The six eccentric royal traditions Prince William may do away with

This lack of sartorial peacocking will no doubt influence his reign. From the Order of the Garter procession, where participants wear velvet robes and plumed hats, to the coronation – where the monarch is swaddled in ermine – much of the royals’ dress code has been suspended in the proverbial amber since the Victorian era.

“I think William finds some of the pomp and circumstance, and particularly some of the more elaborate outfits, slightly embarrassing,” says Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, “and is likely to be relieved to be able to tone it down.”

Already, the staff at the Duchy of Cornwall have become accustomed to not donning ties when William visits, having previously always done so for Charles.

Meanwhile, the increasingly popular trend among royal women to do away with dreaded nude tights in favour of bare legs is only likely to accelerate when William is on the throne.

Rethinking some of the odder jobs

The British monarchy remains one of the few institutions where such roles as Keeper of the Swans and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports still exist. William has already hinted that he believes in a “slimmed-down monarchy”, a phrase that in practice will likely mean fewer working royals, fewer obscure job titles and a less labyrinthine court structure.

This may not mean jobs like herb strewer (who throws scented flowers in palace rooms and in front of the monarch as they walk) and yeoman of the china and glass pantry (who oversees the palace’s crockery collection) will vanish on day one of his reign. As he moves towards a leaner, more functional staff, roles might be amalgamated or simply not renewed when someone leaves.

“I’m all for cutting down tedious pointless things like someone reading out an address when it could just be a note – but the core support for the monarchy lies in people like those in livery companies, and William knows that, so it is a fine line,” Vickers says.

Cutting back on the deference

Anyone who has watched The Crown will know the elaborate rules around bowing and curtseying. Similarly, until very recently, visitors had to walk backwards through doors when they left the room to ensure they were always facing the monarch.

“I think that is something he will definitely want to change,” says Seward. “William would much prefer someone to say ‘good evening’ than be bowed to hundreds of times a day – and that goes for his children, too. Once they turn 18, he won’t want people bowing or curtseying to them either.”

This may even extend to the way he is addressed. “He always says, ‘Call me William’,” adds Seward, “and while the staff always call him ‘Your Royal Highness’, he is more comfortable when people address him as ‘Sir’ or by his first name.”

Updating Order of the Garter

With plumes rising from hats, grand velvet robes and glistening insignia, the Order of the Garter’s annual ceremony in June, when new companions are formally invested, is one of the more pomp-filled events on the royal calendar – and one of the most likely to be modernised.

“It is a big procession, walking down the hill into St George’s Chapel with the monarchy arriving by carriage,” says Seward.

“I think he might want to put more emphasis on the people who are getting the honours rather than the royals. I have a feeling that he thinks it all looks a bit ridiculous, like they are in fancy dress.”

Living in multiple houses

King Charles rarely stays in one place for more than a few weeks at a time, and when the Queen was on the throne, she moved her court to Sandringham, Balmoral and Windsor at various times of the year, often in conjunction with the shooting calendar.

William is highly unlikely to do the same, not least because there is the possibility that he will become king when his children are still at school, which will keep him in Windsor during school terms at the very least.

“He will base himself out of Windsor, and probably use Sandringham as his Norfolk base and Balmoral for Scottish trips, but his court and his life will stay very much in one place,” Seward says. “He certainly won’t feel the same sense of obligation that his father does to travel constantly to all these homes.”

Modernising day-to-day royal life

In a method of communication, the Queen would no doubt be baffled by the fact that William uses WhatsApp to talk to his staff about managing the vast Duchy of Cornwall estate. Similarly, he is likely to drop some of the more elaborate insignia that his father favours.

“Charles even has his paper napkins stamped with his royal cypher,” says Seward. “I don’t think William is going to want to do that. Maybe he would just keep his father’s cypher, but I can’t see him getting all the uniforms changed, and I think he might get rid of a lot of the unnecessary decorations on plates and glasses.”

Loading

Vickers agrees, adding that William is, without doubt, a man of his generation. “The joy of a hereditary monarchy is that each king or queen has new ideas that move things forward – and our monarchy has been very successful at that,” he says. “My advice to him is to try and do both: to be formal and informal; to modernise, but to every now and again ride in state and use the carriage because the people do love it.”

The Telegraph, London

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.