The Prince's Trust Fund

Prince William and Kate Middleton are finally engaged. The announcement has been heralded as a beam of unadulterated good news, something we should all be celebrating. However, as happy as I am for the prince and his new fiancée, I would advocate the signing of a prenuptial agreement.

This is not a harsh judgement on either of the royal couple as, in fact, they appear very comfortable in the public limelight and project an image of being very happy in each other's company. Nor is it an implication that Kate has any intention of waltzing off with half the crown jewels. It is just that there is nothing to stop the couple drifting apart as they did in 2007, when they temporarily split up. The significance is that it begs the question why a split cannot happen again ten, fifteen or even fifty years down the road. After the splendour of a royal marriage ceremony, the luxury of an exuberant honeymoon, and the raucous antics of a memorable stag do, fade into distant memory, will their relationship stand the test of time?

UK national statistics show that there is a distinct possibility that it will not, as 42 per cent of British marriages end in divorce. One may bluster that those are only statistics for the rest of us, that as royalty they must somehow be above such a depressing trend; such a belief, though, would be delusional. Recent royal history suggests the opposite is true: Princess Margaret divorced in 1978, Princess Anne in 1992; Prince Andrew separated with Sarah Ferguson the same year and, most recently in 1996, Prince Charles and Diana’s marriage ended in an acrimonious divorce.

With this in mind, it is not just a sceptical proposition to advise William to sign a prenup; it is making allowances for a real possibility. The prenup, thanks to a landmark case, will soon be legally binding in UK courts. This means that it will give William legal protection if such an undesirable outcome were ever to occur. Prince Charles should be the first person to remind him of this; due to his lack of a pre-nuptial agreement, his divorce settlement with Princess Diana was widely reported to give her an estimated £17 million. This reduced Charles to a far more humble financial standing. William has just as much to lose from any marital split; as the heir to the throne, vast swathes of property and assets may one day be in his name (Great Britain included) and without a prenuptial agreement stating otherwise, Kate would be entitled to her fair share if they were to part ways.

I apologise for raining on the royal parade. Hopefully no prenup will ever be needed. Of course it may appear illogical to anyone sincerely uttering the words ‘Til death do us part’ to be simultaneously elaborating the terms which you would potentially separate on, but under the intense glare of public scrutiny the strong bonds of marital love may melt. So if the future head of state wants to hold onto the larger part of his inheritance, he had better summon his lawyers to draw up a prenup before the wedding bells sound.