King Charles 'very jealous' of Princess and Prince William 'stealing his limelight'

King Charles is “very jealous” of Prince William and Princess Kate “stealing his limelight” but has reached a compromise with his son and daughter-in-law, one royal author has claimed.

The frank assessment of Charles’ rule comes five months after he was crowned King at Westminster Abbey.

The historic day raised profound questions over what his reign would look like and how it would compare to his mothers.

But it also raised questions over the role William – the future king – and his wife Kate would play under his reign.

The uncomfortable reality is that the king-in-waiting is stealing some of the incumbent’s thunder, opines Clive Irving, author of The Last Queen and royal columnist at The Daily Beast.

He explained: “There’s a great deal of feeling that William understands the mood and the reality on the ground far more than Charles ever will.”

The King has come up with a workaround, however – one that acknowledges the Waleses’ popularity while retaining a controlling stake, claims the royal author.

Mr Irving explained: “They worked out a kind of accommodation of how much limelight each is going to be allowed, because Charles is always very jealous of of other people stealing his limelight.

“He’s worked out a deal now, whereby William and Kate can have an allotted percentage of the limelight.”

According to the royal author, it’s unclear the exact percentage but “maybe 40 percent [for the Waleses’] and he keeps 60 percent. That seems to be the working arrangement”.

Polling suggests the King would be wise to give his son the lion’s share of the limelight.

A recent poll conducted by YouGov found that 74 percent of Britons view the Prince of Wales favourably – the highest of any royals.

The survey was carried out to gauge attitudes in the country towards the monarchy ahead of the first anniversary of the late Queen’s death.

A more surprising result is that William’s wife is now trailing her hubby in the popularity stakes.

It was Princess Anne – not Kate – who took second place in the YouGov poll.

The poll found that 63 percent of Britons have a positive view of her, and she is followed by Kate – who was previously behind William – at 62 percent.

The previous YouGov survey had her popularity at 65 percent, this time last year it was 68 percent.

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