On June 21 2022, Prince William will turn 40. What kind of king will the second-in-line be: the moderniser who posed for the cover of Attitude magazine, or the relic behind a disastrous recent tour of the Caribbean? Freelance writer Tanya Gold sets out in search of the ‘real’ William, talking to former colleagues and collaborators, joining a royal visit to Wales, and hearing from the actor who plays him in the Netflix comedy The Windsors. (The starting point was “speaking as poshly as I could”, he says, “pretending I’m in Hamlet or Dynasty, and then eating Haribo.”)
Funny, richly detailed and sometimes jaw-dropping, Gold’s deep dive charts the extraordinary childhood, very public romance and early middle age of the man who will be king. His father, she writes, is ‘a placeholder king. It will be King William who must navigate the path between stability and progression.’
Read by Emma Haslett.
This article was originally published on newstatesman.com on 1 June and in the New Statesman magazine on 3 June 2022. You can read the text version here.
Related
Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.
How to listen to Audio Long Reads
1. In podcast apps
Audio Long Reads is available to listen on all major podcast players, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube and more.
Either click the links above to open in your preferred player, or open the podcast app on your device and search for “Audio Long Reads”.
Content from our partners
Follow or subscribe in your podcast app to receive new episodes as soon as they publish.
2. On the New Statesman website
The podcast is also available to listen right here on the New Statesman website. Bookmark https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/audio-long-reads, where we will publish new episodes every Saturday morning.
3. On your smart speaker
If you have an Amazon Echo, Google Home or Apple HomePod, ask it to “play the latest episode of Audio Long Reads from the New Statesman”.
The command will also work on other smart devices equipped with Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.