Prince William and Harry may not be on the best terms at the moment, but it appears the brother do have at least one thing in common. In their teen years, the pair adopted the same habit, which they can still turn to today for a sense of control or escape - according to a former royal butler. The habit in question? A good old-fashioned drive.
'I remember William and Harry in particular used to love going out in their cars,' says former royal butler to The King and Queen, Prince Harry, and Prince William and Kate. 'All the royals seemed to really enjoy driving.'
In a life where almost every move is perfectly rehearsed and the schedule is tightly controlled, driving offers, 'a bit of normality and freedom for them really. They don’t get much normality, they don’t get much freedom,' says Grant, via Select Car Leasing. 'To be out driving, you are in control of it, you’re in charge.'
It's also worth noting that the Royal Family tend to live on large, spread out estates surrounded by land and countryside, so transport is also a necessity; 'You have to remember that most of their homes are very isolated so you can’t really get anywhere without a car.'
Grant worked for the Royal Family between 2007 and 2011 and remembers some of the first cars owned by the princes - and they're not quite what you might expect from royalty. 'Prince William obviously has his own cars now, but I remember he used to drive this funny little VW. I say funny, it was a nice car, it was just odd seeing the future King driving around in this pokey little car, very similar to what normal young men were driving at the time. He also had a Ford Focus at one point. Harry had the Smart car.'
And when it came to getting their driving licences for the first time, Grant explains that the process was similar to many families. 'They’re very much like the rest of us in this sense, it’s their parents plus a professional instructor from the local area. The instructors have to be checked and vetted of course, but after that it’s just like it is for everyone else. The Royal Family tend to stick to the same people for stuff like this to save having to run vetting multiple times, so there is a good chance the same people taught William, Harry, Zara and Peter, and possibly also Beatrice and Eugenie.'
It appears that a love of driving is something that Prince William and Harry have inherited from their father, King Charles. 'The King would often prefer to drive himself than using a chauffeur. If he was going to an official engagement he would use a car, but apart from that he would just drive himself wherever he needed to go,' says Grant.
