How Prince William stays grounded as he inches closer to becoming King

In the not too-distant future, Prince William’s life will change dramatically when he takes on his birthright and accedes to the throne.

As the eldest son of King Charles III, his destiny as the future monarch was sealed decades before his birth, when his great-grandfather became King George VI after his brother King Edward VIII abdicated the throne.

Despite being born into royalty, and growing up in palaces and stately homes as the son of the future King and grandson of Britain’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, WIlliam has managed to stay grounded.

In fact, as he inches closer to becoming King, some would say William, now 43, is more in step with the people he will one day represent. 

It’s no accident that when that time comes, he will be the most down-to-earth monarch Britain and the Commonwealth has seen, with the seeds planted soon after he was born on June 21, 1982.

As the eldest son of Prince Charles, then the Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, his life was never going to be normal, but his mother in particular strived to make his life as normal as possible.

She famously broke royal protocol by taking William on their royal tour of Australia and New Zealand when he was just nine months old.

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It was also his mother who was keen for William to be exposed to ‘real life’, starting with attending nursery school when he was three.

As he got older, his mother ensured he went to fast-food restaurants and the like.

Diana’s former press secretary Patrick Jephson told ABC News in 2013, “She made sure that they experienced things like going to the cinema, queuing up to buy a McDonald’s, going to amusement parks, those sorts of things that were experiences that they could share with their friends”.

William reflected on his mother’s influence while chatting to Eugene Levy for an episode of his show The Reluctant Traveller in late 2025.

“She always understood that there was a real life outside of the palace walls,” he said.

“She gave us the right tools and has prepared us well for life.” 

Diana also exposed him to a life every different from his own by taking him to HIV/AIDS clinics and homeless shelters. 

Hands-on parent

Today, William has adopted the same hands-on approach to parenting as his mother, who was often seen dropping William and his younger brother Harry at school and attending events such as sports carnivals.

The prince told Levy he tried to structure his own workday of meetings and royal engagements around his children’s “school timetables, as best as possible”.

Just over a week ago, he spoke about the chaos of the morning school run while a guest on the Heart Breakfast radio show.

He has followed in his mother’s footsteps in other ways; taking his children to fun events, such as a Taylor Swift concert, as well as more sombre outings.

Days before Christmas 2025, William and Prince George volunteered to help serve a festive lunch at The Passage, a homeless charity in London. It was the same shelter his mother took him to when he was a child a year younger than George.

In the 2024 documentary, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, he recalled that visit.

“My mother took me to The Passage; she took Harry and I both there. I’d never been to anything like that before, and I was a bit anxious as to what to expect,” he said.

“I remember at the time kind of thinking, ‘Well, if everyone’s not got a home, they’re all going to be really sad.’ But it was incredible how happy an environment it was.” 

“That’s when it dawned on me that there are other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do.”

That outing sparked William’s lifelong ambition to fight homelessness, through his support of various charities including Centrepoint, and has a Homewards initiative through the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

He has been photographed on the street selling copies of The Big Issue and has taken part in the Winter Sleepout.

He is also teaching his children about the cause. During the 2019 BBC special A Berry Royal Christmas, he told host Mary Berry, “On the school run already ... whenever we see someone who is sleeping rough on the street I talk about it and I point it out and I explain.

“And they are all very interested. They are like, ‘Why can’t they go home?’”

A simpler home life

Speaking of home, having grown up in palaces, and raising his own children for some of their lives in a 20-room apartment within Kensington Palace, William and Catherine swapped London for a simpler life in Windsor in late 2022.

For the next three years, they lived in the modest four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage, in the grounds of Windsor Great Park.

Just before Christmas, they relocated just up the road to the grander Forest Lodge, which has eight bedrooms, and while it is described as a stately mansion, it is no palace.

Hello! royal editor Emily Nash said it was announced before the move that William  and Catherine viewed Forest Lodge as their “forever home” − the inference being they would not be moving into a palace once they become King and Queen.

While Buckingham Palace will always remain ‘monarchy HQ,’ for now, they want to keep as much normality for their family, and that means not living in a palace or a castle,” she said.

It is all part of creating a normal family home atmosphere, as William told Levy last year.

“I think it’s really important that that atmosphere is created at home − the warmth, the feeling of safety, love, that all has to be there,” he said. 

“That was certainly part of my childhood.”

Football fan

William’s ‘everyman’ reputation is certainly on show when it comes to his hobbies.

As a long-time fan of the Birmingham-based Aston Villa Football Club, which plays in the English Premier League, his theatrical appearances at games has proved a hit with the public.

Just last month, he travelled to Istanbul in Turkey to watch his beloved team win the UEFA Europa League Final in May 2026 for the first time in 44 years. 

He was even caught on video singing along to the Neil Diamond song Sweet Caroline.

But even his choice of football club speaks volumes about his approach to life. Instead of supporting Chelsea or Manchester United like his peers, he chose Aston Villa, based in the working-class city of Birmingham.

During an interview with the BBC in 2020, he talked about his love of attending Aston Villa games like an FA Cup match that year.

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“It was fantastic. I sat with all the fans with my red beanie on, and I was sat with all the Brummie fans and had a great time.

“It was the atmosphere, the camaraderie and I really felt that there was something I could connect with.”

Pints with his mates

His trip to Istanbul put the spotlight on William and the close-knit group of friends who joined him, and another way he stayed grounded.

According to the Daily Mail, who quoted a source, William catches up with his mates as often as possible at one of their homes for a barbecue with “beer and a lot of wine”.

Other times they meet in a West London pub for a few pints. Occasionally, William dons a disguise or wear a hat and glasses, and sometimes adopts an “iffy” Welsh accent to fly under the radar.

The group also jets off on holiday once a year, often to a ski resort. 

Instead of talking about royal matters, they chat about family matters, children, careers and sport, the source said.

“He is wary of getting too close to others [but] his true inner circle is very select. They have no axes to grind and know how to behave,” the source sad.

“Their occasionally boisterous behaviour has to be toned down so as not to draw too much attention to themselves, but these are sort of ‘let your hair down’ moments for William who can’t act like this anywhere else.”

Casual dates with Catherine

Like his mother before him, William has embraced the normalcy of a night out, and he and Catherine are known to particularly enjoy low-key date nights at local pubs, whether in Windsor, near their other home in Norfolk or while on official tours.

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The couple has often been spotted enjoying casual child-free lunches at local pubs in Windsor, and were previously spotted dining alfresco with their three children,

When at their Norfolk home Anmer Hall, they are reportedly regulars at The Crown Inn.

Royal reporter Duncan Larcombe told OK! in 2021 the couple regularly heads out for date nights.

“They keep a low profile and do normal things without anyone noticing, just like Princess Diana did,” he said.

“William and Kate have been able to slip to the local pub for a night out, just the two of them. 

“Being a future king, you might expect William to whisk Kate away to Paris for the day or an extravagant lunch at a top restaurant, but they’ve never been like that. They’re more of a fish and chips on the seafront type of couple.”

Even when on official business, they will carve out low-key time together.

When they celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary in 2025 during an overnight stay on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, they spent the night in a self-catered cottage.

Informal dress code

While his father has rarely if ever been spotted without a suit and tie, William often wears more low-key clothing.

William dons jeans when out and about, and even dresses down for some royal engagements, and royal tours, such as his 2024 visit to South Africa.

He has also passed this on to his children.

While William was forced to don an impractical suit for one of his childhood visits to homeless shelter The Passage, Prince George wore a sweater and pants like this father for their joint visit.

Less formal approach to royal life

William has foreshadowed changes to the monarchy once he becomes king, and is already taking a different approach to royal engagements.

Speaking during a 2024 visit to South Africa he said, “I’m doing it with maybe a smaller r in the royal, if you like, that’s maybe a better way of saying it”.

He said his approach to his work was on “impact philanthropy, collaboration, convening and helping people”.

“I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well, because I really care about what I do. It helps impact people’s lives and I think we could do with some more empathetic leadership around the world.”

He has also signalled a future with less royal engagements for the sake of it − his grandmother the queen was always cutting ribbons − and more substance.

After whizzing up to greet Eugene Levy on an electric scooter − his favoured mode of transport in and around Windsor Castle − he promised there would be changes when he eventually becomes king to  ensure the monarchy is “fit for purpose” in the modern age.

“I think it’s safe to say that change is on my agenda,” he said. “Change for good. I embrace that, and I enjoy that change – I don’t fear it. That’s the bit that excites me, is the idea of being able to bring some change.

“Not overly radical change, but changes that I think that need to happen.”

Afterwards the BBC quoted a palace staffer who said, “He’s not afraid to ask questions about how and why things are done. 

“If the answer is ‘Because that’s how we’ve always done it’, then he just won’t accept it.”

This can also be seen in the way he has managed the Duchy of Cornwall − the main source of income for the Prince of Wales and his family − since he took over from his father in 2022.

Instead of just sitting back and taking in money as landlord of the multibillion-dollar estate, he has brought about real change and promises more through the promotion of environmental projects and social enterprise aimed at tackling the housing crisis.

He recently announced plans to sell of about 20 per cent of the estate over the next decade to fund community projects, such as affordable housing, and has provided relief for charities that use the land.