Once you realize that Prince William was forced to attend Pope Francis’s funeral over the weekend, you can see how Kensington Palace has demanded that William needs to be lavished with praise for being dragged kicking and screaming away from the Aston Villa match which was also held on Saturday. The British papers were full of stories of “William proves his big-boy statesman credentials” and “this poor 42-year-old child had to be torn away from his beloved Aston Villa just to attend a funeral!” But this piece takes the proverbial cake. According to the Mail, William is a smooth diplomatic operator because he “discreetly stepped aside” while the actual world leaders had a sidebar meeting.
Prince William’s diplomatic manouevring at the Pope’s funeral that helped Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron hold a three-way discussion with Volodymyr Zelensky has been revealed. The Prince of Wales attended Saturday’s ceremony at the Vatican, alongside world leaders including the US and Ukrainian presidents.
He is now being hailed for a subtle movement which helped pave the way for follow-up discussions between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky. It was the first head-to-head between the two presidents since their fractious clash, also involving US Vice-President JD Vance, at the White House in Washington DC earlier this year. Mr Zelensky hailed Saturday’s summit on the sidelines of the Pope’s funeral as a ‘good meeting that has the potential to become historic’, while the White House said it was ‘very productive’. The meeting between the two leaders was brokered as part of the gathering following the death of Pope Francis, aged 88, on Monday last week.
William’s involvement in Saturday’s occasion included walking alongside Sir Keir in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome for the service. But he crucially chose to discreetly step aside from a huddle that formed between the political leaders including not only Sir Keir, Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky but also France’s president Mr Macron.
William ‘respectfully peeled away’ to let the PM and his colleagues pursue their talks which were then followed by the sitdown between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky. The Prince of Wales is said to have cannily ‘read the room’ as he moved away, the Telegraph reported.
Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky were then pictured having their own talks on chairs in the middle of St Peter’s Basilica ahead of the funeral ceremony.
I genuinely wonder what Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer think about Kensington Palace’s efforts to give credit to William for the side meeting. It was so obviously put together by Starmer and Macron, both of whom have been very involved with Ukraine and President Zelenskyy. And now the Mail is hailing WILLIAM for stepping away from the actual statesmanship and diplomacy, the delicate arrangement made to get Trump and Zelenskyy to speak one-on-one. William was probably begging to bond with Trump over their gauche blue suits.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red, Cover Images.
-
- Donald Trump, Melania Trump during Pope Francis’ funeral mass, Vatican City, 26 April 2025 *** Local Caption *** VATICAN CITY, VATICAN – APRIL 26: A general view during the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on April 26, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis died on April 21st at the age of 88. Born in Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he was the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to become Pope when elected in 2013. Taking the name Francis after St Francis of Assisi, he promoted a more humble version of the papacy than many of his predecessors. He will be buried outside of the Vatican in a simple wooden coffin at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. (Photo by Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images),Image: 992474396, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Ernesto S. Ruscio/AGF Foto/Avalon
-
- prince William during Pope Francis’ funeral mass, Vatican City, 26 April 2025,Image: 992501876, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Francesco Fotia/AGF Foto/Avalon
-
- prince William during Pope Francis’ funeral mass, Vatican City, 26 April 2025,Image: 992501893, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Francesco Fotia/AGF Foto/Avalon
-
- Donald Trump, Melania Trump during Pope Francis’ funeral mass, Vatican City, 26 April 2025,Image: 992502029, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Francesco Fotia/AGF Foto/Avalon
-
- Italy, Rome, Vatican City, 26 April, 2025 : A view during the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square. He will be buried outside of the Vatican in a simple wooden coffin at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. In the photo Prince William,Image: 992516012, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: **** World right excluding Italy ****, Model Release: no, Credit line: Stefano Carofei/Agenzia Sintesi/Avalon
-
- Royals, World leaders and the faithful attend Pope Francis funeral mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Saint Peter’s Square Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Rome, Vatican City, Italy When: 26 Apr 2025 Credit: Marco Iacobucci/IPA/INSTARimages **UK, USA AND AUSTRALIA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Royals, World leaders and the faithful attend Pope Francis funeral mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Saint Peter’s Square Featuring: William, Prince of Wales with Matteo Salvini, Ignazio La Russa and Giorgia Meloni Where: Rome, Italy When: 26 Apr 2025 Credit: Marco Iacobucci/IPA/INSTARimages **UK, USA AND AUSTRALIA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Royals, World leaders and the faithful attend Pope Francis funeral mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Saint Peter’s Square Featuring: US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump Where: Rome, Italy When: 26 Apr 2025 Credit: Marco Iacobucci/IPA/INSTARimages **UK, USA AND AUSTRALIA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Royals, World leaders and the faithful attend Pope Francis funeral mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Saint Peter’s Square Featuring: US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump Where: Rome, Italy When: 26 Apr 2025 Credit: Marco Iacobucci/IPA/INSTARimages **UK, USA AND AUSTRALIA RIGHTS ONLY**
Embarrassing. Grasping at straws to praise him.
Peg cannily read the room! I am lmao.
HAHAHAHAHA! Reminds of that pic of Daughter-Wife trying to talk to Merkle, Macron and a few others at a G-Summit and they all ignored her HAHAHAHAHA!!
The backstory is that Trumpy and Zelensky were trying to dump him aside so they could have a serious adult statesman conversation. I know, cant believe trump is in this sentence either.
Ineffective, do-nothing, incredibly privileged, lazy, angry white man stealing from the public gets a pat on the back for doing absolutely nothing once again. But sure, DEI is the real problem in this world.
This is really the saddest thing ever. They are DESPERATE to make William something he isn’t.
The R-E-A-C-H is. Just hilarious to see! 🤣
How shameless of the Telegraph and the Daily Mail trying to delude the common people.
Just ridiculous! Show me the photograph of William near all four men! He walked in with Starmer then…c’mon, what next? There’s nothing on video that shows what they describe. NOTHING.
Truly. This reminds me of when Ivanka Trump was just standing there looking awkward and out of place, and everyone was looking at her like why are you here.
I’m embarrassed for him. He has access to other media even if the media in his country have their lips firmly pressed to his backside. He spends all his time online in these forums where he has to be getting unfiltered viewpoints. I just can’t believe that he doesn’t see what people really think about him and stuff like this.
Willie was Always the stupid brother but the palace PR have always protected the heir but social media wiil always reveal the truth
Sorry Dee, I should’ve read further down before posting. I said exactly the same thing above! 😄
I saw no pictures of Peg anywhere near trump. I did see pictures and videos of Macron and Zelenskyy and trump. Macron shook Zelenskyy’s hand and talked to both trump and Zelenskyy. Gotta feed Pegs ego with this bullshit. Same as he would end war in Middle East and end homelessness and none of those things ever were accomplished so just more lip service for the lazy global statesman.
I’d be happy if he just delivered the fridge to the soldiers.
Yes that would be nice but with Peg it’s just take take take. No GIVE.
Those poor soldiers probably got their hopes up about the fridge, too. That’s not nice.
All he and Can’t can give are “smiles and prayers”. SMDH Pathetic!
And macron dodged shaking Trump’s hand. That was the subtle move the DM should write about. He managed to do it without causing an orange tantrum.
Talk about splitting hairs and making stuff up.
This is to combat the story that he didn’t want to go and the backlash from his trips to watch the football.
He’s taken a leaf out of his wife’s book and is now openly taking credit for what others have done. This is the Keen Wails playbook and has been for years.
Well, Kate wasn’t there so SOMEONE had to play the Great Peacemaker, which involves for Kate (checks notes) stepping aside and being invisible! So William just did a Kate.
And the only way William reads a room is if it’s plastered in wall-to-wall tabloid coverage of footie!
All hail the great statesman! 🤣
@LadyEsther, MTE! He pulled a Kate-at-Phillip’s-funeral level act of peacemaking!
(Although I highly doubt William was showing any forethought or diplomacy here…he probably just sort of followed Starmer. But of course they need to feed the “global statesman” nonsense)
Everytime I see an article about William mentioning statesman I imagine him daddy dancing and singing “I’m a statesman (instead of I’m a scatman) pa papapa papa” 🤣
😂 the global statesman is now a peacebroker!
Get William to the Middle East, stat!
Love the way they tell us that William is being “hailed” when they’re the only ones hailing him.
Hey it’s a way to make themselves not wrong in a circular logic kind of way. They’ve hailed him, ergo he’s being hailed. Magic!
So true, LOL. It just makes him look like being sent away from the Big Boy’s Table because he’s too out of his depth, not because he has to be seen as apolitical!
Anyone else hear the jingle from the Pampers Pull Ups commercial when they see him? “🎵 I’m a big boy NOW! 🎶 ” 😄 All I can think about when I see the “Great Global Statesman” poser.
Right lmao. The only one even mentioning this is the british press. If anything, I think this shows how much of a lightweight william is – he walked with Keir Starmer bc there really wasn’t another option but no one wanted him anywhere near that meeting.
but he’s a global statesman for ‘cannily reading the room.’ give me a break. this embiggening just makes him seem that much smaller.
Exactly, I said that upthread, he was probably just idly following Starmer. Because it’s not like he has a clue how to comport himself at events like this. No mental chess-playing going on there, lol. But whatever, Statesman Bill must be loving these headlines
This is so embarrassing. He wasn’t welcome at/not invited to the impromptu summit because he’s a figure head and not a power broker, no matter how much he’s puffed up.
Omg I’m laughing so hard at this article I have tears rolling down my face.. the future “king has no clothes” and these articles do him no favors.
He has no influence. No one was talking to him. They didn’t even notice when he walked away. Yeah, that’s high praise.
After Willie’s media minions criticised Zelenskyy‘s minister for daring to address Harry as “Your Highness”, these rats think Zelenskyy would praise him and have time for a coward like him?
The level of delusion is truly astronomical.
Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, sent a thank-you note to Meghan along with an Easter basket of goodies after all the support Harry had offered to Ukraine when he visited a rehabilitation centre for wounded veterans. Meghan posted the note on IG, along with a photo of the basket and Archie’s hand grabbing some cake, which referred to her as Your Royal Highness and the press ratz went full-on, frothing-at-the-mouth crazy. These people need meds and therapy.
It will take a strong rope to drag William kicking and screaming, out of this meeting if he had anything to do with arranging it. Imagine Mr photo op giving this once in a life time photo op. This people are funny.
No one probably even thinks about this fool. The stakes are far to high to pay attention to this little man on the world stage
Exactly! He wields no actual power, and even if he did, these men know who William is by now. They would have excluded him no matter what because he’s an intellectual lightweight with nothing to contribute. (And honestly, it’s probably better for William that way, because you know he would have put his foot in his mouth and said something inappropriate, so in a way they likely saved him from embarrassment)
Omg, this is too funny. So basically, they’re saying if he’d stuck around there wouldn’t have been a meeting. William’s strategy as global statesman is working – he’ll bring world peace by not going anywhere or doing anything.
Willie can use this to pave the road for ducking out of everything when he is king. “Just like at the pope’s funeral, I’m most effective when I’m not there”
Harry’s brother wasn’t anywhere near Macron and Starmer in a way that he could facilitate any bilaterals. As we’ve seen, he was relegated to the third row, sitting next to the outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
And the only moment Felon47 had with Zelenskyy was in the Basilica of St. Peter ahead of the ceremony — whereas Starmer and Macron talked to Zelenskyy in their respective embassies afterwards, with no one else present, according to photos shared on their socials.
Harry’s brother wishes to be in a position to do anything, he’s deservedly nothing more than a third wheel and a burden anywhere he goes.
Run along Willie, go back to your AV matches and leave the professionals to do their thing.
On the bright side, at least Willie didn’t impose himself like Ivanka did. The shock on Lagarde’s face was a classic.
Even if William were king he wouldn’t have a say in these talks. The British monarch doesn’t make treaties. Charles wouldn’t have had Zelensky at Sandringham unless the Government ok’d the visit.
My god, this is a heck of a stretch. He “discreetly stepped aside”. IS THAT IT?? He cleared off, in other words. He didn’t “read the room”, he was probably looking for the buffet. Or his lift to the airport.
or the bar 🤷♀️
@Becks wins today with that comment ☠️
Wait, wait, wait….. they actually went ahead with a ‘great statesman’ embiggening article to prop up William? Lord have mercy, I didn’t think they would be able to push that narrative with how dismal he looked on the world stage. 😂 😂 😂
“William ‘respectfully peeled away’ to let the PM and his colleagues pursue their talks”. Fiction clearly sells 😂 but this takes the cherry for British media royal propaganda toppings.
Yeah, but…. Peg isn’t supposed to meddle in world politics. He is a figurehead, almost king., not even a figurehead ruler, but a next-in-line.
This is embarrassing. When the politicians huddle to talk, royalty are expected to leave the room. If anything this just shows how little power and influence William has. The way the DM is describes it is the same way they talked about Kate being the peacemaker and that she stepped back to let Harry and William to walk next to each other after Phillip’s funeral. If William was smart enough he’d be embarrassed about this but he probably thinks he did something.
Even the sycophants over at the daily mail aren’t swallowing this. I made the poor choice to look at the comment section of this article and they are ripping him (and whoever wrote the article) to shreds haha!
Lol I want to read the shredding so bad but don’t want to give the DF my click, what a dilemma!
In other words he did nothing. Just more spin to try to make him happen. Charles is king now not pegs.
LMAO
I can’t stop laughing, this is so embarassing
This is so sad. Even sadder the taxpayers pay for these palace spinners to get the rota to push thes self serving propaganda that does nothing for the public and only embiggins this lazy and self impressed nothing burger.
They did the same with Kate, no? She “brokered” a peace-making conversation between William and Harry, by stepping away, during their walk from some church service, IIRC it was at Prince Phillip’s funeral? They made great hay, of that. Rinse, repeat.
She also did that fashion shoot at the funeral. Her looking directly at the camera from the car and posing
And look how effective she was! 4 years later and Pegs is still incadescent with rage whenever Harry has a chai with avocado toast on his warm, sunny, California patio overlooking a beautiful garden.
Stop. STOP. I thought that the British papers having to compliment TOB for his “growing confidence” on the world stage was silly enough, but now they have to pretend that he’s brokering world peace? This is embarrassing. The DM should Just go full-on fan club – nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, a BAFTA, Grammy Album of the Year, and People’s Sexiest Man Alive and be done with it!
They can’t compliment him on self-confidence, because we’ve all seen him hanging around aimlessly at such meetings, begging for a moment of attention.
Now being ignored by others who had nothing to talk about or why to talk to him, let’s call it “he discreetly stepped aside”😄🤣😂🤣🤣🤣
“This will show Harold that Ukraine is mine. Mine!!”
So the absence of William brings peace.
That tracks, actually.
Exactly! The actual diplomacy happened after he left the scene, and he wasn’t anywhere near the main players. Hahaha. He ran in the opposite direction, towards his ride to the airport, or maybe to his hotel room to watch Aston Villa. But William needs his “Ukraine” moment because Harry had a real Ukraine moment last week.
It really does track 😭
*Sniff* *Sniff**Sniff**
Can anyone besides me smell this? Ah, the aroma, the smell, and the whiff of PR BS coming from KP.
Does Willie and his minions actually believe they could get away with this? All of a sudden, he’s Lloyd George and Terry Waite rolled into one? Really?
Whoever the new spin hire is at KP needs the boot immediately. This is a dangerous misrepresentation of what occured, not to say a bare-faced lie.
We have to be grateful W didn’t whip out his phone and start filming.
“He discretely stepped aside”….to go find a TV.
He stepped away so he could go back and catch the end of the Aston Villa match. drrr
At my wedding, I realized that one of my cousins (this man was an attorney and in his 70’s so he absolutely should have known better) was playing a baseball game on some device, had a wire running up his sleeve (pre-AirPod), and was listening to the game DURING MY WEDDING and reception.
I already knew this dude was a jackass and just rolled my eyes at him when this was pointed out to me, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if William was somehow *not* missing any games because of this funeral. Technology has come a long way and he could probably get away with it!
These writers probably won every debate throughout their schooling. They can absolutely spin hay into gold like rumplestiltskin.
It’s amazing how the last five years apart have revealed the character of these two brothers. My God William is a dud.
Nature versus Nurture is debatable. Probably only the inner circle know for sure.
So, now we are supposed to praise this dude for his Absence during important world affairs? He must have learned that move from Kate.
I think this is someone being paid by the word trying to make an article out of a blip. This was so bad I hope Kensington p didn’t come up with it. Haha.
I want to see video. Did William volunteer to leave or was he nodded out. Could go either way. His football was on and he could’ve peeled out for that. Some statesman.
Rarely has a man been praised for walking away from a meeting he didn’t know was taking place in the first place. That rare man is William, Prince of Do-Nothing.
This is a supremely stupid narrative because : 1. William would have no business being involved in this situation and he is also incapable of being part of it. Starmer and him got relegated to the second row as well. 2. Both Starmer and Macron got ejected by Trump like five seconds after they started trying to talk to him and Zelensky. They had three chairs set, an additional one that Macron thought was for him but that got swiftly taken away by a church official.
This is just William trying to appear relevant because his brother was in Ukraine not too long ago.
William trying to appear relevant or the newspapers trying to make him relevant?
Imagine being so unbelievably bad at your job that the only praise they can muster for you is for not attending a meeting you weren’t invited to in the first place.
😂🤣😂
Such convolutions guarantee elements of the Brit media realize the Prince has issues that must be papered over.
How did Harry learn skills he wasn’t taught and how did William forget those he was?
The spotty beard is a looser, maybe a Van Dyke?
The advertising machine has struck again. Brainstorming in London. What makes Harry likeable? Look, he can take a step back and be supportive. Willi too, Willi too! It’s just that what characterises Harry is not to be found in Willy. Not even after a revival experience. Let him become the self-centred, unsympathetic, angry king. He would not be the first of his kind in the long line of his ancestors. As long as the British like it that way ….
HAIL the conquering hero comes!