Published October 26, 2026
King Charles “adores” Prince William and believes that he would make a fine monarch in the future, but he has been left disheartened by the latest decision.
Prince William had inherited the Duchy of Cornwall from his father when he ascended to the throne in 2022. Charles had the estate for five decades, but William has made some big changes around.
As the monarchy goes through one of its toughest phases, William had taken the historic decision of selling a piece of land of Cornwall for various including tackling homelessness and climate change.
READ MORE: Future King William faces anger of locals after taking drastic decision
However, the reactions of the tenants have not been positive and the King has been left “dismayed” over the sale of the Bradninch estate, a friend of the monarch told The Observer.
“It’s absolutely not what the King would ever have done,” they said. “The King adores William, he recognises that he must be the Prince of Wales that he wants to be but that doesn’t mean he’s not sad.”
However, Charles’s “only hope” is that William sees through the wisdom of the last 50 years and understand the importance of keeping the rural communities together.
They believe it is “the backbone of Britain”. Sources revealed that Charles visited the area regularly when he was Prince of Wales and sent personal letters for condolences on someone’s passing and sent generous Christmas presents otherwise.
Meanwhile, William has never visited Bradninch to meet the tenants and there had been no contact from the Duchy for the Devon farmers who had suffered a lot this year.
“King Charles worked the room, he remembered us all. He was very emotional, he was in tears at one point,” one of the locals shared. “William walked in and straight up to the stage, they did their handover then he walked out.”
This comes after tenants expressed their grievances with the sale and noted that Charles was "fantastic" while they were deeply unhappy with how William has handled things.
Amid the many threats that the monarchy has been facing, this could prove to be a riskier move especially by a future King.
READ MORE: King Charles ready to take major risk amid new turmoil: ‘will not back out'