Prince William rushed to hospital due to stress dealing with Catherine absence after cancer diagnosi
With his father, King Charles, and his wife, Kate, missing from public obligations as they undergo treatment for disease, England’s Prince William has come under the media and public spotlight more than ever.
The 41-year-old is accustomed to the scrutiny that comes with being a British royal because he is the heir to the throne and the son of the late Princess Diana. According to Anna Whitelock, a history of the monarchy professor at London City University, the future King William would have been all too aware of the scary reality of his destiny from the moment his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth, died in September 2022. However, his father and wife’s absence from public life since the middle of January has meant that even greater attention has turned to him. She stated to Reuters, “He knows he has to be ready to be king. Obviously, when the king got the news that he had cancer, his first reaction was as a son, concern for his father. However, he also feels a great deal of responsibility suddenly start to fall on his shoulders, and I’m confident that he is acutely aware of that.”
Public celebrations and outpourings of support at his and Kate’s 2011 wedding, the births of their three children, and significant events in the reign of his grandmother Elizabeth put William at the center of some golden years for the royal family. Be that as it may, the most recent couple of years likewise saw a high-profile fallout with Prince Harry, his younger brother, and his exit from royal obligations alongside his spouse Meghan and their criticism of the institution. Additionally, there was the controversy surrounding Prince Andrew, his uncle’s friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The demise of Elizabeth and of her significant other Philip the prior year left the monarchy looking perceptibly more modest, something brought into sharp relief by the ongoing absence of Charles and Kate.
Claudia Joseph, a royal biographer, stated, “He must be absolutely devastated and worried about his wife, about his children, and about his father, on top of all the problems he’s had with his brother.” In contrast, tabloid newspapers in 2017 presented William as workshy, but since then, he has taken on more and more royal responsibilities and has been praised for championing causes like mental health and the environment. Robert Hardman, the author of the most recent biography of Charles III, stated, “I’m sure when the time comes, Prince William will step up to the plate. I mean, we saw how people thought, how do you follow that, after Elizabeth II’s death, the longest reigning monarch we have ever had. The response is that monarchy moves on.”
Whitelock stated that William would find it very difficult to spend his time as king simply wearing robes and cutting ribbons, despite the fact that the position of monarch is intended to be a non-political head of state. She added that many people would actually welcome a monarch who is more interventionist. “I think it’s going to be really interesting over the next few years to see whether people are ready for that or if there is some kind of line that he ends up having to be very clear that he doesn’t cross,” says the author.
The prince has not been afraid to express his opinions and criticize leaders around the world regarding environmental issues. In February, he voiced worry over the Israel-Hamas battle in Gaza, saying that too many people had been killed—a British royal’s unusually direct intervention. When asked by the BBC in 2016 about his plans for the throne, William responded, “I think the royal family has to modernize and develop as it goes along and it has to stay relevant. That’s the challenge for me: how do I make the royal family relevant in the next 20 years? It could be 40 years, 60 years, or even 60 years, and I don’t know when that will be. I trust that is something that I can do.”
