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Prince William, Kate Middleton and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis
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There’s no doubt that King Charles’ illness has accelerated the timeline for succession, or at least the timeline for preparations in the UK. The King has returned to most of his duties, but his age and his illness have made the British Royal Family very aware of the reality that there will soon be another King. And preparations for that have already started, with reports indicating that Prince William and Kate Middleton’s roles are already starting to resemble this reality.

Perhaps the clearest sign of this is King Charles pretty much deferring to Prince William’s preferences when it comes to how they’ve handled the feud with Prince Harry. Reports indicate King Charles hasn’t wanted to take too harsh a stance on his son, but Prince William isn’t of the same line of thinking. King Charles has, so far, not taken any steps that might be hard for William to come back from when he is King.

Related: See what each royal inherited from Queen Elizabeth

And, of course, the preparations for a possible succession don’t just include Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton. They also, necessarily, involve their three kids: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. All of this comes amid reports that King Charles’ cancer is reportedly incurable, but manageable. Royal writer and associate editor of the Daily Telegraph, Camilla Tominey wrote, “The talk now is that he may die ‘with’ cancer, but not ‘of’ cancer following a rigorous treatment program.”

This presumably ties into how William and Kate are preparing their kids going forward. It all started with the trio making their first appearance of summer 2025 at Trooping the Colour. The family then posted a picture of all of them on Instagram. On Father’s Day, another picture was shared, now of the kids with their father, Prince William.

Royal expert and author Robert Jobson discussed the preparations with Hello! magazine. “It’s all about William now, and him preparing Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis for their future roles in the next decade or so,” Jobson told the outlet.

“William takes his responsibilities to the institution, to his father, to his family, very seriously. You see that in the way he looks and the way he acts. He has grown into the role of supporting his father and being a King in waiting.”

This reportedly includes the understanding that Prince George has a different burden to bear than his siblings, as the firstborn. That’s reportedly why, on the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Prince George attended a tea party for veterans with his parents. His siblings were not present.

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told the Mirror, about it. “[It] may be the only opportunity George will ever have of speaking to men and women who served their King and country during the war.”

She added, “It’s a lesson that will serve him well in the future…One day he will be Chief of the Armed Forces himself, and he may well look back at some of those conversations and be glad that he had the chance to meet some of the few remaining veterans.”

There have been many reports about Prince William’s intention to scale down the monarchy. That means that, in the years to come, his three kids will likely play big roles in what the monarchy will look like in the future. And they’re already being trained for it.

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