Prince William often told his mother, Princess Diana, that he did not want to be king, but Harry would say he would have the job if William didn’t want it.
According to the Daily Mail, the British journalist and broadcaster Jeremy Paxman revealed on his Channel 5 documentary series, Paxman on the Queen’s Children (2019), that Diana once told her during a private lunch at Kensington Palace that when William was a child he often said “he didn’t really want to be king.”
However, “Harry would say, ‘If you don’t want the job I’ll have it.'”
According to the Royal Family website, William is the second-in-line to the throne while Harry is currently the sixth-in-line.
Harry is sixth-in-line to the throne after William’s children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
Charles, Prince of Wales, is the first-in-line to the throne.
Young Brits want Harry to be King over William
Although it appears unlikely that Harry will ever become king — being sixth-in-line to the throne — a survey conducted by Deltapoll earlier in March/April 2021 suggested that a higher proportion of young Brits wanted Harry to be king in place of William and Charles.
The survey results showed that 23% of millennials (aged between 24 and 40) said they preferred Harry to succeed the Queen. Only five percent of baby boomers, aged between 57 and 75, favored Harry over William and Charles.
The survey also found that Harry was more popular than William among Generations Z Brits aged between 18 and 24.
Twenty-three percent of members of Generation Z said they wanted Harry to be king, compared with 22% who said they wanted William to be king.
William and Harry are ‘further apart than ever’
The Sussexes’ announcement in January 2020 that they were stepping down from their positions as working members of the Royal Family sparked tensions between Harry and William.
The Megxit tensions escalated after Meghan and Harry made damaging allegations of racism and neglect against the Royal Family during their interview with Oprah in March.
Harry went on to criticize senior members of the Royal Family, including his father, Charles, on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard. He questioned Charles’s parenting skills and alleged that the Prince of Wales made him and William suffer as children.
He repeated the allegations against Charles on his Apple TV+ documentary series, The Me You Can’t See.
Harry further increased tensions when he announced on July 19 that he is publishing his memoir in 2022. The announcement rattled members of the Royal Family due to fears that Harry could use his memoir to launch fresh attacks against them.
Harry’s following in Diana’s footsteps by resorting to the ‘nuclear option’
Following news that Harry is planning to release a “tell-all” memoir in 2022, a royal watcher claimed that the Duke of Sussex is emulating his mother, Diana, by resorting to the “nuclear option” amid the Megxit crisis.
According to royal watcher Sarah Vine, Harry is following in Diana’s footsteps by escalating confrontation with the Royal Family instead of seeking an amicable settlement.
Vine claimed that Harry appears to have decided to do as much damage as possible to the Royal Family after he and his wife, Meghan Markle, quit their positions as senior working Royals.