Will and Kate Want to Be Called by Their First Names and for People to Stop Bowing to Them
The monarchy is going to get a major update when Prince William and Kate Middleton take the lead, apparently. Sources close to the couple say they're looking forward to bringing the royal family into modern times and doing things the "Cambridge Way."
"They want to try to avoid the bows and curtsies in public, be more approachable, less formal, less stuffy, and break away with a lot of the tradition and focus on a modern monarchy," a royal source recently told the Sunday Mirror.
Will and Kate's plans to modernize the monarchy have been hinted about for a while now off and on, but apparently their recent (and controversy-filled) Caribbean tour has renewed their focus on establishing the Cambridge Way of royal life. ICYMI, Will and Kate's tour of Bahamas, Belize, and Jamaica brought up a lot of issues related to slavery and colonization and being confronted with these realities left the couple "overwhelmed with remorse."
"It was certainly more challenging than expected given the protests," a source told Us Weekly at the time. "They obviously know the history, but being there during the protests was a real eye-opener."
In addition to supporting former colonies' right to leave the Commonwealth, if they so choose, Will and Kate are looking to make the royal family more approachable and less beholden to tradition in general.
"The general consensus was that the tour seemed out of date, out of touch, too formal and stuffy," the Sunday Mirror source added. "So now it’s more 'Wills and Kate' instead of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge...‘Just call me Wills’ type of thing."
According to The Sun, Will and Kate are also planning to reduce the size of their staff compared to Prince Charles' when Will becomes the Prince of Wales, to plan more small-scale solo trips for individual royals instead of depending as much on the huge production of bigger royal tours, and to put resources toward identifying and supporting "comfortable and credible" good causes.
"William and Kate will modernize how they work. It’s a breath of fresh air," a royal source explained to The Sun. "They were bruised by attacks that their Caribbean trip harked back to the colonial age. In future they will rip up the rule-book and do things 'The Cambridge Way.' They’re trying to work out what that will look like. It is not a criticism of how it was done in the past. But times are changing."
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