Prince George‘s destiny has always been to sit on the throne of England someday, but it sounds like that may not have been made clear to him until relatively recently. While speaking to People in a story that was published on Thursday, royal expert Robert Lacey explained why Prince William and Kate Middleton “delayed” telling George about his future as king for as long as possible.
Since George arrived in 2013, Will and Kate have made it their mission to ensure that their children have the most normal childhoods possible while still growing up royal, so waiting for the right time to tell George he’ll be king was part of that philosophy. It wasn’t until he was around 7 years old that they decided to have that conversation, so only about five years ago.
“William deliberately delayed this news until the last possible moment,” Robert said. “It shows special care and thoughtfulness — it also tells us something about how William felt about the weight of the crown.”
After all, William also grew up knowing that he would reign someday, so it must be helpful to look back on how he felt as he’s helping his son through the same experience.
“I imagine that when William talks to George about things like this, he uses words like ‘destiny’ rather than ‘duty.’ ‘Duty’ has a sense of being trapped; ‘destiny’ has a sense of choice,” Robert added.
There are other small changes that Will and Kate have made for George along the way, as People pointed out. Though King Charles was referred to as “sir” at school long before he was king, William always went by his first name, and George has done the same.
A source also noted that if William steps up to the throne while George is still young and in school, he may choose to wait to give him the Prince of Wales title until he is a bit older.
“They would want him to focus on having freedom before giving him any royal titles,” the insider explained.
Being king of England is going to be a big job, and there is going to be a lot of responsibility on George’s shoulders someday — there’s no getting around that. But so far, it sounds like William and Kate are doing their best to make sure that he’s as prepared as possible when that day does eventually come.
