He’s the BFF of our future king who’s been there through all his big life milestones: the childhood friend Prince William used to go shooting with on the Sandringham Estate; the confidante he selected to be Prince George’s godfather; and the man by his side when he stood as an usher at the Duke of Westminster’s wedding last month, pictured smiling next to each other in their suits outside Chester Cathedral.
Perhaps it’s little surprise, then, that William van Cutsem, 45, is the man the trusted by the Duke of Wales, 42, to become his colleague at the Duchy estate. The father-of-two will take on the role of adviser to the council at the 130,000-acre estate the duke inherited last year — a nod to his background as a chartered surveyor, and his unique position as the prince’s most loyal friend.
Eton-educated van Cutsem — three years older than the prince, and known as ‘VC’ to his friends — certainly boasts the CV for the job. As a surveyor, he specialises in logistics, renewable businesses and building storage facilities across Britain.
He has a “keen interest in regenerative farming practices within the family's home and farming businesses,” according to the Duchy’s annual report, in a reference to the 4,400 acres of land he and his wife Rosie own at their home at Hilborough House in Norfolk, where they live with their two sons Maximilian and Hugo. His Companies House entry lists directorships of several companies including Pigeon, which specialises in land, investment planning, renewables and development.
Those specialisms will undoubtedly help when it comes to helping the future king to manage the Duchy estate, a private estate established by Edward III in 1337 and covering 52,264 hectares across 20 counties, which William which he inherited from his father Charles after the coronation in September 2022. The revenue from the estate is used to fund the public, private and charitable activities of the Duke of Cornwall — the heir to the throne — and his immediate family. William, the latest Duke of Cornwall, made an £23 million income from it last year.
From holidays at Balmoral and sleepovers at Windsor Castle, to their shared ex-girlfriend at university, here’s how van Cutsen made it into the inner circle of our future king.
Growing up with the van Cutsems
Shooting ducks at Sandringham and deer at Balmoral. Throwing millennium sleepover parties at Windsor Castle. Cruising the Greek islands with boats of eligible young women and jetting out to Africa for their first safari.
These are just some of the adventures the two Williams spent together during their childhoods and teens — a friendship that was perhaps somewhat inevitable given their family connections, which date back generations (van Cutsem’s grandfather, Bernard, was a banker and breeder who trained horses for the late Queen).
#royal #flashback Princes William and Henry with nanny Tiggy Legge Bourke and William van Cutsem in 1995 (DM) pic.twitter.com/Cq4InT5Def
— Mace (@RoyaleVision) March 11, 2016
The pair were thrown together at an early age through their fathers, King Charles and Hugh van Cutsem, who met at Cambridge University and remained lifelong friends, Hugh asking Charles to be godfather to his son Edward, now 51, who was a page boy in his wedding to Princess Diana (William is the youngest of four Van Cutsem boys, with older brothers Edward, 51, Hugh, 50, and Nicholas, 47).
Van Cutsem’s mother Emilie reportedly stood in as a second mother to William and Harry when their parents’ marriage was unravelling (she and her husband reportedly and controversially provided a “safe space” for Charles to have liaisons with Camilla), and the six young boys used to enjoy holidays staying together at Anmer Hall in north Norfolk, now the Wales’ “forever” home near Holkham beach.
VC, as he is known by friends, was educated at Ampleforth College and then Eton and is three years older than William, but that didn’t stop them developing what insiders have described as a “brotherly” relationship. VC was in the car behind a 13-year-old Prince William when he was caught driving a two-tonne V8 Land Rover along treacherous mountain tracks on the Balmoral estate. He was among those pictured on a ski trip with Charles and his sons at Klosters in Switzerland. And he was among the friends a 17-year-old Prince William took on a Greek island cruise with his father and Camilla Parker Bowles — the others were mostly pretty young women.
The pair even shared an ex-girlfriend at university. Prince William’s girlfriend at the time of that famous catwalk appearance from Kate Middleton at St Andrews, Olivia Hunt, went onto date van Cutsem shortly after. “A royal ex-girlfriend will often end up going out with a family friend,” an insider told Tatler of that particular situation. “It’s a convenient way of keeping things in the family.”
#PrinceWilliam has appointed Willam Van Cutsem,Top Advisor to the Duchy Estate. Mr Cutsem is highly qualified for this job, as a chartered surveyor. He has specialized in logistics, renewable businesses and building storage facilities across the UK. He will do a great job. 👏 pic.twitter.com/g9Kl1umPA5
— stormy seas (@BillyDouglass7) July 28, 2024
Power couples, parties police incidents
Van Cutsem and his brothers were among the guests at William’s 18th birthday, a now-notorious ball named Dance of the Decades thrown by the late Queen to mark Princess Margaret’s 70th and Anne’s 50th alongside her grandson’s transition into adulthood.
William went onto marry Kate in 2011, with van Cutsem’s brother Hugh’s daughter Grace among the bridesmaids (you’ll probably remember the pictures of her pulling “grumpy” faces on the balcony, hands over her ears). Meanwhile, Van Cutsem married Rosie Ruck Keene — a headhunter-turned-fashion founder who helped to console the duke during a brief split from Kate in 2007 — in Oxfordshire in 2013, with William as an usher. Kate, then pregnant with George, was among the congregation.
Favorite royal #WeddingWednesday moment was hands down, Grace Van Cutsem covering her ears. Gotta love unpredictable 3 year olds! 😂 pic.twitter.com/avxzxLMfx2
— Cosmic Becky (@CosmicBecky) February 1, 2017
All four of the Van Cutsem clan were invited to Prince Harry’s wedding too, with another of VC’s nieces, Florence, invited to be a bridesmaid.
Today, the two Williams’ houses in Norfolk — Anmer Hall and Hilborough House — are just 20 miles apart, and Kate is regularly photographed wearing a parka jacket from Troy London, Rosie’s luxury British clothing company that she runs with her sister Lucia, who overlapped with Pippa Middleton at Edinburgh University, and is named after the regency manor house where they grew up. The fashion founder once invited Hello! magazine into her garden, telling its reporter that the “proximity to nature” was “just fantastic”.
The garden and its surrounding estate made headlines again in 2022, when reports emerged that VC had been “frisked in his pyjamas” by police during a raid to investigate illegal gamekeeping. Officers were reportedly searching for signs that gamekeepers at the neo-Georgian property had been using illegal methods to kill wildlife that posed a threat to the estate’s flock of wild partridges. Police left having left no evidence of any wrongdoing and van Cutsem called the incident “extremely disappointing” and “entirely avoidable”.
From friends to colleagues
Say what you like about the dangers of working with a friend, but van Cutsem’s CV makes him a natural fit for the job.
The chartered surveyor is said to have a “keen interest in regenerative farming practices”, working as a director of several land and development companies. Van Cutsem’s background certainly lends itself to the job, as does he close trusted relationship with the Duke of Wales.
'Van Cutsem is well qualified for his role – as a chartered surveyor, he specialises in logistics, renewable businesses and building storage facilities across Britain...'
— Melanated Mona (@Melanated_Mona) July 28, 2024
He's most definitely qualified.
No reciprocal or entitlement nepotism on these streets. https://t.co/vDwNMqFIqn
His appointment may have raised some eyebrows, however, given the recent (quiet) removal of Annabel Elliot, the Queen’s sister, from her position as chief estates designer at the Duchy estate after 20 years of service. She was appointed by Charles after his marriage to Camilla in 2005, being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to decorate the Duchy's holiday cottages in Cornwall, Wales and the Isles of Scilly.
“Rest assured, I’m not going to rock the boat; I'll do much the same as what my father's doing,” William told a 2019 documentary looking inside the Duchy of Cornwall.
Critics suggest this might have changed given the hiring of his BFF shortly after the ousting of one of the estate’s most longstanding employees. Others say the two decisions are separate and unlikely to be connected.
Either way, van Cutsen’s appointment certainly marks a new chapter for the two Williams and their decades-long friendship. From childhood pals to colleagues at the forefront of managing some of the most sought-after property in the country: anyone who’d overlooked van Cutsen until now is likely to be thinking that going forward.
