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Prince William isn’t Great Britain’s king quite yet, but that hasn’t stopped him from stepping up when it comes to taking care of the royal family—no small feat when you consider the dual cancer diagnoses of King Charles and Kate Middleton. After weathering a year that he described in frank terms as “brutal,” the royal is now being praised by experts as “royalty’s new rock.”
“Naysayers who doubted William’s mettle have been forced to rethink. The Prince of Wales is royalty’s new rock,” Tessa Dunlop wrote in The Independent. “A reincarnation of his late grandmother, the steadfast anchor who changed it up with designer stubble when his wife was out of action, a woman’s man who unambiguously declared 2024 more than brutal, in fact, the toughest year of his life.”
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Of course, it’s not everyday that a member of the royal family is compared so favorably to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away in September 2022 after a battle with bone cancer. Following her state funeral, her son, Charles, was crowned King of England. But in recent days his reign has been overshadowed by Prince William.
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“The nation fell in love with Diana’s firstborn all over again,” Dunlop continued. “We had forgotten how tall he is, and how comfortable he is in his own skin. Without doubt, the rebirth of the Waleses as the country’s number one couple has moved our monarchy into a new space. These days they appear to be a double act, even when apart.”
For her part, Middleton largely avoided the spotlight in 2024 while she underwent chemotherapy treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer. Thus, Prince William filled the vacuum left by his wife, his father, and his stepmother, who also had to step away from royal duties this fall while battling what was later revealed to be pneumonia.
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While Middleton made a triumphant return to the spotlight in November for the annual Festival of Remembrance, the royal family isn’t out of the woods yet. King Charles is still undergoing treatment, though it is “moving in a positive direction,” according to People. Meanwhile, Prince Andrew is still causing trouble at Royal Lodge. All chaos aside, William has proven himself an authentic, stable representative of the British royal family.
“The traditional stiff upper lip in the face of adversity has been allowed a slight wobble,” former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond wrote in The i Paper. “The boy who bravely smiled and politely shook hands with weeping strangers while he silently mourned his mother’s tragic death is now a man who is not afraid to show his true feelings.”
