King Charles Warned Prince William Not to Make His ‘Mistake’—But His Son May Face the Same Royal Trap
King Charles reportedly once gave Prince William a blunt warning. Royal biographer Ingrid Seward said Charles wanted William to put his family first. She shared the advice on The Royal Observer’s Palace Unfiltered.
Before William took on full-time royal duties, Charles reportedly told him, “You have to do this before you take on any royal duties because you’re going to be doing royal duties for the rest of your life. And don’t make the mistake that I made, and you know, put duty before family.”
Charles allegedly added, “Don’t make the mistake that I made,” referring to putting “duty before family.” Seward thinks William actually “followed it and I think it’s been incredibly successful.” William married Kate Middleton in 2011.
After that, he continued serving in the Royal Air Force before taking the job with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. William joined the service as an air ambulance pilot in March 2015. He had to complete extra training before he could start flying operational missions.
He began responding to real emergencies in July 2015. The Prince of Wales stayed with EAAA until July 2017. During that time, he flew Helicopter Emergency Medical Service missions from Cambridge Airport and responded to emergencies across the region.
He was also building a family with Middleton. Their first child, Prince George, was born in 2013. Princess Charlotte was then born in 2015, followed by Prince Louis in 2018. William’s same family-first approach also came up in 2024.
It was when Middleton announced that she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy after doctors found cancer following abdominal surgery. William stepped back from some public duties so he could support his wife and their children.
According to Seward, Charles backed that decision. “When Catherine, you know, had that terrible cancer, and William was, you know, really really at her side,” she said. Seward added, “Charles said to him, ‘You know, take time off, don’t worry, you have to look after your wife. This is the most important thing you can do at the moment’, and of course Charles was down with cancer as well.”
William later returned to public duties in April 2024. His first engagement was at the Surplus to Supper food charity in Surrey. Middleton was still going through treatment at the time. She then made her first public appearance after announcing her cancer diagnosis at Trooping the Colour in June.
She later announced in September that she had finished her chemotherapy. Charles was also undergoing treatment around that time. He started treatment in February 2024 and returned to public-facing duties at the end of April. For Seward, it all went back to the advice Charles had given William years earlier.
But that could change once William becomes King. Seward said, “As long as King Charles and Queen Camilla are around, William and Catherine will put family first.” But “Once Charles dies … William’s going to become monarch and then you have all the duties of the monarch.”
