After stepping back from royal duties to prioritise looking after his three young children while their mother was in hospital, the King's cancer diagnosis has 'forced' Prince William back into ‘royal duties much sooner than he would have liked’ and Kate Middleton is reportedly 'worried' about how he’s dealing with the health news and being away from his family.
While Prince William has long been able to fulfil his wish of prioritising family over work, being a hands-on dad, and enjoying long trips and holidays away with his children, going to many of the most popular holiday destinations kids want to visit in 2024, his position as first in the royal line of succession has now come up trumps.
With King Charles' cancer diagnosis leaving the monarch out of action, and Kate Middleton's recent surgery forcing her to step back from duties too, William has been forced to step up after taking time off to look after Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis while their mum was in hospital. And one expert believes he's probably upset about leaving his family after all that quality time they got to spend together, a sadness that will only worsen the toll both his father's and his wife's health struggles have had on him.
"Kate is worried about the psychic toll these twin medical battles are having on her husband,” royal expert and author Christopher Andersen told Fox News. "William is terribly concerned about Kate’s condition — we still don’t know what her abdominal surgery was for or why her recovery is taking months — and now he has to face the fact that his father has cancer.
“William has always made it clear that he wanted a full-fledged family life, and when Kate became incapacitated, he stepped in to play hands-on dad. He cut back on his schedule to drive the kids to school, the whole nine yards. Now he has resumed his royal duties much sooner than perhaps he would have liked.
"But there are times when duty trumps family life and, after all, William is the future King.”
Unfortunately for William, it is believed his increased responsibilities will not be a short term thing, keeping him away from his family a lot more than he would like and making him 'contemplate' his future as King, one royal expert has shared.
Speaking about what is likely going through William's head as he takes on more duties, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told OK! Magazine, "I think he'll be feeling very serious about his life. This is not a time in which he wanted to take on extra responsibilities, and it's not a time when he wanted really to contemplate the fact that one day in the very foreseeable future he is going to be a monarch.
“This is a time in his life where we know when he just wants to be a hands on dad and a very supportive husband. He’ll feel somewhat besieged by his wife being ill and now his father having cancer - this is a scary time for him. He’s already lost his mother, and I think that gives you a vulnerability with any illness with a parent when you've already lost one, so I really feel for William in this."
In other royal news, What Prince Harry’s short meeting with his dad King Charles tells us about the current state of their relationship (and it doesn't necessarily spell doom and gloom) and King Charles’ cancer diagnosis ‘will be a lot to deal with’ for Prince George as he faces an early introduction to royal life - but Prince William and Kate Middleton know how to look out for his wellbeing.
