As published on Blog do AMaury Jr./Splash UOL

Since it premiered on Apple TV+, The Reluctant Traveler has become one of the most surprising travel shows. With Eugene Levy — a self-proclaimed reluctant traveler — at the helm, the charm lies in the contrast between grand settings and the host’s comic, restrained, and sometimes uncomfortable gaze. But no episode of the series has generated as much anticipation as the one arriving now: the visit to the United Kingdom, where Levy meets Prince William at Windsor Castle.

The anticipation is immense because William rarely puts himself in this position. How many times have we seen the heir to the British throne, alone, in something close to an exclusive interview? This may well be the first. And although the setting is carefully controlled — no journalists, no unexpected questions, in a light entertainment show — emotion pours out, from both Levy and the Prince, when the subject is family, fame, and the crown.

The connection between the two emerges quickly in a conversation about loss. Eugene Levy lost his home in the California wildfires. William recalled the Windsor fire of 1992, the trauma of watching the flames on television at the age of ten. In this unlikely parallel — a Canadian actor and the future king united by the experience of destruction — the episode finds its humanity. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a castle or a bungalow. The pain is still there.”

Family is at the center of everything. Of his grandfather, he recalls the laughter: “He was incredibly amusing — sometimes not deliberately, sometimes by accident. But there was always calm, there was always a laugh, there was always a family feel.” Of his grandmother, the memory is inseparable from the place: “For me, Windsor is her. She loved being here. She spent most of her time here.” Speaking of his father, vulnerability came through: “I’d say 2024 was the hardest year I’ve ever had. Trying to protect Catherine, the children, and at the same time support my father… but he’s old enough to look after himself.”

About Catherine, he was direct and emotional: “Catherine is in remission now. I’m very proud of my wife and how she handled everything.” It is one of the rare times William admits to the gravity of an intimate moment, exposing the tension between his public role and private life.

When it comes to his children, he spoke like any other parent, almost with relief: “When you have three small children, sleep was a very important part of my life recently.” He revealed Charlotte plays netball and does ballet, George loves football, and Louis is obsessed with the trampoline. None of them, he added, has a mobile phone: “Sitting down and talking at the table is very important.”

Of his brother, he mentioned the name only once, but the allusions to past wounds are constant: “I hope we don’t go back to some of the practices of the past, that Harry and I had to grow up with.” A short line, but heavy with resentment and lessons learned. William doesn’t address his brother’s accusations directly, but when he speaks of “my family” and of setting limits with the press, the scars are visible. “The damage it can do to your family life is something I vowed would never happen to mine.”

And, finally, the crown. Asked if he thinks about his destiny as king, William answered: “It’s not something I wake up in the morning thinking about. What matters is being authentic, being myself. The roles can’t own you — you have to own them.” Perhaps the most revealing line of all: a prince trying to reconcile tradition with the urgency of change, without losing his own identity.

In the end, the episode doesn’t deliver explosive confessions, but something rarer: a human William, speaking of loss, love, pride, and limits. And the realization that, yes, in a controlled setting, he allowed himself to show far more than he usually does.

Key Excerpts

Riding a scooter at Windsor

“I’m always late, so I thought this was the way to keep my meetings on time. I’m still regularly late. Anyway, I see I’ve managed to give myself a puncher this morning, which is quite amusing. So that’s why I was going so slowly up the road.”

Levy jokes: “A prince on a scooter. He’s certainly not afraid to roll with the times.”

On being a fan of American Pie

“All the American Pies. Oh, yeah, I’m afraid I was. I was in that generation.”

On acting as a Windsor Castle guide

“Usually my tour’s rubbish. If you want to know about history? I’m not the guy, by the way.”

About Eton College and visiting Queen Elizabeth II

“If I could get away in the evening when there was nothing else going on, I’d come around, have a bit of tea with her, because she had the best teas ever. So I used to get well fed, I’d come around, just have a chat with her and see how she was, and just sort of, you know, check in, see how she was doing, have a chat about family stuff, a bit of work stuff, maybe sometimes about what was going on. Mostly just to tell stories, really, about whatever I was up to“.

“I had a good relationship. My grandparents were of a different generation. I think when we were younger, it was harder to have that very close relationship because it was quite formal. But as they got older and I got older, it got warmer and warmer. And I definitely think my relationship was best with my grandparents when they were more in their sort of 80s, when they sort of relaxed a little bit”.

“My grandfather was incredibly amusing, sometimes not deliberately, sometimes by accident, okay. But we had a lot of laughs and he had a great sense of humour, as did my grandmother as well, actually. But my grandfather definitely was the one who created quite a few laughs, and it was, you know, it was happy times. There was always a warmth, there was always a laughter, there was always a family feel. And my grandparents loved having the family around them, so we were always encouraged to turn up and be around”.

About making the Queen and Prince Philip laugh

“You had to be careful about your timing and who it was about, so you had to sort of. You had to pick and choose your moments to make them laugh“.

About missing his grandmother

“I do miss my grandmother and my grandfather. Yeah. It’s been quite a bit of change. You think about them not being here anymore, and particularly being in Windsor. For me, Windsor is her.”

On her portraits and photographs

“I think she felt it was a little bit more part of the job, part of the role is to historically mark those moments. And I think she preferred being painted than she did being photographed.”

On childhood games at Windsor

“St. George’s Hall is one of my favourite parts of the whole castle. My cousins and I and the family would chase each other up and down here and do silly games. I remember these carpets weren’t here. And there are a couple of spots where you still have to watch out because you get massive splinters. Because the old floor was so old wood note. This was just a wood floor. This is a really dark wood note floor. So when you. When you went running off, you’d end up coming away, and you’d have an enormous splinter. Everyone be like, stop, stop and someone had a splinter saw that big in their foot. So now it’s a lot easier. My children don’t realise how lucky they are. They’ve got a big old carpet they can run down, and there’s no splinters. So we come in after hours and chase each other around.”

On the weight of history

“Other things overwhelm me. But not history. No. Because I think if you’re not careful, history can be a real weight and an anchor around you, and you can feel suffocated by it and restricted by it too much. And I think it’s important to live for the here and now. But also, I think if you’re too intrinsically attached to history, you can’t possibly have any flexibility because you worry that the chess pieces move too much, and therefore, no change will happen. And I like a little bit of change.”

“I want to question things more. I think it’s very important that tradition states and tradition has a huge part in all this. But there are also points where you look at tradition and go, Is that still fit for purpose today? Is that still the right thing to do? Are we still doing and having the most impact we could be having? So I like to question things, is what I’m really getting at.”

“I think stuff to do with family overwhelms me quite a bit, you know, worry or stress around family side of things, that does overwhelm me quite a bit. But in terms of, you know, doing the job and things like that, I. I don’t feel too overwhelmed by that. Not now, anyway. When I was younger, yeah, there are bits that overwhelm you a bit, like, whoa, are we actually doing this? Is this sort of happening? But with. With time and age, I think you feel a bit more settled in that side of things, and you go, actually, I could do that. And even a few curveballs come in. That doesn’t necessarily overwhelm me. When it’s to do with family and things like that, then that’s where I start getting a bit overwhelmed, as I think most people would, because it’s more personal, it’s more about feeling, it’s more about upsetting the rhythm, if you like“.

On the Windsor fire, age 10, with Diana

“I still remember I was having my dinner at home in Gloucester with my mother, and I saw my father on television with my grandparents, taking everything out of the castle. It was all over the news at the time. I was 10. The time you’re watching it, when it’s on television, you feel it’s a film. My grandmother, my grandfather, my father came as well. I think my aunts and uncles came here too, and they were all part of the team, like a sort of human chain, taking stuff out of the casks as quickly as they could”.

About his daily routine and prioritizing family

“I do try and stick to some school timetables as best as possible. So most days we’re in and out of school doing pickups and drop offs. Getting the balance of work and family life right is really important because for me, the most important thing in my life is family”

“Everything is about the future. If you don’t start the children off now with a happy, healthy, stable home, I feel you’re setting them up for a bit of a hard time. So it’s about making sure that we can look after our families and look after our children in a way that we feel is best for their future.”

“I think it’s really important that that atmosphere is created at home. You have to have that warmth, that feeling of safety, security, love, that all has to be there. And that was certainly part of my childhood. My parents got divorced at 8, so, you know, that lasted a short period of time. But you take that and you learn from it and you try and make sure you don’t do the same mistakes as your parents. I think we all try and do that. I just want to do what’s best for my children, but I know that the drama and the stress when you’re small really affects you when you’re older. It’s really important that atmosphere is created at home. You have to have that warmth, that feeling of safety, security, love, that all has to be there. And that was certainly part of my childhood.”

On home life

“When you got three small children? Sleep was an important part of my life recently, and now, luckily, they’re a certain age where, unless they’re ill, they do sleep pretty well, so that’s a bit of a relief. But when you’ve got three small children growing up and they’re waking up at all sorts of the night, it is quite exhausting, as every parent will tell you“.

On George, Charlotte, and Louis

“None of our children have any phones, which we’re very strict about. Louis loves the trampoline, so he is obsessed by trampolining. And actually, Charlotte does a lot as well. As far as I can tell, they just end up jumping up and down on the trampoline, beating each other up most of the time. Apparently, there is an art to it. Charlotte does her netball as well and her ballet, and so keeping them busy with sports and just being outdoors is really important. They’re trying to learn musical instruments. I’m not sure how successful we’re being with that. George loves his football, his hockey”.

On Catherine and King Charles’s health

“Things are good. Everything’s progressing in the right way, which is all good news. I’d say 2024 was the hardest year I’ve ever had. Trying to sort of balance protecting the children. Catherine. My father needs a bit of protection, but he’s, you know, he’s old enough to do that himself as well. But it’s important that my family feels protected and has the space to kind of process a lot of the stuff that’s gone on last year. And that was tricky, trying to do that and keep doing the job. But, you know, we all have challenges that come our way, and it’s important to kind of keep going“.

“I enjoy my job, but sometimes there are aspects of it, such as the media, the speculation, the scrutiny. They’ll make it a little bit harder than other jobs, and it’s just making sure that that doesn’t overtake and intrude into areas. The damage it can do to your family life is something that I vowed would never happen to my family. And so I take a very strong line about where I think that line is. And those who overstep it, you know, I’ll fight against. I understand that in my role, there is interest. We have to work with the media; they’re all there. So you have to have a grown-up situation with it as well. And it’s about knowing where the line is and what you’re willing to sort of put up with.”

“Everyone has their own coping mechanisms for these sorts of things. And children are constantly learning and adapting. We try to make sure we give them the security and the safety that they need. And we’re very open families. We talk about things that bother us and things that trouble us, but you never quite know the knock-on effects it can have. And so it’s just important to be there for each other and to kind of reassure the children that everything’s okay“

On his future as king

“It’s not something I wake up in the morning and think about, because to me, being authentic and being myself and being genuine is what drives me. And then you can attach whatever labels and kinds of roles that come on top of that. But if I’m not true to myself and I’m not true to what I stand for and believe in, then kind of, it doesn’t really matter who you are, it gets lost. I take my, my roles and my responsibilities seriously, but it’s important you don’t feel they own you, you have to own them.”

On George, one day, being king

“It’s an interesting question, and it’s a big question because there are lots of things to think about with that. But obviously, I want to create a world in which my son is proud of what we do in a world and a job that actually does impact people’s lives for the better. That is caveated with. I hope we don’t go back to some of the practices in the past that, you know, Harry and I had to grow up in, and I will do everything I can to make sure we don’t regress in that situation.”

On the future of the monarchy

“I think it’s safe to say that change is on my agenda. Change for good, and I embrace that, and I enjoy that change. I don’t fear it. That’s the bit that excites me, is the idea of being able to bring some change. Not overly radical change, but changes that I think need to happen.”

“We’d been very lucky. We hadn’t had many illnesses in the family for a very long time. My grandparents lived to the, you know, the high 90s, so they were. They were the vision of fitness and stoicism and resilience, if you like. So we’d be very lucky as a family. But I think, yeah, I think when you suddenly realise that the rug, if you were the metaphorical rug, can be pulled from one of your feet quite quick at any point, you maybe think to yourself, it won’t happen to us, we’ll be okay. Because I think everyone has a positive outlook. You’ve got to be positive. But when it does happen to you, then, yeah, then it takes you into some pretty, you know, not great places”.

“I am optimistic. I’m generally a very optimistic person, but life is sent to test us as well. And definitely, it can be challenging at times, and being able to overcome that is what makes us who we are. I’m, you know, I’m so proud of my wife and my father for how they’ve handled all of last year. My children have managed brilliantly as well“.