A royal historian and expert has highlighted a subtle hint Prince William dropped that suggests his children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis could begin royal duties earlier than expected.
Prince William's Sovereign Garden Party at Buckingham Palace gave royal fans a lot to delight over. From Zara Tindall's stunning Laura Green dress and beautiful pink accessories and her £5.99 trick to protect her favourite shoes, to the meeting of royals we don't usually see together, like Mike Tindall and Princess Eugenie, the event was a brilliant one.
But one royal expert believes the occasion was more than a one-off gathering of The Firm's younger royals. According to Kelly Swaby, a royal expert and historian, it showed how, when he is King, Prince William plans to 'make the monarchy more relevant' by including the family's younger members in more events.
"When Prince William hosted a garden party at Buckingham Palace he included Princess Beatrice and Zara and Mike Tindall. They are members of the Royal Family who know the ropes and what is expected of them but have been on the sideline in recent years," she told The Mirror.
"I feel that it is a very subtle way of the Palace recognising that it needs more people involved. If you look at the history of the Royal Family it has always come through significant challenges and I feel that Prince William is trying to make the monarchy more relevant."
It's a big change from King Charles III's planned approach, with the monarch long vowing to 'slim down' the monarchy, a plan his sister Princess Anne has never been on board with. And, while the line of succession is full of royals, the number of those working as part of the monarchy is much smaller. Could William's need of more working royals leave his children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to take up royal duties earlier than expected?
We do see the children at all important royal events and, especially more so this year, they have attended more and more engagements alongside William and Kate Middleton - often stealing the show as they do so. This is likely because many of the Royal Family's most hard-working members are growing older and struggling to keep up with the demands of royal life, meaning we will likely be seeing the younger royals more and more.
Swaby explained, "King Charles has wanted for many years to slim down the monarchy, but in effect he has been left with no choice because it has happened naturally. Many of the senior royals, such as Princess Anne and the Duke of Kent, are getting older and are not able to do as much.
"The late Queen understood that she couldn’t do everything herself and while she was the main attraction she remained incredibly humble and had lots of other members of the royal family deputising for her. I fear that the slimmed-down monarchy will backfire quite significantly in years to come as the older members step back from public life."
