Prince William Accused Of ‘Not Wanting To Be King’ For This Reason

He is second in line to the throne and is expected to likely take on the role of King of England at some point within the next several years. However, critics of the royal family are starting to question if Prince William even wants the job following reports he doesn’t complete as many engagements as other members of the family.

According to the Court Circular, which tracks all of the royal family’s engagements, Prince William is far from one of the hardest-working royals. To date, Princess Anne has taken on 137 engagements in 2019, followed by Prince Charles with 131, Queen Elizabeth with 122, Prince Andrew with 105, and Prince Harry and Camilla Parker Bowles with 69 each.

Prince William follows behind them all with only 66 engagements thus far. Bringing up the rear are his wife, Kate Middleton, with 49, his sister-in-law, Meghan Markle, with 25, and his grandfather, Prince Philip with 20.

However, why he has not completed the least amount of engagements overall, it's worth noting that Markle has been on maternity leave for much of the year, officially going off duty in March with a return set for this week, while Prince Philip is also officially retired, which means he is no longer obligated to his duties as a royal. Prince William also ranked underneath his brother, aunt and uncle, all of whom are considered more junior royals as they are not in line for the throne.

According to Express UK, these underwhelming numbers of engagements for him have caused Anti-monarchy group Republic to question if he even wants to be King someday since it’s expected he would have to take on more engagements as a result of the title.

“How can the monarchy survive when the younger generation can’t be bothered to do even the light workload of their parents? It's not working like the rest of us know it. Their hours include watching sports matches and theatre,” the group said. “But the real question these figures raise is does William want to be king? Or is he just doing the bare minimum to keep his family happy in the hope he can have his cake and eat it?”

This isn’t the first time his commitment to being a working royal has been questioned either. In 2009, he completed only 14 engagements, of which five were football or rugby matches. While he was only 26-years-old at the time, it was noted that at that same age, his parents had both completed significantly more work.

In 2018, he took on significantly more functions, completing a total of 150 events within the UK. Still, this paled in comparison to the appearances by his father (398) and grandmother (283). Even Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, who is currently 27th in line for the throne, completed more engagements, with 193 total in 2018.