Friends of the family have warned Prince William to avoid triggering King Charles’s alleged jealous streak, something Prince Harry wrote about in his tell-all Spare, according to reports.
The warnings come after Prince William appeared to criticise the Royal Family’s approach to charity, suggesting he would like to take it a step further.
While speaking in Singapore, the Prince of Wales said: “It’s all these wraparound services, it’s kind of going deeper and longer, than it is the case of just having loads of causes that you sort of turn up and keep an eye on.”
But an insider warned William needs “to be careful not to wake the green-eyed monster,” referring to King Charles’s jealous streak.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, the friend of the King added: “William is entitled to make these comments, which, frankly, are pretty unremarkable, but part of the reason the marriage with Camilla has worked so well is that she understands that Charles is the star. William has to be careful not to wake the green-eyed monster.”
Princess Diana cited Charles’s jealousy as a sticking point between her and the then-future King in her famous Panorama interview. Prince Harry also echoed the sentiment in his tell-all memoir Spare.
Prince Harry wrote: “Pa and Camilla didn’t like Willy and Kate drawing attention away from them or their causes. They’d openly scolded Willy about it many times.”
The Duke of Sussex spoke of a visit by Kate, Princess of Wales to a tennis club on the same day King Charles had an engagement – where a press officer allegedly wouldn’t allow Princess Kate to be photographed holding a racquet.
He wrote: “Such a winning, fetching photo would undoubtedly wipe Pa and Camilla off the front pages. And that, in the end, couldn’t be tolerated.”
Still, not everyone is convinced of the potential for friction between King Charles and his eldest son. A friend of William’s also told The Daily Beast that the Prince’s comments would not spark a row between the father and son but rather William was just stating he wouldn’t have “500 patronages”.
The friend said: “William is in no hurry to be king. This is not him parking his tanks on his dad’s lawn. William and Catherine have three children, the eldest of them is ten, and that’s very much their priority.”
