When Will Prince William Be King? How Duke, Kate Middleton Are Preparing For Future Roles

Queen Elizabeth isn’t leaving her role as the head of the monarchy anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean her future heirs aren’t already taking steps to prepare for their new roles when the day comes for a transition.

Queen Elizabeth has reportedly been preparing Prince Charles to eventually take over as the future king, and as a result, Prince William and Kate Middleton are also working on the arrangements to become the Prince and Princess of Wales when that happens.

According to Express UK, the official split between Prince William, Kate Middleton and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s offices has happened and is a part of the natural transition of the brothers going on “different paths.” While William is preparing for his future duties as king, Harry is settling in his role as the Duke of Sussex.

It was previously reported that William has been taking steps for a while when it comes to his future role as king with little changes to the duties and responsibilities he expects to take on not only as the Prince of Wales but as the eventual king, since he won’t serve as the Prince of Wales for as long as his father has.

“Just like Prince Charles is preparing to become king, William is already preparing to become Prince of Wales ready for the duties and responsibilities he will have to take on,” Charlie Proctor, editor of Royal Central told Daily Star online in January. “As an example, William recently left his job as an air ambulance pilot to become a full time working royal. As time goes on his presence becomes ever more important, meaning he has to commit all of his working time to royal duties.”

“I think it is important to say that just like his father, William is also preparing to become King. There is no chance that William will be Prince of Wales for more than 60 years,” he added. “As such, he must also learn the ropes because his time on the throne may come sooner rather than later.”

Of course, though he may be preparing to be King someday soon, that doesn’t mean that Queen Elizabeth is planning on upsetting tradition and protocol to make him her heir instead of Prince Charles. It was reported in February that the Queen was suffering from dementia, but during a lucid moment, she changed things so that William and Kate would become King and Queen following her death. The report also claimed that she had opted to banish Prince Charles as well.

However, the story was, of course, false, as Queen Elizabeth is not only considering such an action but cannot do so due to the laws set forth in both the Bill of Rights of 1689 and the Settlement Act of 1701.