Prince William Gets Dressed Down In Scathing Response To His Plans To Slim The Monarchy

William, Prince of Wales is looking to the future and his role in the British monarchy — specifically, his eventual place on the throne — while attempting to change the way the royal family operates and is perceived. William told Sky News earlier this month that he thinks the focus of the royal family should be "more about impact philanthropy, collaboration, convening and helping people," with an emphasis on "empathy." While William's plans seem to be dedicated to guiding the royals in a positive direction for a new generation, not everyone was as supportive of William's remarks.

The comments were generally met with a great deal of praise and positivity in the notoriously critical British tabloids, but William faced some pushback as well -– not from traditionalists or monarchy hardliners, but from a member of the anti-monarchy activist group Republic. Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, took William to task for the prince's comments regarding his efforts to humble and humanize the monarchy with symbolically using "a smaller r in the royal."

"His 'r' couldn't get any smaller, to be honest. He barely does anything at all. He's an incredibly lazy man who manages to get a pretty small splashing of engagements to look like he is busy," Smith chastised William while speaking with NBC News. Instead, Smith says that it's William's younger brother, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who could serve as an example of the future for the royal family.

While William, Prince of Wales might want to modernize the monarchy, Graham Smith says that a modern Britain doesn't need a monarchy at all. To this point, Smith explained during his appearance on NBC News that Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex -– who stepped away from royal duties in 2020  and subsequently moved to the United States with wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex –- is a model for what the royals could do in the future instead of being working royals. 

"What Harry has done is shown that royals can walk away and do the right thing under their own steam. They can fund their own lifestyles and get celebrity endorsements and do just fine," Smith shared. "So why his brother feels that he needs to hang on to the titles and the status and the public money, I think, is a question that is only highlighted by Harry's departure."

With regards to the immediate future of the monarchy, King Charles III has expressed interest in modernizing and reforming the way things work as well — specifically by streamlining and slimming down the operations through staff reductions. In August 2023, The Mail on Sunday reported that Charles was looking to cut back on redundancies. An unnamed source told the outlet at the time: "There is a real feeling that the staffing at all the palaces is too heavy. There are far too many assistants to assistants." The source added that Charles "would prefer to pay people proper wages top to bottom but have less people."