The Duke of Cambridge turns 40 today. It’s an event which has been marked in his signature manner: with a mix of traditional and contemporary celebrations. On the traditional side, there’s a new £5 coin, which places his royal head alongside Her Majesty The Queen’s £1 in our wallets, and a carefree family photo taken on a holiday in Jordan, with the couple’s children in high street clothes rather than the riches and ruffles of earlier portraits. His key birthday interview has taken place with the Big Issue magazine — a coup to take on more direct sponsorship of social themes and a pledge to do more to highlight the “overlooked and misunderstood” problem of homelessness.
As well as being a tribute to the “inimitable style” of his late mother, Diana, it’s a pointer to William’s intention to embrace causes intended to kickstart politicians into focussing on neglected areas of national life and a subtle but deft nudge to the Government to focus more on the matter. It is also a reminder that royal birthdays are more than mere staging posts in a lifespan. They provide a checklist of succession and highlight where a key member of The Firm fits in the grand plan which, is ultimately, to keep Britain’s beloved — if accident-prone — monarchy in business for the next generations. That task has higher salience in William’s case as the Queen’s reign draws to a close.
