“They’re both individual women that, you know, they absolutely adore their children.”