During an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes Australia, former palace aide Jason Knauf and royal expert Roya Nikkhah shared numerous revelations about the British royal family.
In particular, the former communications secretary for the Prince and Princess of Wales revealed insights into how Prince William will be doing things his own way when he becomes King.
During the 60 Minutes special, Jason shared, “The thing I have heard from Prince William is you’re going to do this in your own way. Every generation of the Royal Family has to reinvent the role for the generation that they serve.”
Royal Editor for The Sunday Times, Roya Nikkhah, echoed Jason’s sentiments, saying William and Kate are going to do things their own way when they’re on the throne.
“They already are, that’s not suddenly going to change with a crown on their heads,” she said.
Speaking of Prince William’s current role as regent and heir to the throne, Roya added that the monarchy still has “soft power in diplomacy.”
She recently shared, “We’ve just seen him in Paris with Donald Trump, the first senior British figure to meet him after his re-election. He met him before Keir Starmer, our Prime Minister. There’s a reason for that, that’s the soft power diplomacy of our monarchy.”
When it comes to plans for William’s succession, they’re an ongoing operation.
But for Prince William to ascend the throne, he must first lose his father. “It’s one of these terrible paradoxes of this job,” Jason said.
The Prince of Wales has been preparing to lead the monarchy for his entire life through “learning by doing,” and through lessons that are “private family conversations” that are “personal” rather than formal.
Along with William’s future as King, Jason and Roya also discussed what Prince Harry’s role will be.
When asked if he thought Harry’s role could change once William takes the throne, Jason responded, “I can’t speculate on the future. They achieved a lot together and none of that can ever be taken away. This may be an extraordinary family that everyone gets to talk about and write about and see, be interviewed and all that sort of stuff. But at the end of the day, it’s a family.”
Former royal butler Grant Harrold added, “I have no doubt that William would want his brother to be, not so much maybe to play a part in it [his coronation], but certainly to be there.”
And when asked whether Harry would be willing to return to royal life, Grant added, “It appears to me he’s quite happy with his new life and his way of doing things, which is, you couldn’t get further away from the Royal Family if you could by what he’s doing. But in saying that, I still think he would be there to support his brother as he has been for his father.”
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