Prince William Hires Princess Diana's Lawyers in Surprising Break from King Charles 

Prince William is breaking away from the legal team that has represented the royal family for decades, according to a new report.

The Prince of Wales, 42, hired the lawyers who represented his mother Princess Diana in her divorce from King Charles.

A source told Richard Eden of the Daily Mail, "William wanted to strike out on his own. He did not want to continue using his father's lawyers. It’s as simple as that. He wants to be his own man."

A source described as a "friend" added, "William wants to do things differently from his father and wants to be seen to do them differently," according to the outlet.

A spokesman for William's office at Kensington Palace declined to comment to the outlet.

Prince William made the move away from King Charles' longtime legal team — Harbottle & Lewis and its partner, Gerrard Tyrrell — for Mishcon de Reya, which represented Princess Diana in her divorce from then-Prince Charles. The divorce was finalized in 1996, one year before Diana died in a Paris car crash when she was 36.

Harbottle & Lewis represented the British royal family during the 2006 News of the World phone-hacking scandal, which found that the newspaper took part in illegal phone-hacking, targeting voicemails of high-profile individuals including Prince William and Prince Harry. The case led to the outlet's closure.

Prince William has previously spoken about how he wanted to bring his own stamp to the monarchy.

Speaking with the BBC in November 2024, the Prince of Wales said, "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. 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."

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Last year, Diana's brother and William's uncle Charles Spencer hired Fiona Shackleton to represent him in his divorce from Karen Spencer. Shackleton is the same attorney that the then-Prince Charles used when he and Diana divorced.

Shackleton also represented Prince Andrew in his 1996 divorce from Sarah Ferguson, Paul McCartney in his 2008 divorce from Heather Mills and Princess Haya bint al-Hussein of Jordan in her split from Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum of Dubai.