LONDON — At a time when the British royal family has been convulsed by drama, infighting and what critics have called a tendency by some royals to overshare, Prince William has remained largely aloof — an heir loath to reveal the kinds of details found in “Spare,” the tell-all memoir by his estranged younger brother, Prince Harry.
Yet William, too, has lifted the veil in recent weeks, in his own carefully managed way. Appearing with Canadian comic actor Eugene Levy on an episode of his travel series, and later with a woman who lost her husband to suicide, William has shown a more personal side, speaking about his desire to change the monarchy after he becomes king and tearing up over another family’s tragedy.
The two glimpses of William, 43, have hardly remade the public image of the eldest son of King Charles III. But they have filled in some blanks in the portrait of a man who has carefully cultivated the profile of a middle-aged husband and father, determined to shield himself and his family from undue scrutiny.
The exercise in image-making has taken on more urgency since his father was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in early 2024. While Buckingham Palace insists that Charles, 76, is on the mend, the prospect of William having to step up to the throne no longer seems so distant.
“He’s on fast forward,” said Tina Brown, a British American journalist who has written two books about the royal family. “His father had 50 years to tell the world who he was before becoming king. It’s essential for William to show the human side of himself before his image gets set in stone as the stoic foil to Harry.”
In a video released Friday to coincide with World Mental Health Day, William met with Rhian Mannings, who lost a baby to illness and her husband to suicide. As the two sat at Mannings’ kitchen table in Cardiff, Wales, William asked her what she would say to her husband, if she could.
“I would just like to sit him down like this and say, ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’” she replied. “Because he’s missed out on just so much joy.”
William looked away, his eyes brimming with years.
“Are you OK?” Mannings asked.
Struggling to compose himself, William said, “I’m sorry; it’s hard to ask you the questions.”
It was startling display of emotion — not least in contrast to the stiff-upper-lip stoicism of older-generation royals like Queen Elizabeth II — though it recalled the emotional encounters his mother, Princess Diana, had with people with AIDS in the 1990s. William’s focus on suicide prevention echoed his mother’s desire to destigmatize AIDS.
In the appearance with Levy on his Apple TV+ series, “The Reluctant Traveler,” William offered a tour of Windsor Castle and offered some intriguing hints about how he might shake up the monarchy.
“It’s safe to say that change is on my agenda,” William said to Levy, as the two sat over pints at a pub in Windsor. “Not overly radical change,” he added, “but changes that I think need to happen.”
William arrived for the meeting on a motorized scooter. He hopped off and greeted Levy by telling him he loved “American Pie,” the 1999 sex comedy in which Levy played a befuddled dad.
That drew an obliging laugh from Levy, an actor whose deadpan delivery has spiced up movies like “Best in Show” and the TV series “Schitt’s Creek.” He told the prince that spending a day with him was a “bucket list” item, as the two set off on a walk around Windsor’s sprawling grounds.
“Was getting drunk with Prince William on your bucket list?” the prince said with a mischievous smile (the two appeared to nurse their drinks — a Guinness for Levy, a cider for William).
For Britain’s royals-obsessed press, William’s encounter with Levy was both tantalizing and threatening. By working with an American streaming service, William served notice that he could shape his narrative while bypassing the tabloids, which have long wielded power in shaping the image of the royals.
When William’s wife, Catherine, announced that she had completed her chemotherapy in September 2024, she did so in a gauzy, three-minute video made by Will Warr, a London videographer who specializes in wedding videos. She and William have also posted videos of themselves with their three children on Instagram.
The London papers noted, somewhat sniffily, that Levy did not broach a sensitive issue: William’s feud with Harry. Levy said he was not instructed by the prince’s staff to avoid it. But he told ITV News, “I had no interest in asking him about that, because it was, you know, a very delicate issue and certainly not up to me to get into it.”
Pub visits aside, William left no doubt that he intended to preserve a zone of privacy around his family. “Those who overstep it, I’ll fight against,” he said to Levy. “It’s about knowing where the line is.”
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If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. In Britain, contact Samaritans at 116-123 or email jo@samaritans.org