William and Kate want to be known by first names, NOT titles in a major makeover

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Prince William and Kate Middleton wanted to address what “went wrong” on their recent Caribbean tour, and wanted to modernize the monarchy and ax bows, curtseys and other stuffy royal protocol

Prince William and his wife Kate are being addressed by name NOT title in a major upheaval in royal protocol.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge want to avoid stuffy formalities – including curtseys and bows – on duty.

A royal source said they were motivated by their disastrous Caribbean tour.

The source said, “They want to be more approachable, less formal, less stuffy and break with a lot of tradition.”

The Sunday Mirror has learned the prince is planning to tear up the rulebook to ‘move with the times’.

After the couple’s disastrous Caribbean tour, William must focus on a streamlined, modern monarchy to ensure its survival.

A source revealed: “When the team arrived back in London, the couple had a debrief with helpers.

“They went through everything and highlighted specific things that went wrong and how they can improve to move forward.

“The general consensus was that the tour felt dated, out of touch, overly formal and stuffy.

“So now it’s more like ‘Wills and Kate’ rather than ‘Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’… ‘Just call me Wills.’

“They want to try to avoid the bows and curtseys in public, to be more approachable, less formal, less stuffy, and to break with a lot of tradition and focus on a modern monarchy.”

William and Kate were rocked by criticism of their Caribbean tour in March – heralded as a PR disaster.

There were imperialist undertones as the pair shook hands with well-wishers standing behind a metal cage fence in Trenchtown, Jamaica.

Capturing public sentiment at the time, a Twitter user posted: “Everything about it is wrong.”

And author Omid Scobie, who co-wrote Finding Freedom – about Prince Harry and his wife Meghan – wrote: “Fans climbing walls, reaching through railings etc. is nothing new – seen it on every tour.”

In contrast, our source said Harry and Meghan were perceived as “down to earth, normal people” when they attended the Invictus Games in Holland last month.

It was the week-long tour of former British colonies that made William, 39, and Kate, 40, realize the need for modernization.

The couple were criticized for standing up in an open-top Land Rover during the first Commissioning Parade on March 24.

It was seen as an embarrassing blast from the past.

Demonstrators gathered outside the British High Commission in Kingston, singing traditional Rastafarian songs and holding up banners calling on Britain to apologize for its involvement in the slave trade.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told William and Kate during a photoshoot that his country wants independence from the Commonwealth and to address “unresolved” issues.

William, in a speech at the Governor-General’s residence, did not address calls to remove the Queen as head of state.

But he said he agreed with a statement by his father, Prince Charles, that “the appalling atrocity of slavery stains our history forever”.

William also spoke of his “deep sadness” at the institution of slavery, which he believes should never have existed.

Our source said the general consensus from the tour was that pushing old royal traditions was “foolish” and the couple wished they could go back in time and do things differently.

The source added, “If they could wave a magic wand and go back in time, they would change almost everything about the Caribbean tour.

“William and Kate are both now very aware that for certain parts of the world and for younger generations, the monarchy is a symbol of colonialism and a bygone era.

“Well it seems silly to have celebrated that and pushed royal traditions during the tour.

“One of the big mistakes they found was mimicking the military parade of the Queen and Prince Phillip standing in the open Land Rover.

“Looking back, the team decided that this was one of the main symbols that showed the royal family hadn’t changed and moved with the times. It has portrayed a very elitist and aloof monarchy and that can no longer be the image it should portray in order to survive.”

According to our source, William and Kate are “perceived as the royal stars” – and the Queen believed the younger generation of royals would “consolidate the monarchy’s position worldwide and secure the Commonwealth”.

The source added: “It was a shock to all of them. A real eye opener. This led to institutional changes within the monarchy. Otherwise they just wouldn’t survive.”

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The Sunday Mirror also understands that there are future plans for “an overhaul of the entire monarchy, with the rules and traditions that surround it, including Charles and Camilla”.

But the establishment’s focus for now will be “on William and Kate so they can represent the future of the monarchy”.

Jamaican officials previously said their government is studying the process of constitutional reform to become a republic.

Last year she announced that she would seek compensation from Britain for the forced transport of an estimated 600,000 Africans to work on plantations.