Born into his future role, Prince William has been a king-in-training his whole life … whether he liked it or not. And now we’re learning from a friend of the late Princess Diana that her son actually didn’t love the idea at first—and Diana knew it. Not only that, but it turns out that she had her own doubts over William’s ultimate path and thought that her second-born “spare” might actually be better suited to the role.
Scandalous, we know! To shed some light on the new report from veteran Daily Mail journalist Richard Kay, we spoke with Maria Coole, co-editor of The Royal List. Read on to find out why Diana thought William wasn’t exactly king material, as well as the plans she was secretly putting into place behind the scenes.
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Why did Princess Diana think Harry would be a better king than William?
In short: Harry wanted it more.
Diana could tell her energetic second son, even as a child, was much keener on being king than his big brother. Royal insiders say that in contrast, William was more timid, so the news that he was destined to be king—with a job for life—didn’t immediately appeal.
“I think William has been a bit of a surprise. He was a shy young man,” Kay said on the Mail’s Palace Confidential podcast. “Certainly, when his mother was still alive, she would tell me that she never really thought that William wanted the ‘top job,’ as she called it.”
The revelation was echoed by another British broadcaster, Jeremy Paxman, who said Diana confided to him over lunch that her first-born wasn’t up for the job. “William often told her that he didn’t really want to be king, and then Harry would say, ‘If you don’t want the job, I’ll have it!’” he said on the documentary Paxman on the Queen’s Children.
Did she do anything to prepare Harry for the throne?
Yes. Diana even had a special nickname for Harry to encourage him, on the off chance he did take the throne. “She, in her mind, was preparing the way for the possibility that it would be Harry who succeeded his father,” Kay said. “She had a little nickname for Harry: She used to call him ‘Good King Harry’—some throwback to medieval days.”
Diana made sure she raised Harry the same way as William, even calling him a “backup” in her infamous Panorama interview, in which she discussed “the responsibilities of bringing them up, William’s future being as it is, and Harry like a form of a backup in that aspect.”
Describing William as a “deep thinker,” she said she wanted both children “to be happy and have peace of mind and carry out their duties.” She added that by involving them in her charity work, including taking them to visit AIDS patients and the homeless, she hoped they would have “an understanding of people’s emotions, people’s insecurities, people’s distress and people’s hopes and dreams.”
Could William really just say no to the throne?
Not exactly. The rules of succession mean you can’t technically turn down the role of monarch, explains Coole. “When a reigning monarch dies, the crown goes to the next in line—in this case, William,” she says. “He could, at that point, formally abdicate the throne, through Parliament, but then it would continue down the line, to Prince George, so it’s unlikely he’d ever do that.”
Edward VIII is the only British monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne, which he did in 1936 so he could marry divorcée Wallis Simpson—and it caused a huge scandal at the time. Other monarchs, like Mary, Queen of Scots, have only abdicated by force. (She was later beheaded by Elizabeth I.) After the childless Edward abdicated, the line of succession then unexpectedly went sideways to his brother Albert, who became King George VI. His daughter, Elizabeth, suddenly found herself facing a new destiny as the future longest-reigning monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II.
Even as a child, Elizabeth understood the inevitability of the role of heir. “Does that mean that you will have to be the next queen?” Princess Margaret asked her sister, according to historian Elizabeth Longford. “Yes, someday,” Elizabeth replied. Margaret then said, “Poor you.”
When did William’s perspective on becoming king change?
“He’s grown into the role,” says Coole. After university, William served in the Royal Air Force as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. He then spent two years as an Air Ambulance pilot in East Anglia, but once he became a full-time royal in 2017, he really began to commit to his future, Coole says.
“At that point, the pace of change became more accentuated, and it gathered speed after Harry’s departure in 2020, the queen’s death two years later, then his father and Catherine’s cancer battles,” she says. “He’s become much more focused and statesman-like since then. I think he could see he had to accept his responsibility.”
But William tries to maintain a balance between work and family life. “As a father, Charles was criticized for being consumed by work—his tireless work ethic is infamous—whereas when William became a dad, he prioritized spending as much time as he could with George, Charlotte and Louis—and still does.”
What kind of king will he be?
William says he wants to be a “change-maker king.” In fact, he recently told Eugene Levy on Apple TV’s The Reluctant Traveller, “Change is on my agenda. Change for good. I embrace that, and I enjoy that change—I don’t fear it.” And in 2024, on tour in South Africa, he said, “I can only describe what I’m trying to do, and that’s trying to do it differently … for my generation. I’m doing it with maybe a smaller r in the royal, if you like.”
Echoing Diana’s legacy of kindness, he added, “I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well, because I really care about what I do. … I think we could do with some more empathetic leadership around the world.” Kay believes William will make good on this promise: “What I quite like is he’s coming up with quite some quite different ways to approach royalty. He’s aware that he’s going to have to make some big changes.”
And Coole says he’ll likely streamline the monarchy and continue to take a more relaxed approach. “I think the coronation will be smaller but still retain the necessary pomp. But after that, I suspect William will do away with many of the formal palaces and homes and open them to the public,” she says. “He’s already stated his new Windsor base, Forest Lodge, is a forever home, even after he’s king.”
He’s also concentrating on fewer causes, but ones he feels can effect more change, such as his homelessness and conservation initiatives. And he’s doing away with formalities. “He and Catherine are approaching royal duties remarkably differently, using social media more and appearing in low-key events, such as walking around London’s Borough Market, waving at surprised shoppers.”
Who will be in his new court?
The better question is, who won’t? Royal insiders say William’s court will be the smallest ever, and it won’t include Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of the disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson. While the princesses were once tapped to take on more royal duties, William will make sure that option is off the table, Coole says.
“Post the Epstein emails and Andrew’s arrest, William will distance himself completely from any notion the Yorks can come back into the royal fold,” she adds. Instead, it’s thought he’ll concentrate on his immediate family and continue to rely on his aunt and uncle, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, as well as Sophie, Edward’s wife and William’s aunt by marriage.
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Sources:
- Maria Coole, co-editor of The Royal List; interviewed, March 19, 2026
- You Tube: “Palace Confidential featuring Richard Kay”
- AppleTV: The Reluctant Traveller with Eugene Levy, Episode 4
- BBC: “‘Smaller R in royal’ – Prince William wants to do things differently”
- Amazon Prime: Paxman on the Queen’s Children
- PBS: “Diana’s BBC Panorama interview”
- Elizabeth R: A Biography by Elizabeth Longford
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