Speaker 1: Disclaimer. King William is a work of speculative fiction. It
Speaker 1: dramatizes public figures and public events using imagined dialogue and scenes.
Speaker 1: It is not reporting and does not assert factual claims
Speaker 1: about private conduct, motives, or future events. References to real titles, places,
Speaker 1: and procedures are for context. Where needed, details have been
Speaker 1: altered for dramatic purposes. Nothing here is intended to harm
Speaker 1: anyone's reputation. Listeners should treat all non historical scenes as
Speaker 1: fictionalized calarogu shark media.
Speaker 2: The text message arrived at Thursday lunchtime, the kind of
Speaker 2: casual notification between friends that had become impossible since William's accession.
Speaker 2: Villa versus Newcastle Sunday. Good seats available if you're interested.
Speaker 2: Mike William stared at his phone in the Windsor Study,
Speaker 2: remembering when such invitations had been simple pleasures rather than
Speaker 2: complex security calculations. Aston Villa versus Newcastle United at Villa
Speaker 2: Park exactly the kind of match he would have attended
Speaker 2: without question during his years as Prince of Wales. Now
Speaker 2: as King, even a football match required advance planning, security sweeps,
Speaker 2: and careful consideration of public optics. I want to go,
Speaker 2: William said to Catherine, showing her Mike Tyndall's invitation Sunday
Speaker 2: afternoon at Villa Park. Normal seats, normal crowd, normal experience.
Speaker 2: Catherine recognized the tone not just desire for entertainment, but
Speaker 2: desperate need for connection to the ordinary life that Kingship
Speaker 2: had systematically eliminated. William's freedoms had been disappearing one by
Speaker 2: one since his accession, each restriction justified by security concerns
Speaker 2: or constitutional requirements. What does security say, Catherine asked, though
Speaker 2: she suspected she already knew the answer. I haven't asked
Speaker 2: them yet, William admitted. I wanted to convince myself it
Speaker 2: was possible before having that conversation, But even as he spoke,
Speaker 2: William understood that spontaneous decisions had become impossible. Every public
Speaker 2: appearance required advance coordination, threat assessments, and careful management of
Speaker 2: crowd control. The days when he could simply decide to
Speaker 2: attend the football match were gone forever. His private secretary
Speaker 2: arrived for their afternoon briefing, carrying the usual stack of
Speaker 2: constitutional correspondents and scheduling requests. William waited until the routine
Speaker 2: business was concluded. Before mentioning the Villa invitation Sunday's match,
Speaker 2: William said, carefully, Villa Park, I'd like to attend. The
Speaker 2: Private Secretary's expression shifted immediately from routine efficiency to careful
Speaker 2: concern your Majesty. That would require significant advance planning, security
Speaker 2: sweeps of the stadium, coordination with local police, crowd management protocols.
Speaker 2: Or I could just buy a ticket and sit in
Speaker 2: the stands like any other supporter, William suggested, knowing even
Speaker 2: as he spoke that the suggestion was impossible. Sir, if
Speaker 2: something were to happen to your Majesty at a football match,
Speaker 2: and I'm not saying it would, but security planning requires
Speaker 2: considering all possibilities, we would face constitutional crisis, the Private
Speaker 2: Secretary explained carefully. William felt the familiar tightness in his
Speaker 2: chest that accompanied reminders of how his personal choices affected
Speaker 2: national stability. Explain his Majesty already knew the answer. Your
Speaker 2: heir is not yet of age. If your Majesty were incapacitated,
Speaker 2: we would need a regent. Your brother is in California
Speaker 2: and has complicated relationships with the institution. Your uncle is disgraced.
Speaker 2: The realm would face genuine constitutional difficulty. The mathematics were
Speaker 2: stark and unavoidable. William's death or incapacitation would trigger regency
Speaker 2: procedures that could create exactly the kind of institutional crisis.
Speaker 2: His reign was designed to prevent Harry's estrangement, and Andrew's
Speaker 2: disgrace meant there were no obvious alternatives if William were
Speaker 2: unavailable to fulfill his constitutional duties. So I can't attend
Speaker 2: a football match because my family relationships are too complicated
Speaker 2: to provide constitutional backup, William said, his voice carrying bitter
Speaker 2: recognition of the impossible position he occupied. Your Majesty can
Speaker 2: attend football matches, the Private Secretary corrected, diplomatically, with appropriate
Speaker 2: advance planning, security coordination, and risk assessment, Sunday's match simply
Speaker 2: doesn't allow sufficient time for those arrangements. William understood the logic,
Speaker 2: but understanding didn't diminish the frustration of watching normal experiences
Speaker 2: disappear behind security requirements and constitutional obligations. The crown that
Speaker 2: gave him authority also imprisoned him within constraints that previous
Speaker 2: monarchs might not have faced so acutely. Welcome to King William,
Speaker 2: Season two, Episode six, security. The security briefing that afternoon
Speaker 2: made the constraints even clearer. William sat in the secure
Speaker 2: conference room at Windsor listening to threat assessments and protection
Speaker 2: proto calls that reduced spontaneous human experiences to mathematical risk calculations.
Speaker 2: Current threat levels remain elevated following the Andrew interviews and
Speaker 2: Republic's rally activities. The security coordinator explained consulting reports that
Speaker 2: detailed every potential danger to royal safety. Public appearances require
Speaker 2: minimum seventy two hours advance notice to implement appropriate protection measures.
Speaker 2: What specific threats are we talking about, William asked, though
Speaker 2: he wasn't sure he wanted detailed answers. General anti monarchy
Speaker 2: sentiment has increased following recent family controversies. Some rallies have
Speaker 2: attracted individuals with more extreme views about constitutional change. Social
Speaker 2: media monitoring shows increased hostile commentary about royal privilege and
Speaker 2: institutional relevance. William processed the information with growing frustration. His
Speaker 2: uncle's unauthorized interview who hadn't just damaged the monarchy's reputation,
Speaker 2: they had created security complications that further restricted royal movement
Speaker 2: and accessibility. So Andrew's stupidity doesn't just harm our public image,
Speaker 2: William observed grimly, it actually makes me less safe to
Speaker 2: appear in public. Controversial royal coverage always increases security concerns,
Speaker 2: the coordinator confirmed. Negative publicity generates hostile sentiment that can
Speaker 2: translate into actual threats to royal safety. Catherine joined the
Speaker 2: briefing as they reviewed specific protocols for public appearances, her
Speaker 2: presence immediately shifting the room's energy from pure security focus
Speaker 2: to more holistic consideration of royal engagement needs. What about
Speaker 2: smaller venues, Catherine asked, less prominent events, where the security
Speaker 2: footprint could be managed more discreetly. Sporting events are particular challenging,
Speaker 2: the security coordinator explained, large crowds, multiple access points, difficulty
Speaker 2: controlling spectator behavior even with advance planning. Football matches present
Speaker 2: elevated risk compared to controlled ceremonial appearances. William felt the
Speaker 2: weight of irony pressing down on him. He had become
Speaker 2: king to serve the people, but serving the people required
Speaker 2: avoiding the kind of normal interactions that would demonstrate his
Speaker 2: connection to ordinary life. The villa invitation specifically, William pressed,
Speaker 2: what would it actually require to attend Sunday's match. The
Speaker 2: security coordinator consulted his assessment materials with obvious reluctance, stadium
Speaker 2: security sweep beginning Friday morning, coordination with West Midland's police
Speaker 2: for crowd control and route management, Advanced positioning of protection
Speaker 2: teams throughout the venue, Discrete evacuation procedures in case of emergency,
Speaker 2: media coordinat to manage coverage of your Majesty's attendants, which
Speaker 2: would turn a simple football match into a major royal event.
Speaker 2: William concluded, exactly the opposite of what I'm trying to achieve, Yes, sir,
Speaker 2: the security requirements inevitably create the kind of formal royal
Speaker 2: occasion that might defeat the purpose of casual public engagement.
Speaker 2: William stood and walked to the window, looking out at
Speaker 2: the Windsor grounds where his children played under the watchful
Speaker 2: protection of security personnel who made normal childhood experiences impossible
Speaker 2: for his family as well. What if I went anyway,
Speaker 2: William asked, quietly, not turning from the window. What if
Speaker 2: I simply decided that some risks are worth taking. The
Speaker 2: question created uncomfortable silence in the room. Security personnel were
Speaker 2: trained to prevent royal risk taking not to facilitate it.
Speaker 2: The suggestion that the King might act against security advice
Speaker 2: challenged their fundamental professional obligations. Sir, the security coordinator said carefully,
Speaker 2: that would put protection personnel in an impossible position. We
Speaker 2: couldn't prevent your Majesty from making that choice, but we
Speaker 2: couldn't provide adequate protection without advance preparation. And if something
Speaker 2: happened to me because I insisted on attending a football match,
Speaker 2: William continued, still facing the window, the entire constitutional system
Speaker 2: would be blamed for allowing royal recklessness. The mathematics of
Speaker 2: kingship continued to constrain every personal desire with institutional consequences
Speaker 2: that affected millions of people who would never know their
Speaker 2: lives depended on William's careful choices about personal safety. Catherine
Speaker 2: moved to stand beside him at the window, understanding that
Speaker 2: her husband was processing more than just frustration about missing
Speaker 2: a football match. The security concerns are real, Catherine said, quietly,
Speaker 2: But so is the need to demonstrate that monarchy remains
Speaker 2: connected to ordinary life, rather than isolated by privilege and paranoia. Balance,
Speaker 2: William said, bitterly, always balance, accessible enough to remain relevant, protected,
Speaker 2: enough to avoid constitutional crisis, normal enough to be relatable,
Speaker 2: formal enough to maintain authority. The briefing concluded, with standard
Speaker 2: protocols in place, no attendance at Sunday's match without proper
Speaker 2: advance planning, which meant no attendance at all. Given the
Speaker 2: timeline constraints, William's desire for normal experience had been efficiently
Speaker 2: processed and rejected by the machinery of royal protection. That evening,
Speaker 2: William sat with Catherine in their private sitting room, reviewing
Speaker 2: the day's constraints while their children played upstairs under the
Speaker 2: supervision of protection officers, who ensured that even family time
Speaker 2: occurred within security parameters. I feel like I'm disappearing, William
Speaker 2: admitted to Catherine as they discussed the football match. Disappointment
Speaker 2: not physically, but as a person who makes choices based
Speaker 2: on what I want rather than what protocols permit. Catherine
Speaker 2: understood his frustration in ways that even sympathetic advisers could not.
Speaker 2: She had experienced her own version of shrinking personal autonomy
Speaker 2: as royal responsibilities expanded, but becoming queen had accelerated those
Speaker 2: constraints exponentially. The Villa match matters because it represents something larger.
Speaker 2: Catherine observed, the ability to make spontaneous choices, to have
Speaker 2: experiences that aren't choreographed for constitutional purposes exactly. William agreed.
Speaker 2: Mike sends a casual invitation between friends and it becomes
Speaker 2: a security briefing about constitutional mathematics and threat assessments. When
Speaker 2: did normal human interaction become so impossible? His secure phone
Speaker 2: buzzed with an evening message from Mike Tindall, no worries
Speaker 2: if Sunday doesn't work, maybe next season when things are
Speaker 2: less complicated. William stared at the message, recognizing Mike's diplomatic
Speaker 2: acknowledgment that royal attendants had become too complicated for casual
Speaker 2: friendship invitations. Another relationship constrained by the demands of kingship,
Speaker 2: Another normal experience sacrificed to constitutional requirements. What if I
Speaker 2: just went, William asked, suddenly, the idea crystallizing as he spoke.
Speaker 2: What if I bought a ticket, drove myself to Villa
Speaker 2: Park and said in the stands like any other supporter.
Speaker 2: Catherine's expression showed she was processing both the appeal and
Speaker 2: the impossibility of the suggestion. The security risks are overblown,
Speaker 2: William interrupted his frustration, finally finding focus. I'm not the
Speaker 2: first monarch to take calculated risks for important purposes. My
Speaker 2: grandmother drove ambulances during the war, my grandfather served in combat.
Speaker 2: Maybe some things are worth the security concerns. Your grandfather
Speaker 2: and grandmother took risks when the monarchy's survival depended on
Speaker 2: demonstrating shared sacrifice. Catherine pointed out, carefully, is attending a
Speaker 2: football match equivalent to those situations. William considered her question seriously,
Speaker 2: understanding that she was testing whether his desire for normalcy
Speaker 2: justified genuine security risks to the constitutional system. William said slowly,
Speaker 2: if the monarchy becomes so isolated from ordinary life that
Speaker 2: people can't relate to it, if we're so protected that
Speaker 2: we seem irrelevant to normal human experience, then we lose
Speaker 2: legitimacy in ways that no amount of security can protect against.
Speaker 2: Catherine nodded, recognizing the logic while understanding the risks. But
Speaker 2: if something happened to you at Villa Park, if the
Speaker 2: security fears proved justified, then your children would inherit the
Speaker 2: throne decades earlier than planned. While the monarchy dealt with
Speaker 2: the trauma of preventable royal death. The conversation continued late
Speaker 2: into the evening, William and Catherine weighing personal desires against
Speaker 2: constitutional responsibilities, while understanding that even their private discussion of
Speaker 2: security concerns carried implications for the institution they led. Sunday morning,
Speaker 2: William said finally his decei vision, crystallizing after hours of consideration,
Speaker 2: I'm going to Villa Park, not as a formal royal visit,
Speaker 2: not with advanced security sweeps, just as someone who supports
Speaker 2: Villa and wants to watch them play. Catherine studied his face,
Speaker 2: recognizing the determined expression that indicated William had moved beyond
Speaker 2: consideration to commitment. How she asked practically, Mike's invitation mentioned
Speaker 2: good seats available. William explained his plan taking shape as
Speaker 2: he spoke, I'll contact him directly, ask him to arrange tickets,
Speaker 2: drive myself to Birmingham and attend the match as his guest.
Speaker 2: Your protection detail will be horrified, Catherine observed, they'll adapt,
Speaker 2: William replied with new confidence. Their job is to protect
Speaker 2: the King, not to prevent the King from living like
Speaker 2: a human being. The decision felt both reckless and necessary,
Speaker 2: a test of whether William could retain some personal autonomy
Speaker 2: while fulfilling constitutional obligations, whether the monarchy could remain connected
Speaker 2: to ordinary life while managing legitimate security concerns. Sunday's match
Speaker 2: would be more than football. It would be a statement
Speaker 2: about what kind of king William intended to be, whether
Speaker 2: royal life required complete surrender of normal human experience, or
Speaker 2: whether some aspects of ordinary existence could be preserved despite
Speaker 2: the crown's constraints. If this works, Catherine said quietly, if
Speaker 2: you attend the match without incident and the public responds positively,
Speaker 2: it could change how we think about royal accessibility and
Speaker 2: security balance. And if it goes badly, William acknowledged, it
Speaker 2: becomes evidence that royal recklessness endangers constitutional stability. The stakes
Speaker 2: were higher than a simple football match, but William felt
Speaker 2: certain that some risks were worth taking if they preserved
Speaker 2: essential connections between monarchy and the people it served. Sunday
Speaker 2: at Villa Park would test whether the King could remain
Speaker 2: recognizably human while bearing the weight of the crown. The
Speaker 2: decision was made. Now came the challenge of implementation without
Speaker 2: creating the kind of security crisis that would prove his
Speaker 2: critics right about royal judgment and institutional responsibility. Text mic back,
Speaker 2: William said to Catherine, his voice carrying new determination, tell
Speaker 2: him I'll take those seats for Sunday's match. The security
Speaker 2: protocols could adapt, the constitutional mathematics could accommodate calculated risk,
Speaker 2: and perhaps, for ninety minutes at Villa Park, William could
Speaker 2: remember what it felt like to be simply a football supporter,
Speaker 2: rather than a king whose every choice carried implications for
Speaker 2: national stability. The match was three days away. Whether it
Speaker 2: would prove to be brilliant risk taking or dangerous royal
Speaker 2: recklessness remained to be seen. But for the first time
Speaker 2: since his accession, William was going to do something because
Speaker 2: he wanted to, rather than because protocols permitted it. The
Speaker 2: freedom felt both terrifying and essential. Next time on King
Speaker 2: William William's secret plan to attend Villa Park unfolds as
Speaker 2: he slips away from royal protection for a few hours
Speaker 2: of ordinary life. Spotted by fans in the crowd, photographs
Speaker 2: emerge of the King looking genuinely happy for the first
Speaker 2: time in months. What should have been a security disaster
Speaker 2: becomes a pr triumph as the public embraces their normal
Speaker 2: bloke king. But as William savors his successful rule breaking,
Speaker 2: troubling news arrives that will force the royal family into
Speaker 2: yet another crisis. Sir, we've received word Prince Harry is
Speaker 2: coming to London. King William is a production of Caloroga
Speaker 2: Shark Media executive producers Mark Francis and John McDermott. This
Speaker 2: is a work of speculative fiction extrapolating on what has
Speaker 2: happened with previous royal transitions and the public personas of
Speaker 2: the people depicted. Portions of this program were made with
Speaker 2: the help of AI. While no one truly knows what
Speaker 2: happens behind closed doors, we've taken dramatic license to create
Speaker 2: an entertainment series based on public information and historical precedent.