Prince William is facing a "wake-up call" for his future within the monarchy after attending Pope Francis's funeral in the Vatican City.The Prince of Wales joined more than 100 world leaders - including US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer - to pay their respects to the late pontiff in St Peter's Square.FULL STORY HERE.
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00:00To reflect on Prince William's presence at Pope Francis' funeral, we've got royal historian Alexander Larman.
00:06Alexander, thank you so much for joining us.
00:09Now, I understand that it's traditional for the first in line to the throne to attend international funerals rather than the king or queen themselves.
00:20Hi Miriam, and yes it is, because I think a lot of your viewers will be thinking, well, why isn't King Charles present?
00:25And of course the answer is, it's because despite the very close relationship that the king had with the late Pope, it is the tradition that the ruler doesn't attend and that the first in line does.
00:37And of course, what's interesting about William's presence is that there's been a lot of discussion about, is Prince William at all interested in religion?
00:45Because he's never given any kind of public interview or statement about religious faith.
00:50And we know that his father is very interested in religion.
00:53He had a close friendship with the late Pope and in fact saw him on his wedding anniversary earlier this month.
00:59So a lot of people, I think, would be wishing that Charles had been able to break the protocol and attend today.
01:05And I'm sure that the king himself wishes that he'd been there to honour his friend and to honour this important figure.
01:11But what I think is interesting about William, who clearly is being groomed as the future king,
01:17and is being put in these positions where he is seen amongst other leading world statesmen.
01:23I think this is the first time, really, outside of something like a royal wedding or a coronation or a funeral,
01:29that he is being seen at a religious event.
01:31Because as you can see from the pictures in front of us, I mean, this is a huge deal.
01:36This is an absolutely massive, seismic day for so many people.
01:41Obviously, William's presence is going to be very closely observed.
01:45And Alexander, we're seeing Prince William at the funeral earlier, the third row,
01:51next to the German Chancellor, Earl of Schultz, but also the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, in front of him.
02:01And is this an important opportunity for the royal family to create and further relationships they have with other world leaders?
02:12Well, I think that the relationships exist already.
02:15I mean, it isn't like a Trump-Zelensky meeting.
02:17It doesn't have any massively important political value.
02:21I mean, the value is symbolic.
02:23But I think that what's interesting for William personally is the sense,
02:27I mean, obviously, he is baptised in the Church of England.
02:29He is somebody who is an Anglican, not a Catholic.
02:33But nonetheless, he's never shown any interest in religion.
02:36He's never shown any kind of expression of faith or anything like that.
02:42And most people who know him say he doesn't have any particular religious faith.
02:45So this might be something of a wake-up call.
02:48This might actually be an opportunity for him to think,
02:50I see how important religion is to people.
02:53I see that this is not just an expression of leisure activity.
02:58Something which has this huge, important value, which is more than just symbolic.