King Charles is a doting grandfather and is believed to care for all his grandchildren, and step-grandchildren, greatly. While it is believed the monarch, 76, would have been delighted when he first heard that his eldest son Prince William was set to become a father for the first time, it has been reported that he also had some concerns.
These concerns, addressed in Valentine Low’s new political book, Power and the Palace, were reportedly about whether Prince William and Princess Kate’s first child was going to be a boy or a girl. In the book, Low – who was a former royal correspondent – said that the King, who was Prince of Wales at the time, was concerned about the future of the monarchy if William had a daughter as his first child.
The author wrote that Charles was concerned about this and angered Richard Heaton, the former Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office, as a result.
This is because Charles invited Richard to Clarence House in 2012 to discuss the prince’s charities and their government ties, however the royal ended up quizzing him about the Succession to the Crown Bill.
It has been reported that Charles wanted to know all about what would happen if William’s first child was a girl, especially with the planned Succession to the Crown Bill, as his main concern was whether the royal house name of Windsor could be changed if a granddaughter who became monarch married.
As reported by Hello!, the example used asked whether the house would continue being the House of Windsor or if it could become the House of Smith, if she married someone with this surname.
It was also reported that Charles was concerned about the monarchy if William’s first child was a daughter – who would later become a Queen – and she married a Catholic.