Russell Myers: 'William faces a real test with unforgiving responsibility away from family'

As we fast approach the end of the year, with the winter jackets firmly out of the wardrobe and the dark nights drawing in, it's only natural that we pause for reflection on everything that has brought us to this moment over the last 12 months or so. It's not often we get to hear the royals speak candidly about their innermost thoughts and feelings. Yet, the Prince and Princess of Wales have together shown a new side to this ancient and sometimes archaic institution. In a particularly revealing interview, Catherine speaks of how nature carried her through her cancer recovery and how she has undergone a private battle, away from the headlines and focus of being a central figure in a family that has not been without his trials and tribulations in recent times. In hospital she was told that her recovery "would not be linear", warned there would be good days and bad days and that healing would take time. She likened it to the rhythm of the natural world, where rest and renewal matter just as much as growth. Nature, she said, had become her sanctuary, somewhere that asked nothing of her, passed no judgement and simply let her be. She spoke too of the hope that can be found even when times are at their darkest, and of how healing is something we share with others rather than face alone. The Princess's confession appeared as part of her husband's guest edit of Country Life, where he featured topics close to his heart including mental health in farming communities, a charity founded by a farmer saved from taking his own life by a neighbour, the fight to protect our pubs and his determination that women serving in the military feel safe and respected. But the most powerful pages belong to the people who keep rural Britain going, and the toll it can take on them. Running through it all is his support for those who live and work on the land through the Duchy of Cornwall and the Sandringham estate. Here lies the real test and one which William is up against. For the first time in his royal life, people’s homes, livelihoods and in some cases their wellbeing rest on decisions made in his name every single day. Charity patronages and royal visits can come and go. The Duchy does not, and the past four years have shown how unforgiving that responsibility can be. Just as Catherine, and the King, have had their own battles to consider, William now has responsibilities away from his family and the institution he will one day lead. But just as life, or recovery, is not linear, neither is this new role. William was bruised by a Dispatches investigation in 2024, which revealed the estate was charging the NHS, the armed forces, schools and charities, while this newspaper found Duchy homes riddled with damp and mould. William scrapped rents for lifeboat stations, village halls and school playing fields, but some would argue, he acted only after being caught out. The empty Dartmoor Prison, still earning the Duchy £1.5million a year after closing over dangerous radon levels, became another stick to beat him with. Only in June, almost two years after the doors shut, did he pledge to plough the rent back into Princetown, and so far a £250,000 community fund is all the village has seen. Only last month, tenants on the Bradninch estate in Devon, facing a sale that threatened homes and farms held for generations, turned on him in fury. One said he could “go to hell”. It took a Duchy apology and the promise of fresh valuations to calm tempers, and the sale is still going ahead. Of course William knows something about carrying responsibility for others. Whether in his role as a father, an army officer and later as a search and rescue and air ambulance pilot, he made decisions on which lives genuinely depended. The Country Life edition shows a man and a future king who cares deeply about Britain’s rural communities and those who make it tick. The real test is whether the families living on his land feel that care too. Harry's solo Remembrance service While the King and the Prince of Wales led the nation in remembrance at the Cenotaph, Prince Harry stood quietly among the crowds 70 miles away in the Northamptonshire market town of Brackley. Wearing his medals and a poppy, he arrived without fanfare, stayed throughout the service and chatted to locals afterwards. The chairman of Brackley Royal British Legion said he was overwhelmed by the significance of his presence. Whatever your view of the wantaway prince, few can question Harry’s right to be there. He served in the Army for a decade, completed two tours of Afghanistan, first as a forward air controller and later as an Apache helicopter pilot, and is the only senior royal of his generation to have seen active combat. His Invictus Games movement has given thousands of wounded veterans a reason to compete, recover and believe in themselves again. On that record alone, he has earned his place among those who remember. So should he be back at the Cenotaph, standing alongside his father, his brother and the veterans he has served with? It is the question we debate on this week’s Pod Save the King, available now on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Remembrance is sacred to the royal family, fixed in the diary every year and the one event that should be stripped of any personal drama. For many, Harry’s service should come first. For others, the damage he has done to his family, laid bare in interviews and a memoir, means the most solemn day in the royal calendar is the last place to test whether those wounds have healed. Epstein questions Fresh from winning control of Congress, Democrats are promising to “get creative” in helping British police investigate his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, including renewed demands for the unredacted files to be handed to Scotland Yard in full. Andrew has ignored a request from the House Oversight Committee to testify and, as a foreign national, cannot be forced to. He has always firmly denied any wrongdoing. But with Democrats taking charge in Washington from January, the questions are not going away, and nor is the shadow they cast over the King. The royal family’s “secret weapon” is at it again Barely a week after flying home from Antigua, and straight from Remembrance commemorations in London, the Duchess of Edinburgh was in Bangladesh on her sixth overseas trip of the year. At the Foreign Office’s request, Sophie visited the vast Rohingya refugee camps at Cox’s Bazar, championed the role of women in UN peacekeeping and picked up a stick with young female hockey players. While others make headlines for all the wrong reasons, Sophie simply gets on with it. Ministers trust her, charities value her, and the King knows exactly how lucky he is to have her.