In an attempt to end the debate over the issue of succession, Prince William has signalled that there is “no question” about whether his father will be the next monarch, despite his surge in popularity following his engagement to Kate Middleton.

Royal aides insist that Prince William has “no desire to climb the ladder of kingship” prematurely, following two recent polls by ICM and YouGov that found that most people believe he would make a better king than his father and think that Prince Charles should stand aside for his son.

A senior royal aide told The Sunday Telegraph: “There is no question in Prince William’s mind that the Prince of Wales will be the next monarch.

“Prince William is aware of the speculation, but he is very thick-skinned. He knows his place in the Royal family and he considers himself to be very low down the food chain. He has no desire to climb the ladder of kingship before his time.”

Royal sources also said that Prince William did not share his late mother’s view that he is more suited to the role of king than the Prince of Wales.

In 1995, Diana, Princess of Wales gave a candid television interview to the BBC in which she said that the role of king would bring “enormous limitations” to Prince Charles, and that Prince William may be better suited to succeed the Queen as monarch.

A royal source said: “Prince William is enormously proud of his mother and all her achievements, but that is so far off what he thinks. He is very close to his father and incredibly supportive of him and his work as the Prince of Wales.

“Both of them will let nature take its course. There is no suggestion from anywhere within the institution that a generation will be skipped.”

Prince William is known to be sensitive at being seen to encroach on his father’s role as heir to the throne and rarely attends official engagements with his father to avoid the spotlight falling on him rather than Prince Charles, 62.

But according to the YouGov poll, only 15 per cent of the public felt that Prince Charles would make a better king, while 56 per cent preferred Prince William.

Royal aides also confirmed that Prince William, 28, who works as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales, will not be stepping up his royal duties following his marriage to Miss Middleton next year, despite St James’s Palace receiving huge demand.

A royal aide said: “The Prince is not yet a full-time member of the Royal family – first and foremost he is an RAF officer – and he will continue in his role at RAF Valley until at least 2013.

“After that time, he may wish to continue in some role in the military, or begin his training for kingship, which may involve attachments to various government departments to learn more about constitutional affairs.

“Prince William has around 20 patronages, but that number is not going to increase in the near future because he does not want to overcommit while he has a full-time job in the RAF.

“Kate will be pursuing her own projects in time, but the plan is very much for her to be introduced to the role and shown the ropes, and not plunging in unprepared.”

Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, the Liberal Democrat peer and constitutional lawyer, said: “The mechanism of succession is not based on a popularity contest, so all the polls in the world about who should be the next monarch are irrelevant.

“The public need to accept that we have a monarchical system based on the medieval male descent principle where the crown passes from the monarch to the next direct male heir.

“I would certainly not expect the Prince of Wales to ever relinquish that right to the throne in his lifetime, nor would I imagine that Prince William would ever consider challenging it.”

Prince Charles’s future reign as king came under the spotlight recently when he suggested that the Duchess of Cornwall could be crowned queen.

Previously, it was believed that the Duchess would adopt the title of “Princess Consort” when Prince Charles becomes king.

The title was concocted by the last Labour government when the Prince married his second wife in 2005, amid concern that the public had not warmed to the Duchess and felt that the prospect of her becoming queen would not be accepted.

In an interview on American television, the Prince was asked if the Duchess would become queen, to which he replied: “That’s, well… we’ll see, won’t we? That could be.”

Although the Queen, 84, shows no signs of slowing down or reducing her royal engagements, it was announced last week that the Duke of Edinburgh, who will be 90 next year, is gradually to wind down his official commitments.