In 2020-21, Robert Lacey released a royal book called Battle of Brothers, all about the larger falling out between Prince William and Prince Harry. In the first edition of the book, Lacey was quite critical of William, leaving enough breadcrumbs to reveal that Huevo has always been a rage-monster who flies off the handle (sometimes violently) often. Lacey also made it clear, in the original version, that William was incandescent with rage and jealousy towards Harry, that William did everything to “edge out” his brother, and on and on. Then, for the reissue of Lacey’s book, magically he had new sources deep within the Camp Huevo and wouldn’t you know, Harry and Meghan did some bad things too, and William was merely justifiably angry at them! Or something. Well, adding to the sense of doom and gloom around the Windsors these days, for some reason, the Daily Mail decided to remind everyone of all of this: “Not-so-Sweet William! There was a time when the prince was prone to rant and rave, says a leading royal author… (And can you guess the target of his anger?).”

Prince William, it is often said, has come a long way. The ‘Party Prince’ of yesteryear has today been replaced by a loving father who rarely fails to cut a dignified and often humorous figure in public. At 41, the Prince of Wales is not only a key force in the monarchy but popular with the public, too. The outlook has not always been so sunny, though, as author Robert Lacey explains in his best-selling biography, Battle of Brothers. Storms were all too frequent.

Perhaps that is to have been expected. King Charles himself has been no stranger to the occasional outburst. Nonetheless, William’s step-mother Camilla was said to have been taken aback by the ferocity of his tantrums.

‘He has proved no Sweet William when roused,’ writes Lacey. ‘In the years after her 2005 marriage to Prince Charles, Camilla recounted to members of her own family and close friends her surprise at discovering this unexpected side to Prince Charming – “the boy’s got a temper!” Charles’s wife was horrified at the ranting and raving that William unleashed on occasion against her husband in her presence. The rows were shattering, by Camilla’s account in the early days, with William doing the shouting and Charles submitting meekly on the receiving end. As she described it, William held nothing back.’

It was a wrath, suggests Lacey, commensurate with William’s sense of himself as future King. Today, it is largely hidden, but younger brother Harry has his own views on William’s anger. Writing in his memoir, Spare, Harry claims that in one 2019 row at Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, William had ‘grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor.’ A dog bowl was apparently broken in the fracas. (Prince William has never given his version of events.)

[From The Daily Mail]

The more I see of how William operates or “functions” at a professional/public level, the more I realize that he has so little in the way of management skills. He can’t manage his office, he can’t manage his emotions, he can’t manage his temper, he can’t manage to read his briefing papers, he can’t manage the patience to read a book, he can’t manage a crisis he created, and on and on. I would argue that both of his parents probably tried to teach him those management skills in various ways in his childhood but none of it really stuck. So we have an heir to the throne who is temperamental, violent, tantrum-prone and unable to manage his way out of any situation. The real question is: why are they bringing this up again right now?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Backgrid.