Prince William has always had a close relationship with his father, King Charles (Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

 

It’s a highly difficult time for the entire Royal Family but Prince William in particular has a lot on his plate as he juggles his royal duties alongside being a parent to his three young kids all while supporting his wife, Kate Middleton through her preventative chemotherapy.

His father, King Charles is also being treated for cancer at the same time, leaving two of the most senior royals unable to undertake public duties at the current moment, meaning William’s engagements are more important than ever right now.

When the Princess of Wales announced she had been diagnosed with cancer in an emotional video message to the public, the monarch was one of the first to show his support for his “beloved daughter in law”.

It’s no secret that Kate and Charles share a very close relationship but a royal author has claimed that without a serious heart-to-heart conversation between William and his father , the Prince and Princess of Wales may never have even got together, the Mirror reports.

The future King has always been close with his family and often looked to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, and his dad Charles for advice and guidance.

Prince William had wanted to quit university in his first term but his father talked him out of it (Image: Tim Graham/Getty Images)
They have decades of experience of negotiating royal situations, tackling difficult diplomatic meetings and controlling family drama.

However, the 41-year-old hasn’t just gone to Charles for professional insight, he also confides in his dad when it comes to personal matters, including when he wanted to give up with university after just one term.

Royal author Robert Lacey claims that student life wasn’t quite what William had thought it would be, saying he “had not anticipated quite how ‘boring’ – his word – life in a small Scottish seaside town could be”.

In his new book, Battle of Brothers, he explains that William’s highlights of his uni life at the prestigious St Andrew’s University were “shopping in the local Tesco” as his nights out were “clouded” because all the other students were fascinated by him.

Lacey also claims that William wasn’t enjoying his original course, history of art and was coming home most weekends in his first term as he was so unhappy.

By Christmas he was ready to leave but when he arrived back in London in 2001 for the festive holidays, he told his dad he planned to quit and Charles convinced him otherwise.

William and Kate first started living together while they were students at the University of St Andrews (Image: Middleton Family/Clarence House via GettyImages)

According to Lacey, he asked Charles if he would work out a plan for him to withdraw and move to a different university as he was said to be eyeing up Edinburgh as an alternative.

The then Prince Charles spoke to one of his most trusted aides who said it would be a PR disaster if the young prince quit university after just a few weeks.

Lacey claims one of them said: “It would have been a personal disaster for William, he would have been seen as a quitter.”

There were also worries it could damage their relationship with Scotland as there had been a lot of excitement about the heir choosing to study there.

William’s late grandfather, Prince Philip, allegedly had a more direct response, reportedly saying: “William needs to knuckle down and not wimp out”.

Charles’s spin doctor, Mark Bolland, told Lacey: “It was no different from what many first-year students go through. We approached the whole thing as a wobble, which was entirely normal.

“St Andrews had a flexible course structure and when they heard that William might be happier majoring in geography, they made sure there were no roadblocks.”

The Prince and Princess of Wales are now happily married with their three kids (Image: DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
After working out a new plan, the aides came back to Charles and advised he should “demonstrate more fatherly backbone”.

Over the Christmas break, Charles did just that and sat his eldest son down for a heart-to-heart which seemed to work as William agreed to go back to St Andrews.

However, this decision changed more than just his education as if he had not returned to Scotland, he would never have fallen in love with his future wife and the mother of his children, Kate Middleton.

William has spoken about the “wobble” in the past, saying “I don’t think I was homesick, I was more daunted.

“My father was very understanding about it and realised I had the same problem he probably had. We chatted a lot, and in the end we both realised – I definitely realised – that I had to come back.”