Prince William rejected plans for a major investiture ceremony and church service to mark him becoming Prince of Wales, a major royal book has revealed.
Acclaimed Royal author and Daily Mail writer Robert Hardman revealed that William turned down plans drawn up by his father’s courtiers for an event at St David’s Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, in 2022.
William and Catherine instead marked their new titles with a visit to Anglesey, where they lived for three years after getting married, and Swansea.
The low key approach – a sign of William’s desire to modernise some aspects of the monarchy – was in stark contrast to pomp and pageantry of Charles’s investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969.
The ceremony at Caernarfon Castle was broadcast live to 19 million people in Britain and another 500 million people worldwide and involved Queen Elizabeth presenting her son with the Prince of Wales’s sword, coronet, ring, rod and mantle.
In Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story, Mr Hardman, writes: ‘On becoming Prince of Wales, he [William] had not only ruled out an investiture, like his father’s in 1969, but even a church service.’
Mr Hardman reveals that the Government went as far as consulting Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, about the ceremony plans to ensure there was no objection but ‘the idea never progressed beyond the desk of Prince William.’
One of William’s team told the author ‘It wasn’t ever something that he wanted to do.’
Last month, Catherine, Princess of Wales, delivered a video message entirely in Welsh to mark St David’s Day – the first time she has done so.
The Prince revealed in 2024 how he had downloaded the popular language learning app Duolingo and that he was trying to grasp Welsh ‘phonetically.’
Charles’s high profile investiture 57-years ago was fiercely opposed by some Welsh nationalist groups who saw the Prince of Wales as symbolic of the country’s occupation by the English crown.
Early on the morning of the Investiture two members of a militant group were killed when the bomb they were carrying exploded as they were taking it to a railway line along which the royal train would run.
… he prefers to stay in and watch Traitors!
It is the BBC blockbuster about deception and trust that has gripped the nation – including members of the Royal Family.
In royal author Robert Hardman’s new book, he reveals that the Prince and Princess of Wales are among the millions engrossed by The Traitors.
Mr Hardman writes: ‘The King is the one who still enjoys sitting up writing letters into the night whereas Prince William’s idea of a fun evening, says one of his team, is to “sit down with the Princess in front of The Traitors”.’
Stephen Lambert, whose production company makes the show, – which pits ‘faithful’ contestants against those who are ‘traitors’ – said William told him last year that it was a ‘big treat’ as he awarded him an OBE at Windsor Castle.
Mr Lambert added: ‘He said he and the family were very much looking forward to watching it.’
William later told Sir Stephen Fry, one of the celebrity contestants, that he and his family had been ‘locked into’ the series.
