Great news:What a Prince William Monarchy and Coronation Could Look Like:see More.

Though it’s impossible to know when Prince William—and, as his queen consort, Princess Kate—will take the throne, Harper’s Bazaar shared exclusively that it is anticipated that day will come “earlier than expected” and “sooner rather than later.”

Whenever the time comes, a monarchy under King William and Queen Catherine “will look much less formal, less stiff than it has been under

When the monarchy changes hands from Charles to William, the central constitutional role of the monarchy won’t change, royal biographer Robert Hardman says, “Just as it hasn’t changed with King Charles.”

As to William’s coronation someday, Hardman adds that it “will be a very different affair” than Charles’s, which took place on May 6, 2023, about eight months into his reign. “It’ll be less ceremony. It’ll be shorter. I think he’ll try to—I wouldn’t say modernize, but maybe some of the elements will feel more contemporary.”

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What a Prince William Monarchy and Coronation Could Look Like
For starters, it will be a lot more casual, royal experts exclusively tell Harper’s Bazaar

BY RACHEL BURCHFIELDPUBLISHED: APR 16, 2025 3:12 PM EDT
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Though it’s impossible to know when Prince William—and, as his queen consort, Princess Kate—will take the throne, Harper’s Bazaar shared exclusively that it is anticipated that day will come “earlier than expected” and “sooner rather than later.”

Whenever the time comes, a monarchy under King William and Queen Catherine “will look much less formal, less stiff than it has been under [King] Charles,” royal author Tom Quinn tells Bazaar. “What we can expect to see when William and Kate take the throne is a much more emotionally engaged couple. And it’s partly because I think they want to be a king and queen who are seen to engage much more with ordinary people in a very relaxed way.”

With King Charles III, Quinn adds, “the emphasis has been on ceremony, on dignity, all that kind of old-fashioned stuff. And William and Kate, I think, won’t be doing that. They’ll be doing the opposite.”

london, united kingdom june 15: (embargoed for publication in uk newspapers until 24 hours after create date and time) prince william, prince of wales (colonel of the welsh guards) and catherine, princess of wales watch an raf flypast from the balcony of buckingham palace after attending trooping the colour on june 15, 2024 in london, england. trooping the colour, also known as the kings birthday parade, is a military ceremony to mark the official birthday of the british sovereign. the ceremony takes place at horse guards parade followed by a flypast over buckingham palace and was first performed in the mid 17th century during the reign of king charles ii.

the parade features all seven regiments of the household division with number 9 company, irish guards being the regiment this year having their colour trooped.

(photo by max mumby/indigo/getty images)
MAX MUMBY/INDIGO//GETTY IMAGES
When the monarchy changes hands from Charles to William, the central constitutional role of the monarchy won’t change, royal biographer Robert Hardman says, “Just as it hasn’t changed with King Charles.”

As to William’s coronation someday, Hardman adds that it “will be a very different affair” than Charles’s, which took place on May 6, 2023, about eight months into his reign. “It’ll be less ceremony.

It’ll be shorter. I think he’ll try to—I wouldn’t say modernize, but maybe some of the elements will feel more contemporary.”

london, england june 17: prince william, prince of wales, prince louis of wales, catherine, princess of wales , princess charlotte of wales and prince george of wales on the buckingham palace balcony during trooping the colour on june 17, 2023 in london, england.

trooping the colour is a traditional parade held to mark the british sovereigns official birthday. it will be the first trooping the colour held for king charles iii since he ascended to the throne.

(photo by chris jackson/getty images)
CHRIS JACKSON//GETTY IMAGES
Hardman predicts William’s future reign will be “very practical” and will represent “a natural modernization.” But, the author of the 2024 biography Charles III: New King. New Court.

The Inside Story adds, “these things you kind of learn as you go along. One thing we have learned from King Charles is that if you predict that someone is going to be the same as king as they were when they were younger, forget it. King Charles is a very different creature to Prince Charles.”

William is, naturally, more casual than his father, says Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and author of 2024’s My Mother and I, about Charles’s relationship with his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Seward agrees William’s future coronation will be smaller than Charles’s, much like Charles’s was significantly smaller than his mother’s before him. However, Seward cautions, “There is a limit to how small you can make these ceremonies. If you make them too small, then they’re pointless.”