What next?

2011-04-20 17:43:59

20 April 2011 Last updated at 10:49 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Article written by Peter Hunt Diplomatic and royal correspondent More from Peter Follow Peter on Twitter Royal wedding: What next for William after the wedding?   Prince William will be focusing on his career in the RAF Royal wedding Hi-def wedding picture The wedding in numbers Images of the wedding day THAT dress

"William to be the next king", is a seductively attractive headline.

It offers freshness, youth and the prospect of a soon-to-be-married prince as a head of state in waiting.

Several opinion polls have suggested the son should replace the father at the front of the queue.

But royal succession isn't a beauty contest, or an episode of The X Factor. British citizens and subjects are observers of the process, not voters.

Constantine of Greece knows all about royal destiny. His time came, briefly, in the 1960s, before he was deposed in a military coup and his birthplace voted to become a republic.

Living in exile in London for decades, he has watched Prince William, his godson, grow up.

When the prince, who's an RAF search and rescue pilot, became engaged, the former king of Greece told the BBC he'd warned William in a letter that, "it was dangerous to fly a helicopter when you're in love.

"I said, 'Be careful, concentrate on that helicopter now and think of Catherine later on!'"

The ex-monarch is a stickler for the status quo. He doesn't believe William, who he describes as "a hell of a nice guy", should leapfrog Prince Charles.

Constantine said: "It works from father to son or mother to son and that's how it goes. They have to wait their turn… that's how it should be, because we are not politicians. We don't strive for that chair. The chair is there if it's needed."

'Madness to be king'

There are voices of dissent. One of the more surprising supporters of an abandonment of royal business-as-usual is former newspaper editor Sir Max Hastings.

An article he wrote about the Prince of Wales in the Daily Mail last year was headlined "Why I believe it would be madness for him to be king".

In an interview with the BBC, Sir Max suggested that the longer the Queen reigned, the more attractive a king William might become.

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After his marriage... Prince William won't be skulking around waiting for a vacant throne to occupy”

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"If time passes and Prince William is more and more at the centre of the stage, one question I think is bound to be asked," he said.

"Would it be in everybody's interests - including those of the Prince of Wales - for a new, young, next-generation Prince William to succeed to the throne? I think an enormous amount will depend on what seems to be the will of the British people."

The will of William is clear. He doesn't want to rock the Windsor boat.

He has a healthy grandmother, his father shows no sign of giving up on his long wait for what his ex-wife called "the top job", and he was born into an institution which is still scarred by the trauma of Edward's abdication.

Homeless

After his marriage to Kate Middleton, Prince William won't be skulking around waiting for a vacant throne to occupy.

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