Prince William has been applauded for putting his family first as a royal family member, but there seem to be growing concerns about his ability to tackle a full work schedule.
“For me, the most important thing in my life is family,” the Prince of Wales told Eugene Levy in the most recent episode of Apple TV+’s The Reluctant Traveler. He sounds a little defensive about not working a “nine-to-five” day, but as The Times pointed out, “there has historically been a question mark over his work ethic humming under the surface.”
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The data doesn’t lie when the number of royal engagements is tallied at the end of the year. “His father and his aunt, Princess Anne, clock up far more engagements than him, year in, year out,” per the U.K. outlet. But it’s also clear that William wants to be a “hands-on father” to Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7 — and no one can fault him for that.
Kate Middleton, Prince William.
Alastair Grant – WPA Pool/Getty Images.
“Everything is about the future and about if you don’t start the children off now with a happy, healthy, stable home, I feel like you’re setting them up for a bit of a hard time and a fall … you try and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes as your parents … I just want to do what’s best for my children,” he told Levy.
Still, Prince William is having a harder time explaining away his light work schedule, especially as his children grow older and the worst of Kate Middleton’s cancer battle is behind her. Tina Brown’s Sept. 10 Fresh Hell Substack column hinted that King Charles III was growing frustrated with his eldest son.
“After five confirmed family vacations in the past seven months, William’s first-week-back diary pulsated with two outings: a father-daughter excursion to a Women’s Rugby World Cup pool match and a stroll through the Natural History Museum’s new gardens,” she wrote while noting that Charles had “carried out official engagements on 175 days during the past 12 months” in the middle of his cancer battle.
And it’s not just his father, Princess Anne is reportedly “annoyed” that William isn’t interested in doing “more of the ‘bread-and-butter’ royal engagements,” per a July 2025 report for The Times. As the “hardest working royal,” Anne has every right to complain since she’s always willing to represent the palace.
These issues go back years at this point, and without Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to pick up the slack, and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip now deceased, William’s work ethic questions are going to become an even bigger issue.
Before you go, click here to see more photos of Prince William & Kate Middleton through the years.
