There is a powerful school of thought that the Monarchy is best when it’s boring.

Prince William and Prince Harry

I would prefer to say, it has a duty to be boring to the extent that boring doesn’t trip over the toes of politicians.

However, I don’t believe that boring should apply equally to members of the Royal Family whose job it is to help the Monarch embody and unify the nation. Boring and invisible are not known unifying forces.

At present the Royal Family is keeping a very low profile. Its future, the two 20-something Princes, are buried deep in the Armed Forces, except for occasional forays into charitable activities, which by necessity, are boring.

If you write about Monarchy and Royalty, as we do here, there are very few Royal stories around.

Kate Middleton has popped into a very black hole, possibly allowing her to fade from public notice with dignity. If she ever pops out permanently on the arm of Prince William, it will be deja vu all over again, as some wit put it. In other words, boring.

Chelsy Davy has reportedly had a few flings during her former boyfriend’s absence on flying duties. Holidays in South Africa without Harry, and a new job in a London law office beckon. Boring doesn’t begin to cover it.

Prince Charles and Camilla stagger from one overseas PR disaster to another, giving the impression of a ragged and disputatious marriage — which it probably isn’t. Well, not all of the time.

Oh, and Princess Beatrice has got a new plait on the top of her head. Hold the back page!

It couldn’t be more boring, could it?

This wholesale retreat from public life is said to be a way of sharing the public’s new-found poverty. Rightly, photos of drunken Princes swaying out of £100-a-shot nightclubs are strictly off-limits now.

The Princes’ new team at St James’s Palace can hardly be expected to come up with new publicity stories while the “boys” are in the military, training for future under-the-radar roles.

Has the Queen fallen into the same trap that caused such consternation when Diana died? Locking the family away in Balmoral, while half the country was heaving with grief, was understandable for an ordinary family, but not for Royalty. Monarchy needs to be visible at low points in the national life. Future popularity depends on it.

The new austerity is a wise choice, given the appalling attrition many families are facing across the country. But a bit of Royal magic would go down a treat now.

I confess to a deep sense of foreboding as I write these words. For we are now being fed a picture of just how much the Monarchy will change under the reign of the present Prince of Wales.

Prince Charles holding a Kendo stick in Japan

Monarchies need to adapt and change, of course, and when a new personality ascends the throne it may be the ideal moment to introduce difficult and systemic changes into the old institution.

These innovations may come sooner than we think. There is a whisper going around that the Queen may pass the mantle of Monarchy to her son and heir when he is 65 — a mere five years from now. Last week we heard her refer to his future Kingship in public for the first time.

As if to drive the point home, a steady stream of leaks and suggestions is being released by credible media figures.

The country has been informed that Charles will keep his promise to drop the “Defender of the Faith” subtitle, for the looser, and therefore less-Christian, “Defender of Faith”. Any old faith will do, it seems, as long as you believe in something.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, spoke out recently against “destructive changes” being made to the old constitution, which has proved its worth over time. He clearly senses a disestablishment of the Church of England.

Last week, a close friend of the Prince, Jonathan Dimbleby, suggested that Charles could become an “active” King, speaking out on issues close to his heart, like climate change, education, architecture and conservation. The Irish and German Presidents were singled out as examples he may follow. Although they are neutral politically, they do get involved in day-to-day discussions on policy matters.

Prince Charles already boycotts Chinese leaders because of their treatment of Tibet. He once called them “appalling old waxworks”. Imagine the political fury if he refuses to attend a State banquet for the President of one of the world’s most powerful trading nations, as he has in the past?

The difference between the Queen and the Presidents of Ireland and Germany is that they are elected by a franchise of the whole population. They have legitimacy for activism — and therefore unpopularity — within their constitution.

British Constitutional Monarchs are expected to follow the convention that they can speak out in private at the weekly meeting with the Prime Minister and warn of future consequences. Other than that, the role is purely ceremonial, except as a last resort longstop against tyranny.

If a King Charles were to take on a Prime Minister directly, he would be swiftly marginalized by crafty and practised political infighters. He wouldn’t stand a chance. His humiliation would be complete, especially under a Labour government.

The Monarchy will not last long under those circumstances. Everything the present Queen has built up as the “unifier of the nation” would be lost. Politicians would begin by destroying what is left of our constitutional checks and balances — as Blair and Brown have gradually done for the past 10 years.

The package of measures Charles’s team of helpers are placing in the media, combined with the almost certain crowning of Camilla, could result in a serious dip in popularity for the Monarchy.

Other countries, over which the Queen now reigns, may decide to dump the Crown as well, leading to a crisis for the new King that could be impossible to contain.

His friend the 14th Dalai Lama was prophesied to be the last leader of Tibet. He is now an exile outside his country.

Will Prince Charles be the last Monarch of the United Kingdom, itself under threat from Scottish nationalism?

There are dangerous shoals ahead for the Prince. Shoring up what he has got may be a better path to Kingship than challenging the people’s representatives. In the end, influence is a more durable form of governance than power itself.

The News of the World has an article in today’s edition about Prince William’s “future training” to be King. If we bear in mind that the past three years of military service were a crucial part of that preparation, there’s nothing really new in this piece.

Normally the NOTW doesn’t have the best reputation for Royal stories, but this assessment has authority as it’s written by Robert Jobson, author of the excellent book William’s Princess.

There’s a broad hint in the piece that the Prince may not have time for a wedding next year because of his busy schedule learning to be a Monarch. Every year will be a hectic one for William from now on, so this is a bit disingenuous. He will have to find time somewhere along the line. Next year will probably be less arduous than most simply because he will be learning rather than doing the job full-time. It’s much easier to find a gap in a period of study than when carrying out engagements planned two years in advance.

Jobson lists William’s new schedule:

* Working at different Whitehall departments and being shown the inner workings of government by Privy Councillors, including former Prime Minister John Major.

* Lessons in the job of being King by constitutional experts such as Oxford don Dr Vernon Bogdanor.

* Learning to manage the Duchy of Cornwall, the landed trust he will inherit from Charles when his father becomes King.

* Running the Sandringham Estate — a job his grandfather Prince Philip has been doing for years.

* Solo tours of the Commonwealth, taking some of that burden from the Queen.

An aide is quoted as saying, “For the first time we have an established Monarch, an active and experienced Heir to the Throne and in Prince William and Prince Harry real youth appeal. The Prince Of Wales has had a long time to prepare for what will probably be a relatively short reign. Prince William has effectively got to get to grips with the job very quickly. It is a very different world to when the Queen ascended the Throne and she wants him to be prepared for what is to come. William too wants to make sure he is ready for any challenge that’s thrown at him.”

All this we have known for some time. Most of these activities can be accomplished fairly quickly, given the knowledge already gained over 26 years of being a Prince while watching his father and his grandmother performing their duties. Much of what William will need will be on-the-job experience — actually doing it for himself.

There has also been talk of him working in a newspaper office. It will be an asset for him to experience the difficulties involved in gathering, fact-checking, writing and publishing news stories to exceptionally short deadlines. It will allow him to be less censorious of the hard-working hacks who bring us the latest on … himself, for example. He will also understand the need to provide the press and broadcast media with unambiguous lines of information. Putting a heavy spin on every story quickly dissipates the credibility of the messenger.

Jobson quotes a senior courtier, “A key skill for him to learn, the Queen believes, is to disguise his feelings, like politicians. His father has never really managed to achieve this.”

William and Kate are expected to take a three-week break when his Royal Navy secondment finishes next week. I don’t imagine he will want to fly back to the Caribbean so soon after his deployment, so we may hear of a fresh destination for their holiday. I’m told Montana is very refreshing at this time of the year.

The article serves as a useful reminder of William’s schedule for the next two years. One thing’s for sure, there’s no obvious reason to postone that much anticipated Royal wedding.

The military should have taught Prince William how to make crisp decisions. Now is the time for crispness. Limpness is not an option.

Prince William is seeking his own personal press secretary. The prestigious appointment begins next year, suggesting that a major “change of use” is set to occur.

Until now William has relied on his father’s press office for spin-doctoring services, but clearly wishes to branch out on his own once he finishes his stint with the Armed Forces. With Prince Charles’s expensive media machine already in situ it’s hard to see why William would need his own office if he were planning to remain at Clarence House next year. The proposed appointment indicates he is planning to set up a home of his own.

The new press officer will cover the Prince’s day-to-day engagements and field questions about his private life. The successful candidate will need to be a top professional with knowledge of Royal affairs and a sensitivity to the political landscape. He or she could expect to receive a handsome remuneration package along the lines of Prince Charles’s arrangements and may even be paid by the Duchy of Cornwall.

With William’s Army career ending in January, it’s doubtful whether SAS officer Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton will continue in his job as his Private Secretary. By some accounts his main role has been keeping the exuberant Prince Harry out of trouble, while facilitating William’s workflow in the military. He may, of course, stay on as Prince Harry’s fixer and troubleshooter.

It looks as if 2009 will be a watershed for the second-in-line to the Throne. The same may be said of Kate Middleton. Even with more time on his hands, it’s unlikely William would set up a new household without Kate. It would inevitably lead to speculation that they had split up again.

The new look for William’s life has all the feel of a well thought-through plan organized by the military — as the best Royal events are.

A newly-independent Prince William, together with Kate, will cut quite a dash on the public scene.