William’s ‘determination’ to protect Charlotte and Louis as ‘spares’

The Prince of Wales is ‘determined’ that Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis ‘will not fall victim’ to the ‘built-in cruelty’ of the heir and spare system, a royal author has claimed. 

Prince William, 43, is ‘determined that his second and third-born children are well-prepared and well-financed for independent lives’, Tina Brown, author of The Palace Papers, has revealed.

Writing in the latest installment of her Substack ‘Fresh Hell’, Ms Brown added that the future King wants to ensure that Charlotte, 10, and Louis, seven, ‘will not fall victim to the same cycle of thwarted freedom’ due to the historic heir and spare sibling rivalry. 

‘I am told that the heir to the throne, Prince William, is preoccupied with the built-in risk of primogeniture’s cruelty,’ she said.

In a desperate bid to avoid suffering the same bitter ‘rift’ he and his brother, the Duke of Sussex, experienced growing up, previous reports have suggested that William is eager to ‘break the cycle of the heir and spare feud’ for his three children.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in October, royal author Robert Hardman revealed that both the Prince and Princess of Wales want to ensure that the two children do not feel any ‘less loved or relevant’ than their older brother and heir to the throne, Prince George, 12.

He explained this commitment to a more equal upbringing is to ensure that Charlotte and Louis do not grow up with the same ‘resentment’ as other recent royal ‘spares’, such as Princess Margaret and Prince Harry.

He told co-host and historian Kate Williams: ‘It is said that the Prince and Princess of Wales are very concerned.

‘Of course, Prince George is the heir, and that’s the way it’s going to be. It’s a hereditary, hierarchical, constitutional monarchy. You can’t change that.

‘But there are ways I think, in which you can try and ensure that you don’t leave the younger ones feeling they are any less loved or any less relevant.

‘They’re just going to have to accept their career path is going to be different.’

This was aided by the end of a centuries-old primogeniture tradition in 2013, which previously dictated that the first-born son would take the throne, and that any resulting spare must be succeeded by the next born male.

Charlotte, often described as the Royal Family’s ‘secret weapon’, is the first royal to have benefited from the long-needed update, which previously sidelined Princess Anne and made Prince Andrew the spare to Charles.

According to Tom Quinn, historian and author of Scandals Of The Royal Palaces, this change will enable a more harmonious relationship between all of the Waleses’ children.

‘It will make things a lot easier because there won’t be two males like two deer clashing antlers anymore,’ he previously revealed in a Channel 5 documentary.

Speaking in the documentary, others suggested that the future will be different for the youngest successors because they are being raised as equals and have a more ‘normal’ upbringing – a ‘key to unpacking and shifting expectations of our heirs and spares’.

Ailsa Anderson, former press secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, also said they would have more ‘freedom and choice than their father had’.

If successful, it would break the cycle of historic rival relations in the family.

Three generations ago, King Edward VIII and his younger brother, King George VI, famously severed all ties after the intended heir abdicated the throne in 1936, after his requests to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson were repeatedly denied.

The sudden move forced the spare, George, to take the crown, a succession he had never trained for nor wanted for himself.

With neither brother satisfied with their fate, each blaming the other for their circumstances, friction further escalated between the pair and eventually resulted in a complete collapse in their relationship.

In more recent history, Andrew was the ‘spare’ to his oldest sibling, King Charles. Although Princess Anne was the second-born child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the rules of succession at the time meant that the next-born son would be next in line for the throne.

Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, was also reported to have faced her own personal gripes with being the ‘spare’, though the sisters still shared a close bond.

Ms Brown previously wrote: ‘Margaret was the only person on the planet who always knew Elizabeth as a peer, exchanging gossip, complaining about their mother, understanding the world through the same peculiar royal prism.’

However, according to Andrew Morton, Margaret once said, ‘I have never suffered from “second-daughter-itits”. But I did mind forever being cast as the “younger sister”.’

Now, William and Kate are making a conscious effort to ensure that their three children experience a normal upbringing free of spare-related concerns. 

During an interview with Schitt’s Creek star Eugene Levy in October, William revealed that he wants to ‘do what’s best for my children’ and ‘try to avoid the mistakes’ his parents made. 

The future King told Levy: ‘Getting the balance of work and family life right is really important.

‘Because for me, the most important thing in my life is family, and everything is about the future and about if you don’t start the children off now with a happy, healthy, stable home, I feel you’re setting them up for a bit of a hard time and a fall.

‘We try to make sure we give them the security and the safety that they need.’