It was said, the narrator tells us, that the Queen wanted Wales and Middleton to wait at least five years as they dated and got to know each other. This is hardly surprising. Most of us recall the disaster of Prince Charles’ marriage to Lady Diana Spencer, whom he only slightly knew. Of course with Charles there was also the matter of the his being in love with another woman (his present wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles). The Queen no doubt wished to avoid a similar disaster with William and Catherine.This seems to have paid off as the couple, now 28 and 29, seems comfortable and settled together.
One is moved by the devotion of William to his mother’s memory and her charities, and his determination to know the plight of others. We learn in the documentary, for example, that he'd tried to experience what it's like not to have a home by spending time out on the London streets, sleeping amongst the homeless.
I was actually most impressed by the open and honest way he spoke of religion in services such as the one he and brother Prince Harry held 10 years after their mothers’ death. He seems to have a genuine sense of religious consciousness: “For God is love…” I can’t remember hearing Charles at his age saying such things. William will really be a Defender of the Faith, whatever that faith may say and however it has altered by the time he becomes king.
How surprising it must be to grow up and to discover, as the narrator reminds us, that William can’t be a policeman as he wished as a child, so he could protect his mother. “You can’t—you’ve got to be King,” Prince Harry told “Wills.” It is too bad he couldn’t protect Princess Diana, who died when he was fifteen. But William, though he must be king, will be a good king, I think, if the monarchy still exists when he comes to the throne.
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