Prince William gave several interviews to royal rota reporters when he was in Cape Town, South Africa. He complained about how 2024 has been “brutal” and “the hardest year of my life.” He also spoke to Roya Nikkhah at the Times of London, and he was asked specifically about his royal work and whether he would ever work more. He claimed that he wants to approach his work with “a smaller r in the royal” and how he’s “trying to do it differently and I’m trying to do it for my generation.” Because William rarely gives interviews, his comments actually garnered some international headlines. I was skimming NBC News’ coverage of his interview, and I ended up barking with laughter because NBC spoke to Republic’s Graham Smith, and they included his comments within their coverage. Like… the American media is not buying anything to do with the Incandescent Egg.
Elaborating on what [small-r royal work meant to him], Prince William said that “it’s more about impact philanthropy, collaboration, convening and helping people. And I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well, because I really care about what I do. It helps impact people’s lives. And I think we could do with some more empathetic leadership around the world.”
William has thought about how he might make his mark and approach things differently in both his current role as the Prince of Wales and, one day, as king, NBC News royal commentator Daisy McAndrew said. “He will be all too aware of how dangerous it is for the royal family to be seen to be out of touch or aloof and hence the emphasis on empathy and emotional intelligence,” she said.
British tabloids offered positive coverage, with The Mirror describing William’s comments as a “huge royal shake-up” and The Sun splashing: “MONARCHY WITH EMPATHY.”
But the comments have not received a universally warm response. Graham Smith, CEO of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, told NBC News of the heir to the throne: “His ‘r’ couldn’t get any smaller, to be honest. He barely does anything at all. He’s an incredibly lazy man who manages to get a pretty small splashing of engagements to look like he is busy.”
Prince Harry’s decision to step away from royal duties and his subsequent move to the United States has fueled a public conversation about the monarchy’s relevance and future in Britain.
“What Harry has done is shown that royals can walk away and do the right thing under their own steam. They can fund their own lifestyles and get celebrity endorsements and do just fine,” Smith said. “So why his brother feels that he needs to hang on to the titles and the status and the public money, I think, is a question that is only highlighted by Harry’s departure.”
LMAO. “His ‘r’ couldn’t get any smaller, to be honest. He barely does anything at all. He’s an incredibly lazy man…” Graham Smith is getting bolder in his critiques of the Windsors. I like that he name-checked Harry too, using Harry as an example of someone who walked away from the royal trappings and did just fine. In my previous story, I even said that William sounded like his idea of “small-r royal work” sounds a lot like what Harry does right now, as a Montecito-based philanthropist and humanitarian. Which is interesting, isn’t it? Because for William, the whole point of *everything* is that he wants to lord it over Harry. William wanted the status, the slumlord money, the royal trappings, but he only wanted that stuff because he thought Harry would be jealous. Instead, William is the jealous one and desperately trying to copy everything Harry does.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- The Prince of Wales and Chairman of Wrexham AFC Rob McElhenney share a drink during a visit to The Turf public house at Wrexham AFC in Wrexham, to hear about how it plays a key role as a hub for the local area, and the support it provides to local causes Featuring: William, Prince of Wales, Rob McElhenney Where: Wrexham, United Kingdom When: 01 Mar 2024 Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales pours a pint with Chairman of Wrexham AFC Rob McElhenney during a visit to The Turf public house at Wrexham AFC in Wrexham, to hear about how it plays a key role as a hub for the local area, and the support it provides to local causes Featuring: William, Prince of Wales, Rob McElhenney Where: Wrexham, United Kingdom When: 01 Mar 2024 Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales during a visit to The Turf public house at Wrexham AFC in Wrexham, to hear about how it plays a key role as a hub for the local area, and the support it provides to local causes Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Wrexham, United Kingdom When: 01 Mar 2024 Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales during an event co-hosted by Bafta and the Royal African Society, at Bafta, in Piccadilly, London, to celebrate young creatives and showcase the importance of supporting young people in the film, games and television industries Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales catches a football as he attends a community event hosted by NFL Foundation UK in London. The organisation focuses on tackling challenges faced by young people in some of the most deprived communities across the UK, through the provision of NFL Flag, a fast paced, inclusive and easy to access American Football format. Picture date: Tuesday October 15, 2024. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales during an event to meet young environmentalists from across Africa and Southeast Asia who are taking part in the inaugural Earthshot Prize Climate Leaders Youth Programme, at Rooftop on Bree in Cape Town, on day one of his visit to South Africa, ahead of the fourth annual Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Cape Town, South Africa When: 04 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales during an event to meet young environmentalists from across Africa and Southeast Asia who are taking part in the inaugural Earthshot Prize Climate Leaders Youth Programme, at Rooftop on Bree in Cape Town, on day one of his visit to South Africa, ahead of the fourth annual Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Cape Town, South Africa When: 04 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales meets with the 2024 Earthshot Prize finalists during a visit to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, on day three of his visit to South Africa for the fourth annual Earthshot Prize Awards. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Cape Town, South Africa When: 06 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales visits Kalk Bay Harbour, Cape Town, to speak to local fishermen and highlight the contributions of 2023 Earthshot Finalist Abalobi, on the last day of his visit to South Africa. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Cape Town, South Africa When: 07 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
He’s not lazy! He is “listening and learning “ so hard, really!
He married his enabler also.
Yes he married Princes Dolittle. We know they are lazy. Report on their problem “marriage”. Report on whe she really had to go into hiding . Tell us something we don’t know.
Yes, that’s been obvious for a while now, to me at least. He married Kate because she was equally as lazy and wouldn’t challenge him; also because of her and her mother’s desperation to ensnare him into marriage. It was no love match. There is a saying that goes something like this. Show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are.
@tessa, this reminds me of what Queen Mary was supposed to have said about George VI before he married. He was reportedly a weak-willed, party-going layabout and his parents were concerned; and, Queen Mary was to have said something to the effect of the type of man he will be will depend upon the woman he married. I.e., an enabler or someone who will actually want to get things done. The laziness runs in the family. As does the temper. George VI was allegedly a screamer too!
Sounds like points Willard has to check off from his “Copy-Everything-Harry” to-do list:
1) must look impactful
2 must be empathetic
3) must look like a leader
4) must look like I care about my wife
Thing is, the Heir is lazy and inauthentic as all get out!
Yeah….like: “throw some empathy in there.” JEEBUS CHRISTUS!!!!!
this dude is all lazy and has no fight in him. Protests will not end monarchy, im sure he’d be willing to end it himself without a fight, he KNOWS it’s a losing one anyway: he has no plans to make it big because of his limited competence, he is slumlord-rich to oblivion and like harry said, trapped with a title that comes with work expectations. Why the F would he be passionate about spending all his time “working”, thinking listening learning about peasants. He and the Kontract Uterus OBVIOUSLY do not have any ambitions for WORK. They’re in it for the vacations, the nice jewelry, shopping, weekends in the countryside, photoshopping family pics, the feeling of superiority, in an idyllic entitled bubbled rich secluded little life among aristocrats, making jokes about their subjects
You either have empathy or you pretend, William will have to pretend, and judging by the look on his face in parts of the over cancer video, he is not very good at pretending
The way he says, “I’m gonna throw empathy in there as well” comes across as so blasé and offensive to me.
His whole sentence about empathy, which is being focused on and having feelings for what others are going through, is full of “me” and “I”. He couldn’t find empathy if it came up and punched him in the face.
Seriously, like he’s sharing a recipe. Empathy is not something you decide to have and use, it’s either in you or not. How can William be the son of Diana and obviously not understand on a fundamental level?
I was around during the Diana years, what she did for people with AIDS should never be forgotten. It was brave, and one of the most empathetic moments I have ever witnessed, and William wants to “throw” some empathy around?
I mean this sincerely, they need to gag this man. He makes the entire U.K. look bad, and he’s the flipping mascot!
He refers to empathy in such an unempathetic way. ‘Let’s throw in some empathy’….he makes it sound as though empathy is a brick he is proposing to lob at us.
For anyone who needs it today, this clip of Mark Ruffalo teaching Murray from Sesame Street about empathy is the best antidote.
https://youtu.be/9_1Rt1R4xbM?si=eiSPYlqjllSMgvIB
Love it! (And could you imagine William doing something like this? He’d implode!)
I think he missed out the comma between the m and the p when talking about his em, pathetic leadership
@Gill
LOL Brilliant! (as the brits would say.)
Here to second Kingston’s LOL Brilliant! This was clever.
“I don’t think that word means what [he] thinks it means”.
— Inigo Montoya
This is why they want Harry to be deported so badly. He’s interesting, charismatic, and a hard worker so that generates plenty of interest stories which is a positive for the press because it’s not going to be huge productions every 6 months that don’t go anywhere. They are tired of trying to make a story out of one event from 4 months ago. That’s why they spend so much time writing articles now about things Harry said in Spare or Meghan on The Tig like it’s new. This also provides cover to the lazy heir and his even lazier wife, to do what they’re doing now but with less of a spotlight. Also, Graham Smith is correct in the biggest issue as to why Harry can’t be successful without the backing, security, and funds of the Royal family. Because if that’s possible that means that the real talent lies in the person not the environment. And why should the average citizen pay for you to live out your fantasy.
And William doesn’t really want Harry’s life. Then he would actually have to do some work. Royalty gives him cover to be this lazy.
Exactly.
In addition to laziness, I think W has had an epiphany as to his job skills and the real world. Small r royalty fits him just fine.
Exactly! He’s jealous that Harry has a happy life with a wife who adores him, and vice versa, but he could not do one day of the work Harry does. I bet he thinks Harry and Meghan hired private courtiers to do all their work for them. He doesn’t get that Meghan was a full adult in charge of her life and business when she married Harry.
And why would he, he thinks it’s normal that Carole Middleton still controls Kate. What a toxic hive.
“So why (Prince William) feels that he needs to hang on to the titles and the status and the public money, I think, is a question that is only highlighted by Harry’s departure.” This is the reason why Royal rota treats Harry so appaulingly, writing lies and gaslighting the reading audience. Harry is a direct reminder the Royals are out of time and out of place in the 2000’s. And the tax paying people don’t benefit at all. Only the Royal rota does. By clicks. Which are currently provided by Harry.
Yep. Since the Sussexes left the Rota and Royal family have been doing everything they could to try to sabotage the lives, livelihood and charitable endeavors of the Sussexes. How dare they show that they don’t need public funds to thrive and help others!
Egg William and kkkhate want nine of it. Like Harry said, they are trapped.
Huh, at this rate it doesn’t look like 2025 will be any less brutal for him.
Well done, Eurydice. That’s the most succinct burn I’ve seen in awhile 😆💥
OUCH. And on NBC! How’s that American takeover going William??
And the thing is…..he’s not wrong, obviously. William is incredibly lazy, incredibly out of touch (“I’m just going to throw empathy in there as well” – you’re not making a soup William), incredibly entitled and incredibly privileged.
The privilege part isn’t the problem for me. Lots of people in this world have different levels of privilege and are still good people who acknowledge that privilege and try to make something out of it.
Its the laziness, the out of touch part, and the entitlement that are the issues and I think the palace is less capable of hiding it.
Agreed @Becks1 unfortunately KP know Will is lazy, headstrong and entitled and it is backed in now at 42. In this speech he could have shown gratitude to the medical staff who are looking after his dad and wife and announced a large donation to both cancer research and cancer charity plus promising to stop profitting from the duchy charging hospital and charities. Actions speak louder than words and fawning tabloids and KP spin won’t be able to hide that Will does not have the stamina to work full time.
It’s a dilemma, really. When William isn’t working, that leaves the press with an opening to analyze his flaws. When he does work, he’s so bad at it that he just exposes more flaws.
He could continue being lazy and just put some of his ill-gotten gains about to do the work for him and people would view him more favorably.
Charles is super privileged and entitled too, but he was clocking in 400 to 500 engagements per year, and was doing more than his elderly mother as her health was declining. At 42 Charles was going through marital issues but still doing hundreds of engagements.
William has maybe clocked 200 engagements once in his entire adult life. This year he barely will make 100. His father will have done far more while undergoing cancer treatment. That’s why William can’t be taken seriously a 42 year old working less than his older father with cancer.
Charles has many faults but he’s continued the work his mother did and no one questioned her sense of duty either. (Within the scheme of doing royal work of course)
William wants to change things because he just doesn’t want to do anything.
Also it’s a joke to pretend he has empathy. Targeting your brother and sister in law in public using the media against them is the complete opposite of empathy.
Exactly! The privilege and entitlement don’t explain the extreme laziness.
Nailed it! He wants the trappings but not the work that goes with it. He and Kate want to be like her parents except with status and wealth and no jobs.
And I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well, because I really care about what I do. – That’s not empathy. I would characterize that as selfishness, even narcissism.
Of the many, many books he couldn’t be bothered to read a dictionary is clearly one of them.
Once again, this fool never lets the petty parts of me down. Keep this same energy Willwont. “I’m going to throw in empathy…” can he REALLY be saying that? As sounding like, we should be blessed by the addition of empathy from HIM … he only went ahead and sounded like either a used car salesman who, just for you threw in an extended warranty OR a late night infomercial host who, for the low-low price of $19.99 you can receive empathy.
And sir, you and I are the exact same age, 42, and you couldn’t sound or speak for our generation any LESS than all the nonsense and fakery than you do now.
Boy, bye.
YOU get some empathy! YOU get some empathy! Everyone gets some empathy!
Nice try slumlord.
😄, @sarahcs
I watch YouTube videos on narcissism and Dr. Ramani (an expert) says that when narcissists try to exhibit empathy it’s almost like they’re reading how to do it in an Empathy for Dummies book. I would agree. Jesus, he sounds flippant and empty-headed. Will and Kate are a pair of airheads, not much more.
Dr. Ramani is hypnotic, isn’t she? I went down the rabbit hole and watched her for hours. I was all. “omg, that was my ex, that was my boss, that was my rotten friend who turned out not to be a friend.” At the same time, gratitude that no one in my immediate family is like this.
Love Dr. Ramani’s videos. Her stuff on BPD is great too, and having survived a BPD/NPD sister, mother and Mr. Jaded’s ex-wife, her information on how to handle the damage they’ve done to me and hubs has been invaluable.
@ Eurydice & Jaded, yes, I love her. She has a soothing voice too and certainly knows her stuff. After watching her, all the turmoil (and having to actually take ativan to live with someone for a while) made sense finally: vulnerable (covert) narcissism, profoundly controlling, senseless and abusive. I felt like I’d lost 40 lbs. I continue to watch her; she is brilliant.
The nonchalance William displays when talking about empathy reminds me of his flippant way of talking about racism, how he’s “bored with it.”
The King returned to face-to-face public duties in April after news of his cancer, undisclosed in its form, came in February following hospital treatment for an enlarged prostate the month before.
He has since travelled to France for D-Day commemorations, hosted an incoming state visit for the Emperor of Japan, and undertaken the Australia and Samoa tour with the Queen, despite still undergoing outpatient cancer treatment.
The King has kept calm and carried on whilst his son dithers, delays,dailies and scuttles away from responsibility with a small r!
This is all true but Charles is boring and doesn’t generate much public interest. The press need William to step up but he’s more interested in telling us what he will do and how fantastic he will be years from now while doing very little actual work in the present.
William also needs a personality and attitude adjustment. But he is too Set in his ways.
That’s what the UK press should be printing.
My reply above is replying to Lady Digby
“The queen” is dead.
Dead since Sept 8, 2022.
This, and that Tina Brown Cow illustrate the cracks in the facade. You can’t put lipstick on a pig and claim it’s a woman. I think even the ratchets realize now not just what they lost, but what they are left with. Royals they pay through the nose for and barely see. No one willing to play scapegoat, and they have done so much to poison the well that there’s nothing for Harry and Meghan to come back to. Living in Trump-loving Alabama would be better for them than living in the UK, and even in the Trumpian dystopia to come, they are well shielded in a blue state, plus they likely have a foreign escape if they need it, whether it’s in portugal or somewhere else like Switzerland. The royal ratchets have shat the bed, and now they have to lie in it. More people will openly question what value they are getting in Willnot and Cannot, the Slumlords of Wales. No one cares about Weak Willie and his band of useful idiots. Why pay millions for something with no return on value? Now the media needs to tell the truth about the Waleses. Perhaps anger and disgust over what’s been kept from them, and what they’re paying for, will unify the public into at the very least, putting some reins on this institution that’s likely very difficult to get rid of.
💯💯 agree. There is no return on value at this point and I think some of the RRs are tired of pretending there is.
There does feel like there’s been a shift, right? This seems to happen a couple of times a year but now it feels noticeable because its people that aren’t part of the rota itself so can perhaps say the things that the rota members can’t because Rebecca English would punish them for it. And they are obviously holding back but we’re still hearing a lot – like about W&K “dreading” foreign tours, etc.
I think we were heading here eventually but the kate had cancer stuff out it off for a year. Now that she says she is cancer free, the knives are turning back especially William, who really had no reason to hide like he did.
Agree. So in this way, I do think Sykes and TB are a good bellwether for how the rota might actually be feeling, especially about the Wales. They will still dutifully print whatever William’s friend says but it’s interspersed with articles or phrases that go harder than anything English would ever write. I think some of the rota like English might really drink the kool-aid and believe the briefs but not all of them. They’re clearly not above lying for the royals. BE swearing she randomly ran into William at the hospital 🙄. Seriously, no shame.
Anyone else weary of the man child era? When does it end??
It’s good that people like Graham Smith and initiatives like Republic exist, but I would have hoped someone would have made a connection between ‘throw in some empathy’ and the fact that Harry’s brother is now known as a slumlord — and highlighted the discrepancy between what the leftover prince says and the way the Incandescent Egg acts towards his tenants.
It’s not like this C4 Dispatches revelation about the bad state some of these houses are in is a totally new situation that has come as a surprise to the people actually running the estate.
These Left-Behinds are completely out of touch with reality and it’s about time they’re made to account for the money they receive and why buildings on their properties are dilapidated, run-down and don’t meet codes. Or the way charities are charged rents. Then TOB could maybe talk about empathy.
@NANEA, well said!!!
He’s obviously right but WHERE did this laziness come from? Both his parents are/were very hard workers, very dedicated to royal work, what happened?!
Good question, and his grandparents were no slouches, either. Was it all the early public attention, that he was the handsome and smart one? Was it the hit on the head? Was it Elizabeth’s longevity that got him used to waiting around? Or maybe some people are just born lazy.
The disastrous encounter with the sly, conniving Middleton family is what did for W.
Harry has even mentioned in a speech about how both his parents set examples for them of hard work. The empathy obviously comes from Diana.
I think some of it was when he started associating with Kate and the Middleton family. Prior to that he was seen doing things like centre point but once he met her and that family, they coddled his worst instincts and they aren’t a family that cares about charity or service. She has been in his circle since he was 18 or 19 and while perhaps university could be a phase of not being mature, he’s had a stunted emotional development with an enabler who has no interest in working or service. Had William married someone who isn’t allergic to work, that might have prodded him to do more on his end.
Good marriages have each partner develop their best selves whereas bad marriages encourage the worst elements.
I think this is a good point. I feel like Carole knows how to hustle but probably didn’t want her children to have to do the same, so Kate was always coddled and protected and raised to marry well (what a 19th century mindset!). And the Midds certainly never seemed to care about charity or service.
Factor in how William always seemed to be protected in the family (more so than Harry ever was, that’s for sure) and that expectations for him always seemed low, and the Middletons swooping in on him at a young age – it starts to make sense. Its one thing to be lazy when you’re 18-19 (I certainly was compared to now, lol) but its another thing to be lazy when you’re 42 and supposed to be working full time (even just by royal standards.) It feels like both Kate and William are stuck in that 18-19 year old laziness where they only want to do what they want to do and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
Maybe, but if he was a man with determination, passions and interests, he wouldn’t marry a woman like Kate. Or, if we accept the narrative that he was forced into it and/or no one else would have him and that his marriage is now a sham, then he’d want to throw himself into work and interests just to get away. But we’re not seeing any of that, either.
No, I think William, like Harry, found a woman who suited his already existing personality.
I agree with this Middleton tie-in. I think Huevo is naturally lazy but the Middletons enable this in him and her. They both like the cozy family life and that’s all they want to do. I would love to stay home with my family too but unfortunately that doesn’t pay the bills. And that is what makes the Wails’ insufferable. They feel entitled to lay about and that they should be applauded for the very minimum that they do. Meanwhile the rest of us live in the real world.
Slumlord Bill seems to have inherited all the bad genes in the Windsor line — it happens to the best of families. My own sister was much like him, she inherited her BPD/NPD traits from grandparents on both sides of the family. I didn’t. My sister had everything going for her — looks, creativity, smarts, great sense of humour — but she blew it all and ended up dying of EDs and alcoholism by the age 41. She had a vicious temper (I was the victim of her rages), and was lazy, manipulative, deceitful and self-sabotaging. The Midds may have been a contributing factor in hero-worshiping him into thinking he was perfection incarnate, but at the end of the day, I think he was just born that way.
But who in the Windsor line is so lazy?
Spoiled, Selfish, ignorant, sure, but lazy?
Edward VIII was a lazy party boy. Like William he was born a direct heir with a few generations ahead of him and he was allowed to be irresponsible.
Perhaps Charles benefited a bit more from his mother not being an heir at birth and the abdication crisis. William is too comfortable with his inherited position.
@Murphy — Princess Margaret was self-absorbed, lazy and jealous. She typically spent all morning in bed, was inevitably late for everything, drank, smoked and partied to excess and treated people abominably.
Edward VIII actually was quite hardworking. He did a ton of engagements in the uk and most of the foreign tours as his father’s health worsened in the 20s and 30s. And that was when you did a lot of them by ship!
I wonder if some of it was him looking at his parents and grandparents always off at some event or other and thinking something like “that’s too much, it is just me, Harry and the nanny at home”
I do think a lot of it is his personality: Happy to be at one of his homes and watch TV. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was some tendancy to “chemically drift off” shall we say allegedly.
Never learned how to socialise properly, lived in a bubble all his life and was never corrected on bad behaviour by Nanny or his family.
I understand Will doesn’t read or do religion but he may have heard about the Good Samaritan? GS had empathy but also this prompted him to take action in several ways. He helped the robbed and beaten man practically and escorted him to a place
of safety and paid for his stay at an inn until he was better. Parable about a good neighbour starting with empathy prompting action, time, energy and resources to help someone else. Will has the platform, money and connections to help other people in need.
KP uses US media to promote William as the great statesman/philanthropist/future king. I think the Dispatches exposé makes the US press feel it got played so NBC News hit William back.
OMG the choice of photos of ol Bill are the only things that make me chuckle these days! Too funny
I wish Graham had mentioned that small R willy is a slumlord . I think that story needs all the world attention
Graham Smith’s messaging is getting better. He used to lump Harry in with the rest of the Royals instead of using him to show the Royals can survive without public funding. There’s no doubt that William is looking at Harry’s life with envy.
Charles never priotized his sons and put his work, mistresses, friends, hobbies before them. So I can understand William wanting to have a better work life balance than his dad but he has gone from one extreme to another.He seems to resent with a big r any encroachment on his me time. Okay he won’t be head of CW and CE and just do minimal royal engagements but how striped back can he actually go as king and retain support?
Just have a big coronation and then not deliver on the basics and and know he can’t be sacked or sanctioned?
He can dictate better work/life balance when he pays his own way and not take public funds.
William does not have a 9 to 5 job and has plenty of time for his kids. Had they been forcing him on lengthy royal tours while they were very young that is one thing but their longest tour was in Australia and NZ and they brought George, Carole and the Nannies with them.
They didn’t experience what Diana was forced to do in any form.
Using his kids many private school holidays to not work is just pathetic at this point.
Betty believed you “needed to be seen to be believed” and she was right because the royals don’t do anything that touches their subjects lives in a positive or real way so they at least needed to be visible. Thus the 30-45 min engagement was born. Those engagements propped up the illusion that the royals worked, contributed to public life and were worth the expense.
Willy and Kitty are so lazy that doing a 30-45 min engagement everyday horrifies them. Every excuse was used to avoid “full time royal duties” (which again was 30-45min a work every other day). They only went full time when the Meghan married Harry and they felt the need to compete. Then the Sussexes left and started living as private citizens and Willy and Kitty loved their business model. The Sussexes only did public events one or twice a quarter and the lazy left behinds said THATS THE FUTURE!
They were to stupid to understand that the Sussexes worked and only presented projects once they were completed. So a public appearance from them had more substance and could be discussed for months or years because its centered around projects or causes which continued beyond the Sussexes public appearance. The lazy left behinds are now coming out once a quarter for a forgettable photo op while taking more money every year as their country struggles financially. They don’t tour, don’t do engagements, get mired in financial crimes or controversies despite draining the public purse, and despite getting pay raises Willy keeps announcing he and Kitty will do even less work.
We all know how this ends so please proceed.
The queen’s mentality “you need to be seen to be believed” is true in a way. But I remember reading that royal engagements don’t really do much for the organizations and charities they do events with and the impact is hardly anything. The Queen went to hundreds of events a year for the hundreds of charities she represented but what was the long term impact, if any? Apart from showing she’s a very busy lady and meeting lots of people? I’m sure people were thrilled to meet the Queen but I doubt it did much long term for whatever organization they worked for. Do these organizations really need a royal patron? Does it really bring any visibility to them, especially if that royal patron represents hundreds of organizations? At this point it seems some organizations just want a royal patron simply for the prestige of being able to say “Prince/Duke/Countess X represents us!” Like you said, it’s an illusion of the royals working, but it’s not really work work.
I understand where William is coming from, wanting to be more thoughtful of how he approaches his work. I feel like most people just hear “I don’t want to work” when he tries to express that because I agree he is lazy so the laziness image is the one that is conveyed. But I don’t think a future monarch needs to be patron of hundreds of charities, it’s pretty useless in the long run and doesn’t serve much of a purpose apart from being like “Oh yes the monarch is super busy with all these charities!” It’s just the illusion of being busy. He wants to have a few key signature philanthropies he works for and that’s it and I don’t see a problem with that in theory. The thing is, we hardly ever see him doing anything so I’m just left to believe he doesn’t actually want to work.
Well, if you look at it from the point of view that the monarch is a quasi-religious figure, then visiting all those charities is like sprinkling holy water here and there. It’s not about the busyness of the monarch, it’s about sharing little bits of divinity. Elizabeth was staunchly religious and believed that being monarch was her God-given duty, which is why she hung on until the bitter end. Charles is more fluid in his religious beliefs, but still feels the duty. And William, who is not religious and (it seems) not very dutiful, is left wondering “what’s the point?”
Regarding the religious thing, I don’t blame William because the reality is that most people in the UK themselves admit they are not that devout. The whole devout “going to church every Sunday” thing is just not part of this generation or the coming ones. And the Justin Welby thing only highlights the levels of rot in the institution.
The entire title of Supreme Head of the Church of England is a remnant from a time when religious differences determined the course of civil conflicts and pitted people of royal blood against each other for the crown. It made sense to keep it through the years as the public still maintained a high level of identification with Anglicanism, but I think it’s only realistic to consider reducing that focus as time goes on.
Sorry. The religious aspect interests me, lol.
@C – I find the religious aspect interesting, too – it was one of the support pillars of the monarchy. There was administrative power, but the monarch is no longer a functioning head of state. There was personal control of armed forces, which doesn’t exist anymore. There’s the backing of the Church, which, as you say, the public does not revere as it once did.
What’s left are money and tradition. The RF have loads of money to control people, situations and narratives. And there’s loads of tradition, which can be powerful only as long as the people think it necessary and worthwhile for cultural identity. It’s so interesting to watch.
I know this is an unpopular opinion but I actually think William is way more visible and out there than he used to be. I used to go to their pages and not really find information about their initiatives and things like Earthshot and now there’s a lot more information.
Idk. After the disaster of the US election, William seems pretty mild to me.
I remember Graham Smith trying to imply the Sussexes were scamming on their foundation (he later apologized) so I take his criticisms with some skepticism.
lol. That only means they have finally got someone regularly updating their page. We can see with our own eyes how many engagements he is doing. A lot less than the older members of the family. Graham Smith is against royal family, which also includes H&M. When they left, the tabloids wrote articles about their foundation breaking the law. That is why he wanted them to get investigated, not that he has specifically something against H&M like the british media. If he apologized after seeing the evidence, that shows he has some honor. When did the tabloids ever apologize for their lies about H&M?
I understand this but making sure your team does pertinent work is still important. I’m not under the impression that the fundraising emails I’m getting from Kamala were actually sent by her, lol.
Of course the tabloids have been terrible to Meghan! So why would he want them to be investigated on the basis of what they say in the first place? Smith has a public agenda to which he is entitled but I don’t always agree with. That’s just me.
@C, let me be clear, Republic CEO doesn’t give a sh*t about H or M, because they are still members of the royal family at the end of the day. When he saw articles about their foundation doing shady work, he spoke against them. Now he is praising them because they aren’t getting tax payer money or doing anything criminal. I promise you if they decide to go back to the BRF (not that it will happen), he would seek for an opportunity to sh*t on them again. The guy wants the BRF to be gone, to stop getting tax payer money. It isn’t personal.
Your view about Will is unpopular, because it is an unnecessary praise for a lazy future King. It is bizarre to praise someone for updating their website,.
He actually claimed it was the Royal Foundation that was transferring money to the Sussexes, in breach of its charitable status. He never implicated the Sussexes.
Factually he is doing far less than prior to the pandemic. He just has his staff do five posts for one single appearance so it seems like more.
Whether it’s Charles with his “slimmed down monarch” or William with his “small r in royal”, why don’t we ever hear these people saying that they want to proceed with reduced public funding or fewer lavish castles and palaces, or by returning some of the jewels they’ve plundered throughout the years. Instead, it’s always tinkering around the edges while pretending to be innovators, while they’re just creating an even more favorable environment for themselves with no benefit to anyone else.
Ooh, okay, I’m liking the way you connected the slimmed down monarchy with the small r monarchy. Woow, the way they gotta brand their own way of getting more money. Diabolical really. These fuckers .