Prince William has spent six months preparing a 300-page special issue of Country Life magazine, serving as guest editor for the commemorative edition published on November 11.
A colourful drawing of a kingfisher created by 13-year-old Prince George takes pride of place in the bumper issue. The teenager drew the bird perched on a branch at home in the spring when he was 12.
Prince George seems to carry on his relatives’ creative traditions, noting that the Princess of Wales took art for her A-levels and pursued an art history degree at university, while his grandfather, the King, is an avid painter.
The four images were drawn in a variety of mediums from charcoal to ink, though no details were released about who drew each one.
Inside the magazine, Prince William shares details about his private life, including family walks with the family’s dogs, Orla and Otto, and how his children love to get out and explore. As reported by OK! Magazine, he tells of his fondness for an occasional visit to the pub for a chat and a pint of cider with ice.
He also recalls growing up at Highgrove, the King’s Gloucestershire retreat, where he had to remember not to open the curtains before getting dressed because the garden was often filled with visitors.
As a major landowner through the Duchy of Cornwall estate—which spans 128,000 acres over 19 counties—the prince writes in the magazine’s leader column: The places you love best are not the ones you preserve unchanged, but the ones you keep quietly improving.
He further writes: One day, George, Charlotte and Louis may ask me what I did to help communities thrive… we didn’t simply imagine a better future, we helped build it, so that someone else could build further still.
The issue also features Aston Villa manager Unai Emery talking about leadership and discussing the importance of William’s support for the club. Emery noted of the prince’s fanatical support: It’s fantastic for us. If we can give him good news, good results or good moments in football, we are proud of it.
He commissioned Octavia Pollock to write an article exploring past injustices faced by servicewomen and future improvements.
The guest editorship drew criticism from the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, whose Smith argued that journalists should be scrutinising the heir rather than handing him editorial control, calling the move a dishonest PR exercise that undermines media independence and integrity.
Mark Hedges, Country Life’s editor-in-chief, instead described the prince as a formidable, hands-on guest editor who was very clear about how he wanted his issue to look right from the start.
William is the latest member of the royal family to edit the publication, following in the footsteps of King Charles—who guest-edited the magazine for his 65th birthday in November 2013 and his 70th in 2018—alongside Queen Camilla and the Princess Royal, who edited an edition for her 70th birthday in 2020.
Camilla’s 2022 guest edition to mark her 75th birthday became the biggest-selling issue of all time, featuring a front cover portrait taken by her daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales.
