William’s had a rotten 18 months. Many have remarked he’s appeared unusually sombre – and not just when standing next to Prince Andrew. Now royal author A.N. WILSON reveals: What’s eating William

How galling it would have been for the heir to the throne to see commentators in the Press suggest Harry’s four-day trip to Britain was a roaring success
It would, of course, be a cruel person who did not feel that the Prince of Wales deserved considerable sympathy. His wife has cancer, and both she and William have suffered all the strains this imposes, both on their own relationship, and on that with their three young children.

What is more, those who sing the National Anthem, hoping that Charles will be ‘long to reign over us’, do so in the sadly realistic knowledge that the present reign might, in fact not be as long as we would wish. William therefore faces the prospect of becoming King when he is still a relatively young man. Four decades and more of public duty stretch ahead. Why would he not prioritise family life in such circumstances and spend precious time with George, Charlotte and Louis? And yet, according to Tina Brown, his self-proclaimed dedication to being a good parent was taken by Charles as tacit criticism of his paternal skills.

William is already being eased into his future royal role. The King delegates more to him than many realise according to ex-courtiers, and he sits in meetings that were once run by his father. On a more parochial level, he now oversees the shoots at Balmoral and Sandringham – a key job among family roles.

It is becoming apparent that William likes to do things his way or, as a senior member of the royal household who has observed the father-son dynamic put it: ‘As direct heir, he sometimes seems to forget, whether by accident or design, that there is a hierarchy and that he ranks one below his father.’ Another source claimed that ‘deference does not appear to be in his vocabulary when it comes to the King’.