Of all the people who might be expected to get revelatory public comments out of the Prince of Wales, the beetle-browed actor Eugene Levy would not be high on the list. Yet during the Schitt’s Creek and American Pie thespian’s new show, The Reluctant Traveler, Levy ticks off a series of ‘bucket list’ experiences – one of which was getting close to the royal family. While it would, presumably, have been fairly easy to get an audience with Prince Harry, Levy’s intentions instead lay with the actual royal family, and so the encounter took place between him and Prince William.
‘I like a little bit of change,’ said William. ‘I want to question things more’
The most striking remarks that the heir to the throne made to Levy were that he clearly regards his father’s reign as an interregnum between two rather more significant periods on the throne: his grandmother’s, and his own. Not, of course, that he was so tactless or brazen to make such a comment, but Levy managed to elicit some unusually candid remarks from William, who was filmed drinking a pint of cider with him in Windsor’s best pub, the Two Brewers.
‘I like a little bit of change,’ said William. ‘I want to question things more. I think it’s very important that tradition stays. And tradition has a huge part in all of this. But there are also points where you look at tradition and go, ‘Is that still fit for purpose today?’ So I like to question things.’
Levy, scenting something of a scoop, pressed him by saying ‘it sounds like the monarchy will be shifting in a slightly different direction’, to which the Prince of Wales expressed agreement.
It was notable that, while William talked fondly about his grandmother at several points during the interview, his father was barely mentioned, save for the rather blasé observation that: ‘My father needs a bit of protection but he’s old enough to do that himself as well.’ In other words, recent gossip that the relationship between king and heir has been strained of late will only be fanned by this, rather than dispelled.
There were, of course, fond comments about his family. Unsurprisingly, William described 2024 as ‘the hardest year I’ve ever had’, remarking that ‘it’s important my family feel protected and have the space to process a lot of the stuff that’s gone on [in the] last year.’
Sounding more like his estranged brother than usual, he went on to sigh: ‘I enjoy my job but sometimes there are aspects of it, such as the media, the speculation, the scrutiny…’ And, he might have added, participating in such pieces of entertainment as The Reluctant Traveler.
Yet whether it worked or not as television, it was a fascinating insight into a very private man’s psyche. It is widely expected that William will be a transformative monarch in a way that his father has not been. His comments that he will not be looking to the past were more telling than might have been intended. William said that: ‘I think if you’re not careful history can be a real weight and an anchor around you. And you can feel suffocated by it and restricted… It’s important to live for the here and now. But also I think if you’re too intrinsically attached to history, you can’t possibly have any flexibility because you worry that the chess pieces move too much and therefore no change will happen.’
This may be true. However, one hopes that if William has a trusted courtier or two at his side, that they might be able to convince him that change – presumably on the significant scale that he is intending – is not always a good or even necessary thing. In any case, a reign that many have pre-emptively dismissed as dull might yet surprise the world, although whether for good or ill remains to be seen.
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