Prince William said Wednesday that he wants to “go a step further” than past royals with the causes he represents and avoid spreading himself too “thin” and finding himself with “loads of causes that you sort of turn up and keep an eye on.”
In the uncompromising comments made to print journalists accompanying him on his trip to Singapore, where he has been presenting the five winners of his Earthshot Prize with prizes of $1.2 million to develop technological solutions to the climate crisis, William said: “I care about so many things. Previously the family have been very much spotlighting, brilliantly, and going round and highlighting lots [of causes]… I want to go a step further. I want to actually bring change—and bring people to the table who can do the change if I can’t do it.”
In an astonishingly explicit rejection of the former royal custom of principal figures being the patron of hundreds of causes (Prince Philip had more than 800 charities, Queen Elizabeth II was patron of more than 500) William said, “You have to remain focused, if you spread yourself too thin you just can’t manage it and you won’t deliver the impact or the change that you really want to happen,” according to an account of his remarks by the Sunday Times journalist Roya Nikkhah on X, formerly Twitter.
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As an example, William cited his involvement in the “homelessness sector,” saying: “Rather than just being patron, I want to do more, I want to actually build the homes, I want to provide them with the mental support, all the employment and the education they might need.”
He added: “It’s all these wraparound services, it’s kind of going deeper and longer, than it is the case of just having loads of causes that you sort of turn up and keep an eye on. It’s more about how do I show my intent more? How do we do more for you and give you a better future?”
William’s remarks will likely send a shiver down the spine of British charities that have long depended on a royal patron to generate interest and funds.
One charity activist told The Daily Beast: “These comments will be very concerning to a lot of charities that have relied on their royal patrons for generations. It is almost impossible to raise any serious amount of money in Britain without a royal patron.”
