By Sarah Laing
Why Prince William's 40th Birthday Was Deliberately Low-Key
His birthday behaviour is quite revealing
Happy 40th birthday to Prince William!
Not that you'd be aware of the occasion if you were just looking at official royal channels. There are rumours that he and Kate will have a joint birthday party later this summer, hosted by the Queen, but unlike Kate, who turned the big 4-0 in January, there have been no glitzy formal portraits released to mark the occasion.
The customary flying of the Union Jack at government buildings to mark royal birthdays has been foregone, too, although that's more to do with a recent protocol change, believed to be a means to avoid the awkwardness of what to do about Andrew's birthday—only Her Maj and Charles will get that honour moving forward. While the most recent photos on the Cambridges' socials do feature him—the snap of him and his children laughing for Father's Day is especially sweet—the only birthday-specific acknowledgement has been a single text-only IG story frame thanking people for their wishes, signed "W."
It's a strikingly low-key way to mark this pivotal milestone, particularly when you contrast it with previous big birthdays. For his 21st, William held an (in hindsight spectacularly offensive) "Out of Africa-themed" dress-up party at Windsor Castle, where, the story goes, he also broke the heart of one Kate Middleton, whom he was secretly dating yet he stayed glued to the side of an old flame, Jecca Craig. He also posed for a rather fetching portrait by fashion photographer Mario Testino, and gave an interview to the Press Association, in which he said, among other things: "All these questions about do you want to be king? It's not a question of wanting to be, it's something I was born into and it's my duty."
A photo from way back, taken to celebrate #PrinceWilliam's 21st birthday. By Mario Testino, 2003. #HappyBirthdayHRH pic.twitter.com/gf1Mwb4lYa
— Alex-David Baldi (@alexdavidwriter) June 21, 2015
Royal birthdays often come with in-depth interviews; for Camilla's upcoming 75th in July, she will give an interview to British Vogue. Wills didn't give one this year, an odd choice when you think about the moment the monarchy finds itself in. A direction-setting, future-focused chat with the family's best hope (soz, Charles) could do an awful lot to garner some positive PR. However, there was a Daily Mail profile of him on the weekend that was widely regarded to have been put together with his implicit cooperation, in that he "allowed" members of his close-knit circle to speak on and off the record with the reporter. And there's a lot to be drawn from it.
First, let's appreciate the "he's a fun guy, we swear!" content. A friend told the paper, "Let's just say that, like his younger brother, William enjoyed himself immensely in his teens and 20s. Unlike Harry, though, he was never caught!" Another source said he'll share memes with staffers, often ones that "are at his own expense." (A touch of midlife fear of being perceived as being boring, perhaps Wills?!)
There's also the obligatory assertion of how happy he and Kate are, a kind of insurance policy against any past or future divorce rumours that inevitably dog high-profile couples. "They honestly couldn't be happier as a couple. You can't get a cigarette paper between them. They are so tight, just inseparable," a source said. "They spend all their time together. They lunch together every day, they sit and watch television together every evening." In case that wasn't hammer-heavy clear, another source said: "'When you speak to William, he's actually quite puritanical in his attitude when he talks about his parents' marriage and what went wrong. It hugely affected the way he approached his own relationship with Catherine and why it took so long for him to settle down. He wanted it to be with the right person and [for it to last] forever."
More intriguingly, the unofficially palace-blessed profile addresses the Harry issue: Discussion of his relationship with his brother takes up a significant amount of space. Of course, the tabloid would home in on the story their readers really care about, but it's also an interesting strategic move on William's part, who can be assumed to have authorized the sources (named and anon) to speak for him on the topic. A sample quote: "'Truthfully, William thinks Harry has been sucked into an alien world and there's f*** all he can do about it. But he does want Harry to be happy, and if he stops throwing dust in their faces, then maybe he will find a way to forgive and forget.'
A telling line in the story comes from Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, godfather to George and long-time mentor to William: "One of the lovely things I remember early on was this sense of disbelief that people were really interested in who he was or what he was doing. But he quickly decided that if they were, he was going to turn it to whatever good use he could."
A post shared by Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@dukeandduchessofcambridge)
You can see this in William's well-timed appearance on the cover of The Big Issue, a magazine that people experiencing homelessness sell to earn some money. In his article for the mag, William writes self-deprecatingly about his experience spending a day selling issues alongside a seller called Dave, noting that "people recognised a familiar face and were happy to give me the time of day." (No doubt he was vastly understating the squeals of excitement from people encountering one of the most famous men in the world on the street.)
This could be a touch of imposter syndrome, it could be some cleverly pseudo-humble image-making, or it could be a mix of the two compounded by a chronic case of Britishness. (We must note it's a very Cancerian move, given that the prince's zodiac sign is known for sensitive, security-seeking ways.) Whatever the motivation, it's a pattern—and one that reveals William's approach to royal-ing.
In The Big Issue, William writes that he's realized the issue of homelessness is "solvable," and that "small acts of kindness" like buying a magazine could be how we get there. If you listen to any speech William gives, he'll often emphasize achievable solutions, small steps individuals can take to tackle things that can feel overwhelming, like, say, global warming. You could apply this approach to how William is approaching the scale of his own destiny, too, in his apparent plan to combat the sprawling dysfunction of the Royal Family by ensuring his own nuclear family is as healthy and well-adjusted as possible.
William is uniquely limited in how much he can do and say because of who he is—not yet the direct heir, but not far off. He's always carefully juggling his own legacy with respecting his place in the royal hierarchy. As The Daily Mail profile concludes: "The public mood towards the monarchy is evolving and when it comes to the duke, people will get to know more about what he's feeling or thinking, what he stands for and, yes, what his opinions are," a source says. "The decades ahead are going to be some of the most challenging we have experienced as a nation in modern history. And William is ready to step up to the plate."
If not the limelight.
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