Penny Junor: Prince William

The assault on California was a quick and easy way to part the mega-rich from their money to help the poor. It was done in the best possible faith and with good taste – and it was an excellent outcome for everyone concerned. It seems churlish to find fault. Yet, having watched him earn such admiration and respect from those hundreds of thousands of people of Canada, who look up to him as their future King, there was something distasteful about the sight of him – he who oozes integrity from every pore – and his intelligent young wife selling themselves so brazenly.

That said, the trip wasn’t all pay-to-view, and my suspicion is he was happier during the two and a half hours spent with ex-servicemen than he was at any of the champagne-fuelled celebrity dos. It was an event Nick Booth at the Foundation had arranged, called ‘Hiring Our Heroes’, in partnership with the organisation ServiceNation: Mission Serve. It was essentially a giant job fair, held at the Sony Studios, as William said in his speech, ‘to help those returning from active service to open a new chapter in their lives and find employment when they retire from the military. Catherine and I both have friends back in Britain who could benefit from a brilliant initiative like this. I am delighted, therefore, that our Foundation – and in that I include Harry, my low-flying Apache pilot of a kid brother – is a partner in today’s event. We have much to learn from you.’

‘Hiring Our Heroes’ was a good example of the convening power [of the Prince],’ says Nick Booth. ‘It was about moving the story forward for returning veterans. Physical rehabilitation has been done to a degree, but what next? It was a question that Prince Harry asked and it was a very good question.’ A conversation over a cup of coffee with some former colleagues in America then led to the event at Sony where the Prince’s name enabled them to bring together veterans in search of work with employers, government labour departments and chambers of commerce. Hundreds of servicemen and women were hired that day, and within a month forty cities said they would like to do hiring fairs across the US; there are now five a week and over a hundred have been completed. ‘I spoke to the US head of the Chamber of Commerce last week,’ says Nick, ‘and they are swamped off their feet. It’s a great example of catalytic philanthropy.’

The Foundation will go on raising and distributing money. In January 2012, it announced a three-year partnership with the newly launched Forces in Mind Trust set up to help veterans suffering, as many of them do, from poor mental health, family breakdowns and substance abuse. Speaking after the premiere of the film War Horse in London – the proceeds of which went to the Foundation for this partnership, and to which six hundred military personnel had been invited – William said, ‘To support this vital process of transition, Catherine, my brother Harry and I are delighted that our Foundation will be working in partnership with the newly formed Forces in Mind Trust. Together, our aim is to provide a cohesive approach to tackling the many problems that some ex-service personnel and their families experience when making the move back into civilian life. Whether through finding new opportunities in employment, in mentoring and training, or in support to families, it is our intention that no serviceman or woman – or their dependants – should fear a future out of uniform. Giving them this confidence, and the opportunity to develop their extraordinary skills and talent for the benefit of wider society, is the very least our country owes them.’

Members of the Household agree that they haven’t always got the balance quite right but say, ‘It’s bloody difficult when you have got charities that can make millions and millions of pounds literally out of an afternoon, and it’s not immediately understandable to them when we come back and tell them they can’t because the Duke and Duchess don’t do that. What it demonstrates starkly is the difference between realm and non-realm. In the realm it’s all about meeting the people, future subjects, and there’s none of that in America. There, they are nothing more than grade A celebrities and what do you do with them? You exploit them; you make money out of them, they make money out of you and everyone pats each other on the back.

‘But if you think about it, most royal visits are in support of Foreign Office objectives and what are they? They’re about prosperity in the UK, about bringing in business – it’s about money. But, no, we shouldn’t be going the route to pay for access.’

William has striven for normality all his life; he has tried to brush aside his titles, to be plain William or Will, to hop on his Ducati 1198S for a game of five-a-side football with his mates in the park. He has enjoyed popping into the pub for a pint, shopping in the supermarket, stopping for a takeaway and seeing a good film at the cinema. All those things could have been brought to him at the touch of a button. He need never have made his bed or ironed a shirt or cooked himself an omelette. His house could have been full of staff and his bath run and his clothes laid out for him in the mornings by a valet. It’s how his father has always lived and it’s what William was brought up with. But he didn’t want that. He chose to live the way his school friends lived. That has been a great part of his appeal and goes a long way to explain how someone born to his position and his circumstances has reached his thirty-first year with such sanity and so many endearing qualities.

But he was born to be King and as he goes into a new decade, as a married man, as the Duke of Cambridge, with two official foreign tours under his belt and a third coming up shortly, there is a sense that those days of carefree normality may be waning. Next year he and Kate will move into Princess Margaret’s apartments in Kensington Palace and will have a small number of staff to look after them. Their lives will be entering a new phase and supermarket shopping in central London will not be an option.

In the last two years, since his trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2010, the change in him has become very noticeable. He always knew what he wanted, but now he is far more sure of himself and instead of asking tentative questions or wanting advice, he says what he thinks and what he wants, and asks his team, in the politest possible way, to make it happen. He is also growing into his title. There is not a hint of entitlement but a definite shift from the boy who would like to have been able to forget he was an HRH, to the man who knows it can add value. ‘It makes me do backflips,’ says one of his team, ‘because it means he’s really getting it – and Harry is pretty much on his heels, as usual. They’ve just evolved. They’re now leaders in their own right, in a very cool way.’

Their advisors believe their role in life is to provide leadership. Not political leadership but moral and community leadership. ‘You ask the man in the street, “What do you think of the leadership of this country?” and the really intelligent, instinctive, Sun reader, of which there are millions out there, full of common sense, will say, “What bloody leadership, mate?”And then you say, “What about the Queen?”And he’ll say, “She’s great.”There’s a disconnect because he immediately thinks you’re talking about political leadership and it doesn’t have to be political. Monarchy is about leadership; and these two are natural-born leaders. You can argue till the crack of dawn over whether leaders are born or made, but these guys have got it and that can’t be wasted.’

It could be a very long time before William gets the top job. His father, who will accede to the throne before him (no matter what opinion polls might say the public wants), is still waiting. And as the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee in the rudest of health at the age of eighty-six, Charles, now sixty-three, looks like having to wait a while himself.