From his new beard to snapping selfies and buying a round of drinks at the bar, Prince William has become more relatable than ever this past year. And according to a royal expert, his new approach to the monarchy would have made Queen Elizabeth extremely proud.

“For a while now, William has been putting into action the way that he intends to do the job,” former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told OK! magazine. “And that, as he now made clear, is royal with a small ‘r.’ You could say that the small ‘r’ also stands for relatable, because that is what he is showing himself to be.”

Bond continued, “I think he gets quite a kick out of surprising people—by taking calls in a restaurant, serving people from burger stalls, or dropping into a pub to buy a round of drinks,” adding that the Prince of Wales likely “finds it refreshing to be able to interact without all the fuss that generally goes with a royal visit.”

She also noted that William’s new shift in attitude is “extremely effective” from a publicity standpoint. “It’s important for the Royal Family to be in touch as much as possible with the way ordinary people feel,” Bond told the outlet. “I think by deliberately cutting down on the need for deference, William is finding a clearer path to understanding public opinion. And I think his late grandmother would very much approve.”

As Bond points out, Queen Elizabeth once remarked: “deference can obscure the truth,” adding, “in her golden wedding speech she compared the way governments and the monarchy have to judge public opinion.”

“She said: ‘That consent, (of the people) or the lack of it, is expressed for you, Prime Minister, through the ballot box…For us, a Royal Family, however, the message is often harder to read, obscured as it can be by deference, rhetoric or the conflicting currents of public opinion. But read it we must.'”

Last year, Prince William revealed his future plans for the monarchy when he becomes king, explaining that he will be toning down the pomp and circumstance and injecting more empathy into his strategy.

“It’s hard to describe what that is all about, but I can only describe what I’m trying to do, and that’s I’m trying to do it differently and I’m trying to do it for my generation,” he said during his November 2024 trip to South Africa. “And to give you more an understanding around it, I’m doing it with maybe a smaller ‘r’ in the royal, if you like, that’s maybe a better way of saying it.”