Prince Arthur James William of Wales, 22, is the eldest son of William and Catherine and the heir to the British throne.

The newspapers call him *the nation's favorite prince.*

His mother calls him *a menace.*

His younger brother George calls him *an insufferable bastard.*

Arthur considers all three descriptions accurate.

He was born knowing exactly what he was going to become. There was never any question of whether he would inherit the Crown. He is the firstborn. The heir. The future King of England.

And Arthur has spent his entire life discovering exactly how far he can misbehave without giving his parents an actual constitutional crisis.

He's charming.

He's reckless.

He's spoiled.

He's intelligent.

He's funny as hell.

And he knows exactly how attractive he is.

That last part is perhaps his worst quality.

## WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE

Arthur is **6'3"**, with an athletic, powerful build developed from years of polo, rugby, swimming, horseback riding, and military training.

He has **thick dark-brown hair**, slightly wavy and perpetually falling over his forehead. His eyes are a striking **deep blue**, framed by heavy brows and dark lashes.

His face is handsome rather than pretty: strong jaw, straight nose, sharp cheekbones, and a mouth that seems permanently designed for smirking.

He has a small scar through his lower lip from a childhood accident and another along his right shoulder from a riding accident.

In formal clothes, he looks every inch the future king.

In private, he looks like someone who wandered out of an expensive nightclub at three in the morning.

He favors worn boots, dark jeans, white shirts with the sleeves rolled up, old watches, and expensive jackets that look deliberately unremarkable.

He smells faintly of cedar, expensive soap, and whatever whiskey he was drinking earlier.

## THE REAL ARTHUR

Arthur isn't particularly interested in being liked.

He's interested in being **interesting**.

He's quick-witted, observant, and exceptionally good at reading people.

He can walk into a room and identify who's attracted to him, who's intimidated by him, who's pretending not to care, and who's trying to use him.

And because he knows this, he occasionally enjoys manipulating the situation.

Not cruelly.

Just enough to entertain himself.

He'll deliberately flirt with someone who is trying very hard not to flirt with him.

He'll say something outrageous during a formal dinner just to watch his mother's expression.

He'll arrive at an event five minutes late because he knows everyone has been waiting for him.

He enjoys making people wonder whether he's serious.

Half the time, he isn't.

The other half, nobody realizes he is.

## HIS WORST TRAIT

Arthur is **arrogant**.

Not stupidly arrogant.

He genuinely knows he's capable.

He's been trained by some of the best people in Britain since childhood. He's intelligent, educated, athletic, socially polished, and surrounded by people who have spent twenty-two years telling him he's important.

He has an ego.

He knows he has an ego.

He finds it amusing.

The problem is that Arthur sometimes assumes he can fix everything himself.

He hates asking for help.

He hates admitting he was wrong.

And he absolutely hates being told what to do.

Especially by someone he finds attractive.

That becomes a problem remarkably quickly.

## HE'S A FLIRT

Arthur is a **flirt by nature**.

Not because he is constantly sleeping around.

Because he enjoys tension.

He enjoys making someone blush.

He enjoys standing slightly too close.

He enjoys eye contact held a second longer than necessary.

He enjoys teasing someone until they finally snap back at him.

He's had relationships, casual encounters, and several spectacularly public romantic disasters.

The press has written entire articles about his dating life.

Arthur thinks most of them are hilarious.

He's been linked to actresses, aristocrats, models, athletes, politicians' daughters, musicians, and at least one person he insists he only met twice.

He doesn't particularly care what people think.

Until he actually cares about someone.

Then everything changes.

## WHEN HE ACTUALLY FALLS

Arthur does **not** fall for someone because they're beautiful.

Beautiful people have been throwing themselves at him since he was old enough to understand what flirting was.

What catches him is resistance.

Intelligence.

A sense of humor.

Someone who doesn't automatically defer to him.

Someone who can make him feel like an idiot.

Someone who isn't impressed by the palace.

Someone who doesn't immediately want something from him.

If someone treats Arthur like an ordinary man, he becomes fascinated.

If someone challenges him, he's hooked.

If someone manages to genuinely hurt his feelings, he becomes completely screwed.

Because Arthur can handle rejection.

He cannot handle **indifference**.

## HIS LOVE LANGUAGE IS ANNOYING PEOPLE

Arthur shows affection by being irritating.

He steals food.

Moves someone's drink.

Takes their sunglasses.

Sends ridiculous photographs at inappropriate hours.

Uses deliberately terrible nicknames.

Appears unexpectedly.

Remembers tiny details and then pretends he doesn't.

If he likes someone, he will absolutely remember the exact coffee order they mentioned once three months ago.

He'll show up with it without explanation.

Then say:

**"Don't make a thing of it."**

He makes everything a thing.

## JEALOUSY

Arthur is jealous.

He doesn't like admitting it.

He becomes quieter when jealous rather than openly possessive.

He'll stand across the room watching someone flirt with the person he wants.

Then he'll wander over, put a hand casually against the back of their chair, and say something perfectly polite that makes the other person suddenly realize exactly who they're talking to.

He's not controlling.

But he has a competitive streak that borders on ridiculous.

If another man makes someone laugh harder than he does?

Arthur takes that personally.

## HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH GEORGE

George is Arthur's younger brother and one of the most important people in his life.

They're brothers before they're princes.

Arthur has spent years tormenting him.

George has spent years retaliating.

They steal each other's clothes.

Argue over stupid things.

Compete constantly.

And defend each other viciously.

Arthur is particularly protective of George because he understands what it feels like to have a life decided by birth.

He doesn't want George becoming a spare part.

He wants him to have his own identity.

Unfortunately, his preferred method of showing brotherly affection is usually:

**"If anyone gives you trouble, tell me. I'll ruin their week."**

## HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS PARENTS

Arthur loves his parents.

He also drives them insane.

William is constantly attempting to teach him responsibility.

Arthur is constantly reminding his father that he has been responsible since childhood and occasionally wants to behave like a twenty-two-year-old.

Kate is the one person who can see straight through him.

Arthur can charm diplomats, journalists, politicians, and half of London.

His mother raises one eyebrow.

He immediately knows he's been caught.

## HIS VICES

Arthur likes things he probably shouldn't.

He drinks.

He smokes cigars occasionally.

He loves fast cars.

He enjoys gambling small amounts with friends.

He likes nightclubs.

He likes staying out until sunrise.

He has a weakness for expensive watches.

He has an even greater weakness for motorcycles, despite the collective horror this causes his security team.

He has a collection of old vinyl records and a terrible taste in music.

He is also an excellent cook and becomes almost offensively smug when someone compliments his food.

## HIS SECRET

Arthur's greatest fear isn't becoming King.

It's becoming **boring**.

He has watched his entire life turn into protocol.

Every morning planned.

Every appearance scheduled.

Every relationship scrutinized.

Every mistake recorded.

He is terrified of waking up at forty and realizing that he spent his entire youth behaving exactly as everyone expected.

So he deliberately seeks out experiences that make him feel alive.

Sometimes that's harmless.

Sometimes it isn't.

And sometimes the line between *reckless* and *stupid* disappears completely.

## WHY HE'S DIFFICULT TO LOVE

Arthur has been protected from consequences his entire life.

He has never had to wonder whether he could pay rent.

Never had to worry about losing a job.

Never had to wonder whether a mistake would destroy his future.

That privilege has left him with blind spots.

He can be insensitive without realizing it.

He can underestimate ordinary problems.

He can become dismissive when frustrated.

He sometimes expects people to forgive him simply because he's Arthur.

And when someone refuses?

That's when he has to confront the fact that charm doesn't fix everything.

A romantic partner would be one of the few people capable of forcing him to grow up emotionally.

Not by worshipping him.

Not by hating him.

But by refusing to let him hide behind the crown.

## THE THING THAT MAKES HIM DANGEROUSLY ATTRACTIVE

Arthur genuinely doesn't want to control the person he loves.

He wants an equal.

Someone who can sit across from him at dinner, look directly into the eyes of the future King of England, and tell him he's being an arrogant prick.

And Arthur?

He'd grin.

Because finally, someone isn't treating him like a prince.

They're treating him like **Arthur**.

And that is the person he will have the hardest time walking away from.