Jobson: King Charles has been incandescent with rage at his heir for years

The excerpts from Robert Jobson’s latest book, The Windsor Legacy, are getting increasingly funny and increasingly obvious. As I’ve said this whole time, Jobson is a loyalist for King Charles and Queen Camilla. He writes from their perspective, and his briefings are from their courtiers and friends. Jobson also has to pay the “Sussex tax” of all royal “reporting” these days, and that was evident from the first round of excerpts, which contained a lot of false and idiotic bullsh-t about how Queen Elizabeth II secretly hated Harry and Meghan. But all of that was just an appetizer for the real story: Charles is at war with his heir, and Charles wants a lot of gossip out there about the current Prince and Princess of Wales. None of this gossip is flattering! Some more highlights:

William flies his whole family around: In early 2024, Charles was horrified to learn that William had flown his entire family in his helicopter, a habit that had already alarmed the late Queen. Had there been a fatal accident, Harry would have immediately become heir to the throne. No one can prevent William from flying with his family if he wants to, but Charles wanted to drive his point home. So after his cancer diagnosis, he revisited the issue, instructing senior aide Sir Mike Stevens to obtain William’s written acknowledgement of the risks. William refused, and his curt reply was sharp enough for Sir Mike to report it back to the King.

Charles makes his courtiers deal with William: These are not trivial matters for a King who has always loathed confrontation. The best way, he has found, of dealing with his elder son’s occasional impetuousness or obstinacy is to delegate. What this means is that the monarch will often leave senior aides to raise tough work issues with William. It has led to the prince clashing with the imperturbable Sir Clive Alderton, Charles’s loyal private secretary, as well as other senior aides, echoing Charles’s past tensions with the late Queen’s aide, Lord Geidt. While Charles managed to ease Geidt out of his job, however, William has failed to unsettle Alderton, who is a seasoned diplomat. Consequently, the prince has reportedly become fixated on the senior courtier.

William was late to the coronation: Then there was that blip during Charles’s meticulously planned Coronation in 2023 when William turned up a few minutes late. The King was annoyed. His son’s excuse was that he’d been busy filming a video for his social media about the big day. Still, at least William had donned the correct ceremonial garments for the ceremony. As Charles knew, his son hadn’t wanted to wear them at all, but he’d conceded in the end for the King’s sake.

William refuses to wear a kilt: There has been no give at all on another clothing issue: the donning of a kilt. William refuses ever to wear one, despite holding various Scottish titles, including the Duke of Rothesay. For Charles, wearing a kilt is more than merely a tradition; it’s a vital symbol of Scottish identity and of the crown his son will one day inherit. ‘The King has repeatedly urged him, yet William won’t budge,’ says a senior source. William has made it crystal-clear to his father and to courtiers – even to Queen Elizabeth in her later years – that he is not in the traditional royal mould. Instead, he has redrawn the line between duty and family, at least until it’s his turn to wear the crown.

Kate has always refused to work more: As for Catherine, her priorities were set as soon as she had her first child. A former royal aide puts it simply: ‘She supports William and together they raise their children their way. They are their priority. Of course, her public duties matter, but family matters more.’ Some sneer, calling Catherine’s approach terribly quaint and traditional. But she calls it essential. Along with doing school runs, she watches the plays and cheers at sports days – just as her own parents did when she was a schoolgirl. ‘She wants her children to feel that same security,’ said another source.

William’s homelessness work: William has also drawn criticism – not least for his five-year plan to tackle homelessness. Detractors pointed to the irony of the cause being fronted by a royal prince with three homes and a £25million annual income from the Duchy of Cornwall. The national charity Crisis estimates that £1.9billion could end homelessness – so a large personal contribution from William would definitely have an impact. The prince and his family have just moved into their third home – eight-bedroomed Forest Lodge in Windsor Great Park. Sources close to William say this will be his ‘forever home’ even after he becomes King. Will Windsor Castle merely become a place for ceremonials? Already King Charles uses Buckingham Palace as his office rather than his home, so the two most symbolic homes of the British monarch are likely to be deserted.

William was a no-show at VJ Day this year: And why, some have questioned, didn’t William take part in the 80th VJ Day commemorations – unlike his father, who had every excuse to stay away due to his continuing treatment for cancer? If the prince continues down this path, the Crown may become increasingly irrelevant under his reign. After all, as the late Queen once wisely pointed out, she had to be seen to be believed.

[From The Daily Mail]

This reads like the “greatest hits” of Charles’s issues with his heir and daughter-in-law. Charles is STILL pissed that William skipped VJ Day, and that William is idiotically focused on homelessness whilst hypocritically moving into his sixth forever home. Charles is still fuming about William and Kate turning up late to his coronation. Charles is still mad that Kate does f–k all. The new wrinkle – well, new to me, at least – is that William is mad at Charles’s senior staff. Alderton is apparently in William’s crosshairs, just as Prince Harry was and is disgusted with Alderton too. Which brings up an uncomfortable issue for William: if he hadn’t been so childish, jealous, stupid, racist and evil, he really could have used Harry’s backing on so many issues in recent years, especially Alderton. Oh well.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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52 Responses to “Jobson: King Charles has been incandescent with rage at his heir for years”

  1. Lady Esther says:

    Charles needn’t worry too much about the helicopter, because AFAIK William isn’t rated for anything other than a co-pilot. William would have to have an actual pilot in charge at the controls to fly anywhere, which at least increases the safety level for their family….

    Also, “his” helicopter? The Royal Family reportedly have two, one for the monarch and one for “everyone else senior enough”. When did it become William’s personal helicopter, or did they get a third one?

    • Nic919 says:

      I believe there was one added in the last few years for William.

    • Dutch says:

      Regardless of who is at the controls, the concern is having the first four heirs all together in a type of aircraft that crashes at higher rate than other forms of air travel.

      • Betsy says:

        I still kind of wonder if that’s sort of the plan to deal with the problem of William. It’s not like he displays any interest in literally any aspect of royal life except the perks.

  2. MERT says:

    I like the efforts you have put in this, regards for all the great content.

  3. MSJ says:

    Toxic dysfunctional ’mafia’ royal family/institution is all I’ll say to this iteration of the Royals’ drama. 🤷🏽‍♀️

    • Mac says:

      Perhaps William sees the writing on the wall and intends to wind down the monarchy during his reign. The scandals of his father’s generation have overtaken whatever role the monarchy was supposed to serve. And if he wants to end homelessness, he could simply sell off what the BRF has in storage to raise $1.9 billion.

    • WaterDragon says:

      I hope The Wasp is giving Bully endless hell and stings for Chucky while he can. Bully deserves everything bad that comes his way after the way he treated Meghan and Harry.

  4. If Chuckles was so “incandescent with anger at Peg” why didn’t he take him to task personally like he does his gardeners and staff who dont do exactly as his says?

    • Lady Esther says:

      👏👏👏

    • WaterDragon says:

      Re: “incandescent with anger”, I guess the rotten apple did not fall far from the tree.

    • Tarte Au Citron says:

      Just how bad is it that KC3 won’t call Scooter out?! It never fails to appall me at how William is so remarkably ill-prepared and temperamentally unsuited for working with anyone.

    • Gail says:

      @SusanCollins ~ I think Charles is afraid of Wm. Consider that video of a what? six year old William beating his father’s head with his elbow and thinking he’s funny. He’s invaded classmates personal space many time, according to various accounts of his childhood. I think many people are physically afraid of him; Charles certainly is. I think Harry knows he could take him, if push came to shove (back) but Harry won’t. He knows real violence in the context of war. I’ve had the vibe from his wife. She literally cowers around him and tries to make herself even smaller. I wonder if he’s ever threatened Camilla. I think it’s possible. She takes care to stand away from him. That’s what it all looks like to me, on the outside looking in.

  5. Beech says:

    School runs? Kate can’t squeeze a single event while the kids are in school. She doesn’t work a M-F job, just what does she do with her time while the kids are in school?

    • Lady D says:

      For years now. What the heck does she do with her days ?How does she fill her time? I may be biased because I don’ watch much TV, but is that really all she does all day? Shop online and watch her stories? Daily 3 hour naps? Ninety minutes wrestling her wig on? Maybe she wanders her home hassling the household staff? I would be bored out of my mind were I be her.

    • Penny says:

      Spends hours each day working out, I read.

      • Kat says:

        She has to spend hours each day working out as maintaining and keeping her slim figure is the most important thing in her life, otherwise she cannot look elegant in her expensive clothes.

    • Princessk says:

      Lots of parents attend school plays and sports days and still work full time….these kind of events only happen once in a while. Both Kate’s parents worked full time so it does not make sense.

    • Deborah1 says:

      She probably spends her time with Mommy Dearest.

  6. Becks1 says:

    I can believe that charles is pissed at all of this because Charles understands his role, and william doesn’t. Charles sees William’s talk about “being a modern king” as what it is – a front for not working.

    And re: Kate -that’s great that she goes to the school plays and sports events. So do a lot of working parents. Why doesn’t she plan her schedule around that the way the rest of us do? She certainly has more flexibility than the average working parent. And does she make the school save her seats for the plays because I can’t see her getting there early to help set up or otherwise volunteer and you know she would insist on the best seats. As someone who directs the school play I’m twitchy just thinking about it.

    Anyway for me the big takeaway from this article is what we have said for ages now – William and Kate will only do what they want and eff anyone who tries to make them do otherwise.

    (I did find it hilarious that we have confirmation that they were late to the coronation because of that stupid video. IIRC that was only speculated before?)

    • jais says:

      That’s what’s offensive to me. With careful planning, you can still attend most of the important kids events. It’s more that she wants to do f-ck all and is too lazy to even put in the effort to plan. Most parents have to plan so they can do those things.

    • Nic919 says:

      Yes that was the first time we got confirmation that the video made them late. A video that was about them on the king’s coronation day. William can’t even give his father one day, even when he will get a chance to do this himself.

      Kate doesn’t have a reason to be so lazy. The events like plays and sports matches are usually after the school day and she would have plenty of time to do something during the day multiple times per week.

      William refusing to wear a kilt is just xenophobic. Lots of Scottish men wear kilts without issue.

      It’s great for those against the monarchy that the next in line and his wife are the laziest and most ignorant people ever.

      When you make Charles look more in touch with what’s going on then you really are out of touch.

    • Deborah1 says:

      “(I did find it hilarious that we have confirmation that they were late to the coronation because of that stupid video. IIRC that was only speculated before?)” – I think there was more to it than that. Kate probably spent hours over her wiglet and fake tiara. Her stony-faced arrival at the Coronation said it all.

  7. MaisiesMom says:

    I don’t really blame him about the helicopter thing. I’m afraid to fly in private planes or helicopters. If the pilot is commercially licensed, then fine. But I’m not going up there with someone who decided to get their pilot’s license for fun. Even when it comes to experienced flyers, it’s just riskier to fly in those things.

    It’s not just the matter of succession. Harry would make a better King than William. But as much as I think Charles is at best a total slouch as a father and grandfather, I can’t imagine he wants to risk losing his son and three grandchildren in a crash. I would worry too.

  8. QuiteContrary says:

    This is all delicious, especially this: “If the prince continues down this path, the Crown may become increasingly irrelevant under his reign.”

    I’m rooting for irrelevance.

    And if Charles wants William to wear a kilt, he should just ask Harry to wear one. That would do the trick.

    • lamejudi says:

      Harry would wear the hell out of a kilt.

      Please, please let it happen!

      • tamsin says:

        Don’t know about that lol! Harry has just confessed on a podcast that he has chicken legs, so is not keen to make people have to look at them. Both William and Harry wore kilts on occasion when they kids and they looked great. They have a right to wear them- after all, the Queen Mother was Scottish and there was the unification of the England and Scots crowns. Wonder what William’s objection is to wearing a kilt? Does it conflict with his view of what is manly wear?

    • Mac says:

      The kilt feels a lot like cultural appropriation. Most Scots aren’t walking around in kilts everyday. They are for special occasions.

  9. Dee(2) says:

    This does read like the greatest hits of grievances. I thought that Alderton was cozy and up to William and briefing to him a few weeks ago, when Harry and Charles met. Sounds like Alderton is perfectly happy with getting the grace and favor home and retiring when Charles leaves this mortal coil.

    I really wish that Kate would stop with this whole my kids need my total attention. Didn’t her parents have jobs? They were able to work and still do all the stuff that she supposedly wants to do to provide her kids with a sense of security, why can’t she? Also, you can’t make those type of decisions when you have taken a job essentially when you got married to be a diplomat. She knew what the job entailed when she agreed to marry. She knew she was going to have to produce an air in a spare, she knew she was going to have to work, she knew she was going to have to engage with the public and give speeches and raise awareness and attention. She doesn’t want to do any of that and act like someone did the okie doke and she didn’t know what she was getting into in 2010.

    Ask for William and the helicopters, he comes across to me is just being unreasonably arrogant. He’s not going to listen to anyone telling him he shouldn’t be doing something, regardless of how dangerous it may potentially be and what a bad idea it is.

    • Nic919 says:

      Those kids are going to be just as messed up as in past generations because it is a dysfunctional system pitting one sibling against the other and they have the extra bonus of parents who despise each other.

  10. Gabby says:

    That Clive Alderton piece is especially interesting. Weeks ago we had been guessing he was leaking to Tom Sykes in order to score points with the future king. So that’s not going well?

    • jais says:

      Right? This detail threw me. Wasn’t Sykes saying that Alderton was starting to side with William more than Charles as William is becoming more powerful or something? Am I not remembering that correctly? Bc here Jobsen is saying that William has Alderton in his crosshairs. So which is it? Are Alderton and William in cahoots as Sykes says or are they beefing as Jobsen says?

      • Lady Esther says:

        Probably a case of Alderton covering his bases: Look, Your Royal Highness, I totally support you and I can be your AK-47 doing your dirty work leaking to the press but in a classy way unlike Jason Knauf because I have a Sir! At the same time, he could be working on getting that grace-and-favor home ready before Charles dies if William makes it clear he’s out. Classic UK royal staff behavior

      • jais says:

        It’s also just a conflict of royal mouthpieces. Jobsen v Sykes bc these are pretty different representations of William’s relationship with Clive Alderton. But I can believe that Alderton is playing all sides.

  11. blue says:

    Does Willy have bad legs? Is that why he won’t wear a kilt? Or wear shorts to play beach volleyball?

    • Jane says:

      He might be one of those guys that see a kilt as a skirt and so an affront to his masculinity, which *eyeroll*.

    • Nic919 says:

      He wore shorts in that shampoo video that show off more than any kilt would show.

      He is just insecure about his masculinity.

    • Tarte Au Citron says:

      I think he was in a hoody & shorts in that Paris Match article where he is holding up a champagne bottle outside.
      Maybe he counting on Kate to wear some tartan 🙂

  12. maja says:

    Harry would look great in a kilt. But I fear he would consider it cultural appropriation by a non-Scotsman or find it inappropriate. If he were invited and one were tailored, I believe he would wear it and honour it.

    • Tim says:

      Their great-grand was Scottish. If Charles can throw on a kilt as soon as he hits Scotland then his sons should feel the same connection. lol. William must be insecure about his legs.

  13. Krista says:

    Kate’s mom worked throughout her life.

  14. Amy Bee says:

    The royal rota hasn’t been promoting this new book and I see why. There are too many attacks on the future King. As for Charles’ woes regarding William, it’s quite obvious that he and William and Kate are not getting on and I have no sympathy for any of them.

  15. Lady Digby says:

    Last Friday Marina Hyde casually commented that FK is “indifferently gifted” and will be “over promoted as King!” The first direct statement in a newspaper (The Guardian) that Will isn’t God’s gift to monarchy. Jobson is giving ample evidence of William’s unsuitability and sheer laziness and lack of preparation and application. I welcome a major newspaper stating as a fact that Will is mediocre and will struggle as King. Maybe he plans to just show up for ten big events of the Royal calendar and forget the rest!

  16. Paisley25 says:

    Charles wonders why William doesn’t listen to him, but he hasn’t cultivated that type of relationship. He lives in a weird world where he communicates through letters and doesn’t use a cell phone or email. He has middlemen who see the emails and alert him to messages. How can you develop a close relationship that way, especially when they don’t live nearby? Charles has created and enforced this distance. It’s no shock William isn’t interested in being told what to do via the royal flunkies.

  17. Hattie says:

    Most likely, Jobson will retire after Charles passes, so he needs to make a buck now.
    William is slowly getting rid of the old guard, like Palmolive.

  18. Digital Unicorn says:

    Oh this is getting interesting – for Jobson to put this in print just shows how bad things are behind the scenes. I truly think William will never be King – something will give and Chuck will not wont to be known as the last King – Its becoming more obvious William only wants the money and power that comes with King but won’t do the job – he’s another Duke of Windsor and history is repeating itself.

    At some point Chuck will turn the media on him as a way to get him and his work shy wife in line.

  19. jferber says:

    Traditionally Scots go commando when they wear kilts. Willie is probably afraid that his wee willie might show if it were a windy day.

    • Beverley says:

      😆 I wonder if that’s why he’s always got his hands clam-shelling/fig-leafing his tender bits…he’s worried about comparisons?

    • Deborah1 says:

      Yes, traditionally, Scottish men used to wear no underpants under their kilts, but whether that’s true nowadays, I’m not sure.

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