Prince William told the BBC in a 2016 interview that the couple, then the Duchess of Cambridge and now the Duchess of Wales, wanted to raise their children "as good people, with the idea that service and duty to others is very important," the Tatler reported The Tatler reported.

But as Richard Eden of the Daily Mail writes, at least for two of William and Kate's three children, that "service and duty to others" may not include being a working royal. What he told me left me uneasy about the future of the monarchy," Eden writes of a conversation he had with a friend of William's about how the royal family would be run in the future. The friend said that William was in "complete agreement" with his father (Prince Charles) about the need for a "streamlined monarchy." He told me, 'His Highness will not invite anyone to join the active royal family once the older members of the family retire. Of course, he meant Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. (His eldest son, Prince George, is heir to the throne and thus, presumably, at least promised a future in the company.)

Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast said that William and Kate "want to find a practical solution to the 'spare' problem" for Charlotte and Louis, and "they don't want history to repeat itself." Of course, William's brother, Prince Harry, was so affected by the "spare" label (for William's "successor") that he titled his 2023 memoir as such. Harry was not the only member of the royal family who felt inhibited by the "successor and spare" dynamic, but he has certainly been the most outspoken about it, at least in contemporary history.

Sykes reported in The Daily Beast that Charlotte and Louis would be "encouraged not to become active royalty" under what Sykes called "a radical plan to rebuild the British royal family when William and Princess Kate take the throne." Harry and his wife Meghan Markle will step down from active membership in the royal family in 2020, but Harry had been thinking about doing so for years, long before he met Meghan in 2016.

"It is a working assumption that the younger two children will go their own way and do their own thing," said a source who described Sykes as "a former Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace staffer who keeps in touch with his former colleagues. They added that of Charlotte and Louis, "they would be encouraged not to become working royalty."

Regarding the aforementioned Eden report in the Daily Mail, a Sykes source confirmed it, saying, "It's absolutely true. Of course, George doesn't have that option, but the children are being distanced from royal life. It is a deliberate strategy to let Charlotte and Louis choose their own destiny."

Regarding William and Harry's basically nonexistent relationship, it was undoubtedly influenced by the "heir and spare" dynamic." It is no secret that William is devastated by the destruction of his relationship with Harry," they said, and William "appreciates that the whole system of one of your children being less important than the other by accident of birth played a major role in how what happened He added, "I do. It is a perfectly reasonable argument that when one is born into a royal family, it is only logical that one should leave it. The same logic applies to their children, and they don't want to put them through the human mincing process that makes everyone unhappy. He and Catherine love their children dearly and their entire lives are for them. They want to find a practical solution to the "spare" problem that has plagued the family for generations. "

The solution, apparently, is to treat all three children as equals and let Charlotte and Louis go their separate ways when the time comes. Another friend of the family told The Daily Beast, "If you look at the 'reserves' that worked out, the only ones really there are Prince Edward and Princess Anne. 'Princess Margaret's life was pretty miserable. We know all about Harry. William and Princess Catherine would not want history to repeat itself."

Princess Diana, of course, was the mother of William and Harry, and tried to treat her sons as equals, although the former royal family tried to exacerbate the difference between "heir" and "spare." 'Princess Diana's birthday is hard for both Harry and William,' one source said. 'For Harry, it's about what could have been, and William remembers Diana's absence from his childhood. He is deeply saddened by the loss of his mother."

They added of Harry's eventual departure from the working core of the royal family, "Harry was scarred by what his mother went through, and when he saw the same thing happening to Meghan, he knew he had to act. Harry is convinced that his mother must have approved of his leaving the royal family. Princess Diana tried to do the same, and he knows his mother would be proud of him and his new life." But as for William and Harry's current relationship, she added, "It would break her heart to see brother and brother at odds."