On the heels of Disney’s announcement they plan to make a “coming-of-age” TV film based on the teenage life of Prince William, St James’s Palace has made it known they do not support the project. The proposed biopic would dramatise the life of the young Prince from the time of his mother Princess Diana’s death through to the present.
“We think this is deeply insensitive,” said a senior Palace official. “Prince William is only 19. We would rather it was not happening.” The Prince of Wales reportedly intends to ask those around William not to cooperate with the production, though, added the official, “Real friends do not need to be told.”
Executive vice-president of Fox Television David Madden seemed to anticipate some controversy when his company announced the project on Monday. “Any time you go near the royal family… it terrifies you that you’re going to do something that will feel exploitative,” he said. “We basically took the tack that we were going to do a true coming-of-age of a kid who is going through, in some ways, all of the things that every kid goes through.”
Tentatively titled Prince William, the film begins shooting in Britain and Ireland this summer, and will be shown in the US in October.
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