Ah. No, it was all his own doing. He was a consummate perfectionist, and he expected the same of all those around him. Particularly his "children", who were essentially an extension of himself.

[And which would be worse, he wonders idly. To know that one's father could have changed things at any time and simply didn't, or that he was just as powerless as everyone else? Food for thought, indeed.]

You're a prince, then. Yet you don't insist on being regarded as such?