Prince William and Kate Middleton, who “hoped to have more time” before ascending the throne

That the kingdom of Charles III it was already known that it would be a transition between two eras, but now that the sovereign is ill, for many royal experts, Prince William's succession could be closer than expected. Lastly, Tina Brown, a great connoisseur of the royal environment and author of several books on the House of Windsor, underlined the possibility. From the pages of New York Times the expert underlined how the king's health conditions put William in a «alarming proximity to the accession to the throne», a prospect that neither he nor his wife Kate hope to experience anytime soon. And it has nothing to do with the princess's illness, affected by cancer like the king.

“The prospect, I am told, is causing them intense anxiety,” Brown wrote. William and Kate, in fact, have always hoped to have more time, “years, to raise their children away from the public eye”, but becoming king and queen would inevitably change everything. In certain cases, obviously, nothing is predictable, nor are there any particular alarms about the conditions of the sovereign, who did not want to reveal the nature of the cancer that affected him and which he is being treated as per practice. For now we know that it's a little frustrated with treatment which do not allow him to do everything he would like, to maintain his usual working rhythm (he is notoriously a workaholic who gets up at five in the morning and never stops) and which force him to delegate, but he is also a man who does plans, certain of recovery. He can't wait to go to Australia next October, together with Queen Camilla, a trip that will also take him to New Zealand and Samoa; a demanding program, although not yet official.

What shocked Kate and William, more than a concrete threat, was the awareness of Carlo's fragility, which arrived suddenly. Strengthened by the longevity of the family members, perhaps they had not taken into account that at the age of 75 the king might become ill or in any case be forced to slow down, and this presented them with new responsibilities.

However, it is not the only reason that is putting them under considerable stress. There are also family scandals, from Megxit, with all the gossip it brought with it, to Prince Andrew's involvement in the Epstein affair. All elements that put the couple together “under unmanageable pressure”, Tina Brown pointed out. In short, the crown is already a burden, very difficult to carry. However, it will be up to them to take up the legacy of those who preceded them, and perhaps for the first time they are truly realizing this.