Prince William "won't do as much" as his father Prince Charles, despite giving up his job as an Air Ambulance pilot in favour of becoming a full-time royal.
Prince William
The 34-year-old Prince is set to throw in the towel at his current job as a helicopter pilot for the Air Ambulance service, but it has been suggested he won't use his free time to take on more royal duties than his father, 68-year-old Prince Charles, as he doesn't want to appear to be "elbowing his father out of the way".
A friend of Prince William told The Sunday Times newspaper: "Some people may question why William still won't do as much as Princess Anne but he is dead set on not queering his father's pitch.
"He sees that Charles will probably be in his seventies before he becomes king and he doesn't want to be seen as elbowing his father out the way."
Instead, sources claim Prince William - who has two children Prince George, three, and Princess Charlotte, 20 months, with his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge - will instead use his time to focus on issues that matter to him, such as tackling homelessness and raising awareness about mental health issues.
The royal demonstrated his interest in charity work last week when he visited a child bereavement centre and was seen comforting a young girl by telling her how he too had dealt with the death of his mother, Princess Diana, at a young age.
He told nine-year-old Aoife: "Do you know what happened to me?
"You know I lost my mummy when I was very young too. I was 15 and my brother (Prince Harry) was 12. So we lost our mummy when we were young as well.
"Do you speak about your daddy? It's very important to talk about it, very, very important."
Tagged in Prince Charles Princess Anne Prince William