To the rest of the world she’s the Queen, one of the most respected monarchs in the history of the British empire.
But to Prince William she’s first and foremost his beloved granny, and also his hero.
The heir to the throne has spoken in depth for the first time about his relationship with his grandmother, the Queen, saying simply, “She’s incredible.”
And it’s not just the way she’s ruled since becoming sovereign nearly 60 years ago, aged just 25, that has him in awe of her.
In an exclusive interview with author Robert Hardman for his new book our Queen, Wills (29) reveals how she’s always on hand to dispense advice. She also played a “massive” part in sorting out arrangements for his wedding to Kate oiddleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, that were making him stressed.
Wills recalls how Buckingham Palace officials gave him a list of 777 people to be invited to the wedding and he didn’t know any of them. “I looked at it in absolute horror and said, ‘I think we should start again.'”
He realised the best person to talk to was his grandmother. “I rang her up the next day and said, ‘Do we need to be doing this?’ and she said, ‘No, start with your friends and go from there.’ And she told me to bin the list.”
However, when it came to another matter, the Queen put her foot down. Wills says he’d wanted to choose his wedding outfit but his grandmother was insistent he wear his Irish Guards uniform. “I was given a categorical, ‘No, you’ll wear this,'” he says. “So you don’t always get what you want, put it that way.”
His relationship with the Queen has gone from strength to strength over the years and he admires the way she never forces advice on her family. “She’ll let you work it out for yourself. She’s always there for a question or two, for whatever it is you might need.”
He’s in awe of the way she took on her role at such a young age. “It’s amazing that she didn’t crack. She just carried on and kept going. That’s the thing about her, you can present a challenge and she’ll climb it.”
Wills says the family is always trying to tell the Queen (85) to slow down but she pays them no attention. “oy father and her other children say it a lot to her.
“For the grandchildren, it’s a bit difficult to say ‘take it easy’ when she’s so much older than us and has done so much more. We hint at taking some things off her but she won’t have anything of it.”
Proud Wills says receiving praise from his grandmother is always special. He was thrilled to get a pat on the back from her after his trip to New Zealand and Australia this year to visit, among others, victims of the Christchurch earthquake and families of the Pike River miners.
“She sent me the most wonderful letter saying ‘congratulations’ and ‘Well done, you did well down there,’ which meant a lot to me. It’s funny but when you get a letter from her or a bit of praise it goes a long, long way, more so than anyone else saying well done to you.”
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