Does Prince William calling for fighting to stop in Gaza herald a new era of royal frankness? Let’s hope so | Stephen Bates

Both his grandmother, the late Queen, and King Charles might have been more cautious. But judged right, it's a welcome strategy

What did he mean by that?" the devious 19th century Austrian statesman Prince Metternich is supposed to have muttered, when he heard that his equally wily French rival Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand had just died in 1838. It's a question also being posed after Prince William was heard yesterday calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible.

The words were hardly exceptionable: the prince, like every other civilised and sentient being, spoke of the terrible human cost of the conflict and the desperate need for increased humanitarian support as he visited the British Red Cross offices in London. Too many had been killed, he added, as he listened to first hand accounts directly from the charity's staff amid the rubble at the scene.

Stephen Bates, a former Guardian correspondent, is the author of Royalty Inc: Britain's Best-Known Brand and The Shortest History of the Crown