Prince of Wales to act as the face of the monarchy in public events while his father undergoes treatment for unspecified cancer
Prince William, the youngest and most high-profile member of the working royals, is now tasked with being the public face of the British monarchy after his father King Charles III’s cancer diagnosis.
Polls show that the Prince of Wales, 41, is already the most popular member of the royal family. Over the years, the prince has built up a reputation of being a steady pair of hands who rarely causes controversy and is an adept practitioner of the House of Windsor’s well-tested formula of polite neutrality.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Tuesday that the monarch’s cancer had been caught early, raising hopes that the king would make a complete recovery and return to public duties in the coming months. Meanwhile, Prince William—who is the king’s immediate heir—will gain experience at being the House of Windsor’s public face, even if his role is symbolic and his father remains head of state.
The 75-year-old king’s diagnosis came less than a year after he was crowned and 17 months after his mother Queen Elizabeth II died, making Charles the oldest British monarch to accede to the throne after a record seven decades in waiting as heir. He has proved surprisingly popular as monarch, developing himself into a grandfather-of-the-nation figure while quietly pushing issues he cares about such as the environment.