While Prince George is the heir to the throne as the oldest of the Prince and Princess of Wales’ three children, he and his younger siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis appear to be raised as equals, trying to eliminate the “heir and the spare” dynamic that plagued William and younger brother Prince Harry.
It seems the Wales trio is being raised to lead the monarchy in the future as a “collective,” Yahoo reports. Because of his status as heir, George faces “more pressure” than Charlotte and Louis, according to royal biographer Katie Nicholl; this is “something William and Kate are acutely aware of,” she says.
“George knows that, like his Papa, he will one day be king,” Nicholl says.
The Daily Mail’s royal editor Roya Nikkhah told True Royalty TV’s “The Royal Beat” that William and Kate want George’s role in the Coronation to be “quite a low key,” as the couple is “very conscious that he will return to school on Tuesday [after the Coronation], and they do not want him to be overwhelmed by the attention. But he may play a smaller official role.”
George will not be the only one with a role in the Coronation; Charlotte and Louis will also have a role, but not as huge or important as their elder brother. All three Wales children will ride alongside their parents in the carriage procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, right behind the Gold State Coach bearing King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla.
When the Wales family of five arrives at the Palace, they will all take to the balcony, as they did for the Platinum Jubilee in June, when all three children participated in the carriage procession for Trooping the Colour and then appeared on the balcony afterward.
According to Daily Express, Louis’ presence at the Coronation is very crucial. According to royal analyst Angela Mollard, this is an effort to make Louis feel involved rather than left out and to avoid any conflicts between the siblings.
“George needs to be braced and supported by his siblings,” Mollard says. “The whole brand of the Waleses is very much ‘We’re a family, we do it all together. We do not want an offshoot like Harry in the future.’
” She continues “It’s going to make sure that Louis has a memory of the Coronation, so when his big brother takes on that role, he and Charlotte are there to support him.” Though William and Kate seem keen to keep George, Charlotte, and Louis on as even a playing field as possible, the reality is “George’s royal destiny is set in stone.
Charlotte’s is more flexible,” as is Louis. Whereas in previous generations, Louis would have leapfrogged his older sister to place directly behind George in the line of succession think Prince Andrew, the third child of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, jumping older sister Princess Anne in the line of succession behind Charles this is no longer the case, and Charlotte is the direct “spare” behind George.
Though Charlotte might have a life outside of the royal family, many believe she is destined to become a successful working royal. Royal author Tom Quinn “likened Charlotte’s seemingly grounded and self-assured personality to that of her great-aunt Princess Anne, saying the seven-year-old may play a role similar to the one Anne is playing for the Crown and the King, as well as possibly assuming her ‘Princess Royal’ title,” Irish Mirror reports.
“Princess Anne has never really struggled,” Quinn says. “She’s famously quite supportive of Charles. And she is kind of a tougher character than Charles because I think she has always known she wouldn’t become the monarch, whereas Charles [growing up] was under that pressure.
And I think something similar will happen in the younger generation, too.” Quinn says there’s “definitely a parallel” between Anne—who, as a working royal, consistently undertakes the most engagements year after year—and Charlotte, adding Charlotte seemed “more sure of herself, more centered, more grounded [than George],” concluding that Charlotte will be a “really good” support for her elder brother.
Louis, Quinn says, as the “double spare,” risks feeling like a “lost soul.” “Like all royal children, he will quickly become aware that he has a life of luxury, but he can’t really escape it and have an ordinary life, but he’s also not the number one,” Quinn says. “He’s not going to be, or it’s very unlikely, that he’d ever become the monarch.”
But, Quinn says, William and Kate have learned from the past and will take steps to ensure that Louis won’t fall into the trap of “lost spares” that have come before him: “I think because the royal family is now so aware of the mistakes that they’ve made in the past, especially with bringing up children, I think they will make enormous efforts to make sure that Louis doesn’t feel like a lost soul,” Quinn says.
“And I think it will be easier for Kate and William to ensure that happens, partly because the world has changed so much. Even since William and Harry were young, the world’s changed a great deal.”