Prince William's decision to give big interview during King Charles's birthday parade 'raised eyebrows at palace'

20 June 2023, 09:24 | Updated: 20 June 2023, 12:54

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

Prince William's decision to schedule an interview to come out on the weekend of King Charles' inaugural birthday parade "raised eyebrows" at Buckingham Palace, sources have said.

In an interview released over the weekend, Prince William said that he will launch a "really big project" to take on the issue of homelessness but details of the five-year project will remain under wraps until the end of the month.

"It's nerve-racking," he told the Times. "But I'm really excited. I've been waiting for the right time to do this."

The Prince of Wales' failure to mention King Charles's previous efforts to provide social housing has reportedly caused tensions at the palace, as has the timing of the interview.

William also caused further tension when a new Father's Day photograph was released for the Sunday papers, overshadowing King Charles' own efforts.

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"The timing of the interview will certainly have raised eyebrows at Buckingham Palace," a senior former palace official told MailOnline. 

"The interview and the Father's Day picture have blown His Majesty off the front pages on the weekend of his first King's Birthday Parade.

"It could have been sequenced better, especially given that the Duchy social-housing initiative isn't being launched for a while yet."

Read More: Prince William breaks silence on Harry feud with surprise admission

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In his bombshell memoir, Spare, Prince Harry said the palace would limit the number of media engagements they were able to carry out, causing tensions between William and his father.

An extract from the book reads: "Pa and Camilla didn't like Willy and Kate drawing attention away from them or their causes. 

"They'd openly scolded Willy about it many times."

One occasion, according to Harry, Kate was due to carry out a public engagement at a tennis club at the same time Charles and Camilla had planned their own.

Though it was too late to cancel, the now Princess of Wales was warned to tone down her appearance.

Harry goes on: "That couldn't be tolerated. 

"Told that it was too late to cancel the visit, Pa's press officer warned: 'Just make sure the Duchess doesn't hold a tennis racquet in any of the photos'."

It comes after William broke his silence on his feud with Harry, much of which was revealed in Spare.

William admitted that not everybody sees the point of the Royal Family and the public feud with his brother has "taken up far more airtime".

The Prince of Wales said that he appreciates that it is "hard sometimes to see what the family bring and what we do" but explained that the royals "help people where we can".

Read More: Prince William was 'completely unaware Prince Harry planned to reveal phone hacking payout until it was made public'

William and Harry have been locked in a high-profile feud which erupted into open warfare after the Duke of Sussex revealed private family matters in Spare.

Earlier this year Harry said that his brother had reached a £1million deal with the publishers of The Sun not to pursue his case.

This came after the brothers were kept apart at King Charles' coronation. Harry and Meghan have not appeared with the rest of the Royal Family since the Queen's Funeral last September.