Royal life isn't all fancy feasts and silly hats, and even they've got
a code to follow — but could Prince William possibly be the Firm's biggest rule-breaker?
The Prince and Princess of Wales aren't your average parents, and unlike most families,
they aren't supposed to travel with their children. More specifically, Prince William
isn't allowed to fly on the same aircraft as his son, Prince George, since they are both direct
heirs to the throne. This rule is in place to protect the monarchy in case the aircraft crashes.
Prince William has broken that rule a number of times, however,
beginning when Prince George was just a baby. In 2014, Prince George joined both of his parents
on a jet to Australia and New Zealand. Presumably because of Prince George's young age at the time,
the late Queen Elizabeth made an exception for them. Their press office told the BBC:
"They had to ask the queen for permission, but she said yes."
However, the queen allegedly wasn't a fan of Prince William flying his family
around in helicopters. In 2021, a source close to the crown dished to The Sun:
"She [...] does not think it is worth the risk for all five of them to carry
on flying together and can't imagine what would happen. It would spark a constitutional crisis."
It's widely known that members of the royal family are not permitted
to hug members of the public. In fact, you aren't even supposed to
shake their hands unless offered. Royal expert Victoria Arbiter told Insider:
"Really it comes down to 'don't touch a royal.' I'm sure there's lots of security
reasons associated with it, but it's just not befitting of their position."
That said, there have been instances when Prince William has laid his hands on the common folk.
One of the more famous occasions on which Prince William hugged someone was in 2016,
when he was photographed affectionately squeezing Chewbacca at a Star Wars event. The next year,
he broke the rule to embrace a woman after the Grenfell Tower fire. Reportedly,
William comforted her because she couldn't locate her husband in the aftermath of the tragedy.
It seems that Prince William is generally willing to offer up hugs when the time calls for it,
such as when an elderly man in Scotland appeared
to become very emotional upon meeting him. A source told The Daily Mirror:
"They want to be more approachable, less formal,
less stuffy, and break away with a lot of the tradition."
Some might say it's a good thing that Prince William has been caught breaking the "no PDA,"
rule, since he should be able to show affection toward his own wife, Princess Catherine,
whenever he sees fit. However, the married couple famously barely touched each other
when visiting the Taj Mahal on a royal tour back in 2016. Myka Meier, an expert on royal
etiquette, explained why to People magazine:
"Technically the couple are working representatives of
the British monarchy. The couple are likely to show very little PDA, if any,
to remain professional during their designated roles abroad."
Still, the couple has loosened up over the years and broken protocol to display affection on
different occasions. William and Catherine were playful with one another during a 2022 trip to
Jamaica, for example, and later that year, Prince William was seen planting a kiss on Catherine's
cheek at the Royal Charity Polo Cup match. They were also reportedly acting quite smitten at
the 2023 BAFTA Awards, with Catherine caught on camera giving the future king a tap on his behind.
It's a widely known fact that the royal family is expected to remain neutral on
political issues. Prince William, however, found himself making headlines in 2019 for
discussing the state of affairs when on a royal visit to England's Lake
District. He asked farmers there if they were "worried about Brexit," the
United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, which went into effect in early 2020.
It seems that the farmers were pleased to discuss their concerns with Prince William,
though, even if it was against regulations. One of them told him:
"I was quite surprised that farmers voted for Brexit,
to be honest. It's like turkeys voting for Christmas."
Prince William wasn't the only royal who went against protocol either,
since Queen Elizabeth also referred to Brexit in a few of her speeches that same year.
Like his father, Prince William also breaks the no-politics rule when
discussing climate change, a topic about which he appears to be very passionate.
"It's in everyone's interests that we protect
these sorts of areas. We have to get on top of the climate change issue."
He even once told the BBC that climate change is why he's not
particularly interested in space travel. He said:
"We need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet,
not trying to find the next place to go and live."
While selfies have pretty much become the norm in society,
they're apparently against the rules if you're a royal. Meghan Markle confirmed this in 2017,
while Princes William and Charles have both turned them down in the past;
The Daily Mail reports that William once said he is "allergic to selfies."
But he has seemingly broken this rule on other occasions, and he's been caught posing for selfies
as far back as 2014, when William took a selfie with a preteen who later gushed to Hello magazine:
"I asked him for a picture and he said, 'You can't beat a good selfie on Christmas Day.'"
He was later seen posing for another selfie with a fan while on a royal outing in Ireland
in 2020. That fan's mother appeared to be happy that he broke protocol for it,
posting the pictures on Twitter and writing:
"A really nice guy."
By 2022, Prince William seemed to be over the rule entirely,
considering that he took several selfies with the public when on an official trip
to Scarborough. He even put his arm around a woman in one of the photos, which, as you know,
is also against protocol. Many royal watchers believe that Prince William
is breaking some of the more outdated rules in a concerted effort to modernize the monarchy.
The royal family even follows directives regarding how they spend holidays. Before
Queen Elizabeth's death in 2022, they were supposed to spend the holidays
with her at Sandringham, where she was to hold a celebration spanning several
days. While attendance at these Christmas gatherings wasn't necessarily mandatory,
it was part of a long tradition — making it newsworthy when a royal went elsewhere.
Prince William is one of the royals who has come under fire for not attending the royal Christmas
festivities; in 2016, he spent the holidays with Kate Middleton's family instead. They
appeared to have had a good reason, since some of the rules and restrictions put in place at
Sandringham may have been too strict for their children. Parenting expert Lisa Clegg explained:
"The children are still very young and so won't understand the restraints that
have to be practiced within certain obligations of
the royal family and to sit down and be quiet in particular situations."
It's obvious that Prince William is a big sports fan — which could be why he's been
caught disobeying orders when he gets excited at games. In 2022, for example,
he seemingly let his emotions get the best of him as he watched Wimbledon from the stands.
William is clearly a fan of British tennis player Cameron Norrie, because, after he lost
a point during the quarterfinals, Prince William was captured on camera saying what looked like:
"No, no, no, f--k it!"
It shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that royals aren't supposed to swear in public.
That wasn't the only time that Prince William got lost in the moment at a sporting event,
either. He and Kate Middleton were seen doing the wave while in the stands at the 2012 Olympics,
which was a rare show of enthusiasm for the usually reserved royals. Where
Prince William did apparently draw the line, though, was the kiss cam, telling the BBC:
"I was absolutely dreading they were going to come and show myself and my
wife and that would have been very embarrassing."
But Prince William isn't opposed to celebrating with athletes — he
hugged the players of the Lioness women's soccer team after they won
a big game in 2022. The fans were all for it, with one writing on Twitter:
"I thought Prince William was brilliant — very much the human touch! Great win for England."
It appears that Prince William has been breaking royal rules since he was a toddler,
considering that he was the first member of the British monarchy to attend preschool outside
the palace. While there were reporters present at his nursery school drop-offs,
it was important to Princess Diana that he and Prince Harry had a somewhat normal childhood
experience — even if they had to break royal protocol to begin their schooling elsewhere.
Prince William kept that same rebellious attitude when it came to his own children,
in that he decided to send Prince George, Princess Charlotte,
and Prince Louis to a school just minutes away from their home near Windsor Castle.
This was a break from convention because royals, particularly a future king like Prince George,
would traditionally have to attend boarding school from age 9 onwards. A source told Us Weekly:
"This decision was driven by William and Kate's
desire to have as normal a family life as possible."
The Prince and Princess of Wales have even made it a point to be more hands-on parents,
which has seemingly not been the norm for the monarchy in
the past. Royal author Christopher Andersen told Good Housekeeping:
"They're not having them raised by a coterie of nannies behind palace walls. Charles had
no real exposure as a small child to the world outside the royal circle."
“We have all been trying in our own ways to cope. It is not easy to express a sense of loss."
It seems fair that Prince William wouldn't necessarily care about royal rules right
after his mother's shocking death in 1997. The 15-year-old was at Balmoral in Scotland with
his family when he learned of the terrible news. While protocol dictated that William and the other
royals should do their duty, return to Buckingham Palace in London, and mourn with the public,
they decided to stay in Scotland to grieve privately as a family instead. This decision
enraged the media and much of the public, with one editorial in The Sun even reading:
"Not one word has come from a royal lip, not one tear has been shed in public from
a royal eye. It is as if no one in the royal family has a soul."
Because of the backlash, Queen Elizabeth released a statement to defend Prince
William and his brother's decision to stay away. Her press secretary explained:
"Prince William and Prince Harry themselves want to be with their
father and grandparents at this time in the quiet haven of Balmoral."
It could be said that remaining in Scotland turned out to be the right decision for Prince William,
who later reflected on that experience when visiting the country as an adult. He recalled:
"I found sanctuary in the service at Crathie Kirk that very morning. And in the dark days
of grief that followed, I found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors."
Prince William also broke a royal rule when he grew a beard on an official trip with the British
Navy back in 2008. Not only were beards banned by the Royal Air Force, of which he was a part,
but Queen Elizabeth didn't allow them at the palace either. An insider told The Express:
"She doesn't mind royal men growing beards when they are away in the Armed
Forces [...] but she expects them to be clean-shaven when they get home."
The beard rule later became a source of tension between Prince William and Prince
Harry; Harry said William was forced to shave his beard for his royal wedding,
while Prince Harry didn't have to for his. Prince Harry explained in his book, Spare, that the queen
had given him special permission, but that Prince William still insisted against it. Harry wrote:
"At one point he actually ordered me, as the heir speaking to the spare, to shave."
When he asked why, he said Prince William replied:
"Because I wasn't allowed to keep my beard."