Treasury document reveals secret plan to make Prince William 'Shadow King'

[MapleLeaf]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235375/Prince-William-share-Queens-duties-Treasury-document-reveals-secret-plan-make-Shadow-King.html

The article contains an excerpt from an official document.  It looks like things are definitely moving forward for Wills, and Harry as well.  I think that even though Wills is the heir to the heir and Harry is the 'spare', they're going to present Wills and Harry as a package deal as much as they possibly can.  Even Wills and Harry's joint charity foundation is something unique

[kellyfan203]

The Queen is to hand over a substantial part of her public duties to Prince William to help him prepare for the day when he becomes King, according to a confidential document obtained by The Mail on Sunday.

Secret papers reveal that plans to ease the strain on the 83-year-old monarch and her 88-year-old husband, Prince Philip, are at an advanced stage.

The disclosures come despite months of denials from the Palace that the Queen was planning to step back from her official work in favour of her 27-year-old grandson.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235375/Prince-William-share-Queens-duties-Treasury-document-reveals-secret-plan-make-Shadow-King.html#ixzz0ZWxUotQq

[Ursula]

The leak will add to speculation that the Queen believes William, rather than Charles, represents the best long-term interests of the monarchy....

Exactly right! 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235375/Prince-William-share-Queens-duties-Treasury-document-reveals-secret-plan-make-Shadow-King.html#ixzz0ZXI1qxSr

[drezzle]

All this appears to be a cover for granting Charles tax relief worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, during one of the worse recessions in modern times for Britain.  I guess he is claiming this is what it cost him to fund the few events attended during this tax year by William and Harry.  Where does all that money go?  Did it go to the new joint charity they set up?   Did it go to new clothes for the princes?  It's hard to imagine how both could do enough now to keep a staff of six busy?

The announcement that he was granting Charles tax relief worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, by allowing him to deduct his sons’ official expenses from his tax return, was slipped out on Budget Day in a separate ministerial note and was picked up by newspapers only several days later.

The tax perk funds an office at St James’s Palace, with six members of staff, which for the past few months has been organising the affairs of Princes William and Harry. Previously, the Princes had been represented by Charles’s staff.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235375/Prince-William-share-Queens-duties-Treasury-document-reveals-secret-plan-make-Shadow-King.html#ixzz0ZXKVzUUQ

http://www.drudgereport.com/

[Windsor]

This has nothing to do with Her Majesty The Queen or His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales wanting to, in a stealthy way put Prince William onto the front line, this is just the normal procedure when it comes to young high ranking members of the Royal Family before they fully enter public life.

Every high ranking member of the Royal Family requires a Household, staff and offices to work from, and funds are required which is why the Treasury is being informed that such arrangements need to start being made in order to prepare for when Their Royal Highness the Princes William and Harry fully begin to take on their public duties full time.

To suggest Her Majesty the Queen wishes to skip a generation is just stupid.

In regards to Prince William representing the long term future of the Monarchy, well of course this is true, His Royal Highness will be the King in the future, Prince Charles in the near future and the Queen of course, represents the present! Any other suggestion is again stupid.

And again with the engagement speculation, there will be NO ENGAGEMENT in the near future!

[Lucy]

 

[Countess of Highgrove]

Hello Windsor,

I agree. The premise that the crown would pass over Charles and go straight to William is silly. Not sure I agree with your thoughts on a pending engagement,though. 

[Mike]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235375/Prince-William-share-Queens-duties-Treasury-document-reveals-secret-plan-make-Shadow-King.html

What do they mean by "Shadow King?"

[angieuk]

Windsor --- I agree 100 percent with your comments.

An engagement is years away ..... I see no plans whatsoever that William wishes to marry Kate.  I don't see 2011 either.

2012 who knows?  Depends if they are still together .... 3 years .... Kate will have to wait it out ... both I think will be entering their 30's by then.  So William will have to make up his mind by then, he can only dither for so many years, unless he waits it out like Prince Albert of Monaco.

[anita]

And again with the engagement speculation, there will be NO ENGAGEMENT in the near future!

This is your opinion/hope, it's not something you know. So I will say: there will be AN ENGAGEMENT in the near future.

Then there is balance.

A wedding in 2010 and , even more likely, in 2011 is more likely than one in 2012. 2012 with the jubilee and the Olympics is not very likely.

[Ursula]

This has nothing to do with Her Majesty The Queen or His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales wanting to, in a stealthy way put Prince William onto the front line, this is just the normal procedure when it comes to young high ranking members of the Royal Family before they fully enter public life.

Every high ranking member of the Royal Family requires a Household, staff and offices to work from, and funds are required which is why the Treasury is being informed that such arrangements need to start being made in order to prepare for when Their Royal Highness the Princes William and Harry fully begin to take on their public duties full time.

To suggest Her Majesty the Queen wishes to skip a generation is just stupid.

In regards to Prince William representing the long term future of the Monarchy, well of course this is true, His Royal Highness will be the King in the future, Prince Charles in the near future and the Queen of course, represents the present! Any other suggestion is again stupid.

And again with the engagement speculation, there will be NO ENGAGEMENT in the near future!

Windsor I don't expect them to skip a generation, but I think it's true that William represents "the best long-term interests of the monarchy."  A lot rests on William's shoulders.  I doubt Charles will be the most popular king in history and that has been his own doing.  He made his bed, as they say.  The way he's handled his personal life has tarnished his image and accomplishments.  I hope the day is very far off, but when it's time for his coronation I believe history will be revisited.  The Queen knows this and she understands how important William is to the monarchy. William doesn't carry his father's baggage and he is blessed with his mother's popularity.  When people look at William, they think of Diana and all the potential that she represented.  When people look at Charles and his Mrs, they remember what they did to Diana. 

As for the engagement, what makes you so sure " there will be NO ENGAGEMENT in the near future!" ??  I'm really curious. 

[daibando]

What do they mean by "Shadow King?"

It actually derives from the House of Commons; government ministers sit on one side of the house and the opposition appoints men and women to shadow each minister, 'shadow ministers'. Some people, coming from the press mainly, have derisively called Prince Charles the Shadow King. That of course, is exactly what he is and has been since a very young age.

[Stix Chix]

wow.  interesting...and kind of exciting!  

but i wonder what this might mean for William's Search and Rescue?  he's only just passed it but this makes it sound like he wont be able to devote the next 4-5 years to it after all.  i think that will be personally hard for William to accept although he must have known that he wouldn't be able to put if off forever. 

All this appears to be a cover for granting Charles tax relief worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, during one of the worse recessions in modern times for Britain.  I guess he is claiming this is what it cost him to fund the few events attended during this tax year by William and Harry.  Where does all that money go?  Did it go to the new joint charity they set up?   Did it go to new clothes for the princes?  It's hard to imagine how both could do enough now to keep a staff of six busy?

^my first guess would be that its a way to keep their staff expensive off the civil list or covered by the government in some other way.  and i doubt if the POW see's an more sense in paying for all their official duties then the Queen does in having to pay for repairs to Buckingham Palace (owned by the state). 
and anyway....busy or not paying their staff's weekly wages would be a fair chunk of money.

This has nothing to do with Her Majesty The Queen or His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales wanting to, in a stealthy way put Prince William onto the front line, this is just the normal procedure when it comes to young high ranking members of the Royal Family before they fully enter public life.

i hope you're right.  for one thing i do think that's what he wants.  and certianly not what the POW would want!  i wouldn't put it past the Daily Mail to word it to look like the Queen wants William to be the next king.   

[Mike]

What do they mean by "Shadow King?"

It actually derives from the House of Commons; government ministers sit on one side of the house and the opposition appoints men and women to shadow each minister, 'shadow ministers'. Some people, coming from the press mainly, have derisively called Prince Charles the Shadow King. That of course, is exactly what he is and has been since a very young age.

Thanks, Daibando.

[Hale]

First of all with regards to this article from the Daily Mail.  This article has been denied by Buckingham Palace, it was on the news this morning.

Palace Denies William 'Shadow King' Report

Secondly, I don't know how true this is, but a poster over at BRW is saying that this report is from 2008 before PW announced that he will be training with S&R.

Thirdly;

The leak will add to speculation that the Queen believes William, rather than Charles, represents the best long-term interests of the monarchy, and will raise new questions about the timing of William’s long-anticipated engagement to his girlfriend Kate Middleton.

That's just tosh.  The line of succession is also law.  The Queen knows that and I very much doubt that there is a shred of truth to the Queen letting it be known she prefers PW to Charles.  PW is yet to prove himself.  To date we have seen very little of him.  We hardly know him.  We know he hates the press more so than any other member of the RF.  People say this is because of how his mother died and how she was hounded during her lifetime.  Well frankly, Diana had two sons and the image of two young princes walking behind their mothers coffin is fading.  That kind of sympathy cannot be substained.  The public are apt to be fickle and its only a matter of time before people start to ask questions such as, "Whats wrong with William?"  "Doesn't he want to become King?"

Windsor I don't expect them to skip a generation, but I think it's true that William represents "the best long-term interests of the monarchy."  A lot rests on William's shoulders.  I doubt Charles will be the most popular king in history and that has been his own doing.  He made his bed, as they say.  The way he's handled his personal life has tarnished his image and accomplishments.  I hope the day is very far off, but when it's time for his coronation I believe history will be revisited.  The Queen knows this and she understands how important William is to the monarchy. William doesn't carry his father's baggage and he is blessed with his mother's popularity.  When people look at William, they think of Diana and all the potential that she represented.  When people look at Charles and his Mrs, they remember what they did to Diana.  

Excellent post Ursula and my thoughts exactly.   Whilst I agree there are those who remember Diana and for this they have invested their hopes in William it should also be remembered that Diana died 12 years ago, consequently today you have 12 year olds who did not bear witness to those heady days and who do not identify with them.  To them, the princes are seen in their own right and not an extension of an iconic image.  Therefore, as they mature they will look at the RF with fresh eyes and bear no grudges towards Prince Charles, but rather appraise it differently.  Some shall be for it and see it does have value, just as there are those who see it as not having anything to offer the modern age and would prefer the monarchy's removal altogether.

Also, what you have to remember it has been a very lean time for royal news.  The Daily Mail had to think up something for us to get our teeth into.

[scook91870]

While some of us are ready to see nothing in the actions of the Treasury, I find it highly curious that something so "routine" had to be censored. I also find the frantic reaction on the part of the Palace unwarranted if nothing untoward was revealed. Further a tabloid such as DM is the one media source not in the Palace's pocket.

[Sven]

Therefore, as they mature they will look at the RF with fresh eyes and bear no grudges towards Prince Charles, but rather appraise it differently.

You do realize a lot of people, young and old alike, simply can't stand Charles and it has nothing to do with how he treated his late ex-wife?  So they might just bear grudges.  Also, as the recession wears on, more and more people may not care for a man who is known even by his parents as being a bit spoiled, let alone someone who's doing his best to exploit tax loopholes for his own benefit and, for some, has the personality and charm of dishwater.

[Ursula]

Hale, thank you.   

I agree that age has a lot to do with our perspective but I also think the concept of accountability is becoming less important as time goes by and that's unfortunate.        

While some of us are ready to see nothing in the actions of the Treasury, I find it highly curious that something so "routine" had to be censored. I also find the frantic reaction on the part of the Palace unwarranted if nothing untoward was revealed. Further a tabloid such as DM is the one media source not in the Palace's pocket.

Very good points. I agree with you. 

[Hale]

If the report is from 2008, then the palace denial is understandable, surely?

[Mar]

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1235385/The-Queen-believes-future-Prince-William-But-Kate-Middleton.html   its a Katie Nicholl article

[scook91870]

1.  The original DM article was not by KN but as follows --
"Prince William to share Queen's duties: Treasury document reveals secret plan to make him the 'Shadow King'"
By Glen Owen, Mail on Sunday Political Correspondent.  KN's article is an ancillary article focusing on the gossipy aspects on this change with Kate Middleton.

2.  The Treasury documents were written this year for the upcoming year's budget in April 2010.  They are discussing the increased expenditures that Prince William will incur when he takes over more duties for the Queen.

3.  I think that even more than the Queen's decision, it is becoming very obvious that Prince Charles does not have the temperament to be King -- he is too thin skinned.  In addition, Camilla seems to have found that the fulfillment of her dream to marry the Prince of Wales is fast becoming her worst nightmare.  She is more interested in being a grandmother than the consort of a future king.

The real question is how to follow the law of succession and still have the right person on the throne?

[Windsor]

This is your opinion/hope, it's not something you know. So I will say: there will be AN ENGAGEMENT in the near future.

It is neither my opinion nor my hope... it is actually widely know around the Palace that an engagement is not to be expected for the near future. Far too much is going on around the institution of Monarchy for a Grand Royal wedding to take place at this moment in time.

The Palace understands this, Clarence House understands this, and Prince William is more than happy with the current arrangement.

There is only one answer to that last question, the laws on succession will follow through quite nicely, just as it has done for the past 300 years!

[drezzle]

Hopefully Kate is just as happy with the current arrangement.     If she is not and PW ends up not marrying her then it's going to make him look very bad -- but then maybe he doesn't care what the public thinks of him.

[easydoesit]

PW ends up not marrying her then it's going to make him look very bad -- but then maybe he doesn't care what the public thinks of him.

Eh the public is fickle anyway they love you one minute, hate you the next. You can't please all the people all the time.  If he doesn't marry her the general public will move on to whomever the next girl may be.  All they really want is pretty pictures of the wedding.

[easydoesit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggWtQK80bd8