Trendspotting: in recent weeks, Prince William has tried to look less angry, enraged and incandescent, correct? Perhaps it began when William took a firm hand in denying Kate access to the fakakta statue unveiling. Suddenly, it was like he was a new man. He was no longer so clenched and tight. He looked downright relaxed at the statue unveiling without Kate there. So, who knows, maybe there *is* something to the theory that Kate’s Covid-exposure isolation was just a cover story for “William didn’t want to do events with Kate for a few weeks.”
As for Kate’s “ten day isolation,” it ended after seven full days and then she was out watching the women’s final at Wimbledon on Saturday with William. But on the day before, she was still technically “in isolation.” Which is why Kate didn’t turn up at William’s charity polo match on Friday. The event was the 2021 Out-Sourcing Inc Royal Charity Polo Cup, which raised money for Centrepoint, EACH and a half-dozen of the Cambridges’ other patronages. This is the first time in two years that William has played polo, and there was even one curious story about how he had given up polo and sold his polo ponies and Harry’s polo ponies. I guess he kept at least one polo pony.
Anyway, as you can see, William seemed… super-relaxed at the polo match. Maybe he was just happy to go back to a hobby he once loved. Maybe it just felt good to enjoy some good weather and be out in the sun. Maybe he took a low-dose Xanax. Maybe he’s learned that he’s a lot less tense when Kate is not around.
Sidenote: I’m curious about whether Kate will go to the Euro final this evening. William will definitely be there, and CNN had a very strange story about how William’s presence at the football match will be “a key test” because he will be on camera in reaction shots and he’s responsible for capturing the nation’s mood: “If he can look like the nation feels, it will be his biggest opportunity to date to connect with his future subjects and show he’s there for them like his grandmother has always been. This isn’t just about a royal football fan turning up to watch a game, it’s about future-proofing the British monarchy and securing its place at the heart of the nation.” It seems to me like the best way for William to capture the mood is to stop worrying about performing a certain emotion and perhaps just sitting back and enjoying what should be an exciting final.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
He could also “future proof” the monarchy by doing some actually work that would benefit the peasants he plans to rule. And no, I do not mean polo matches or five minutes of slapping sandwiches together at a shelter. Real, consistent thoughtful output would go a long way. Take a page from Jimmy Carter’s post presidency and do it in reverse. Give now, rule later.
Yes, he needs to work, Want to do work and do meaningful work. The faking and showing up to just increase his events tally is no longer sufficient. Grandma is aging out, Dad is a proven worker. WillKat are the workshy duo and they won’t have much cover anymore and needs to be mindful that HM can always step on media coverage. WilKAT needs volume in terms of events now.
He’d have to 1. actually have some substance or 2. actually have some competent employees he’s willing to listen to. Since he has neither, he won’t go beyond the superficial.
I sometimes wonder how competent his employees were before they got there. You know, like did they go from being semi-functional to phoning it in because that was safer than trying to get work done?
Seems like they are trying awfully hard to make it sound like we GAF about William with this ‘must capture the mood of the nation’ ridiculousness.
There’s something about his smile (or maybe I should say: there’s something about the way he bares his teeth in a rictus) that reminds me strongly of his uncle, Pedo Andy. It must be the teeth.
He sure did get the family genes, didn’t he?
Bless his heart.
Poor guy lost his hair and now REALLY looks like dad’s side of the family. I feel sorry for him on that level.
@Frida_K I just noticed that PWT has one white front tooth and the rest are yellow….ugh! No wonder Kate is not around😂
Didn’t he have to get a crown after breaking it off while drunk at a wedding? The press really does downplay his issues.
@hindulovegod I believe so, but the dentist didn’t do a good Job because he didn’t match the color (yellow) of the rest of the teeth. All the money in the world and he still look like that?
Lol love finding tea in the comments how do you ladies always have some good gossip
@hindulovegod, The funniest part of the story is that the DM said he was ‘tearing up the dance floor’. Come on, we’ve seen the dad dance video. I’m finding it funny that a dentristy place in the states cited that story in a post about treatments for damaged teeth.
https://drandrewhall.com/patient-centre/blog/media-centerprince-william-loses-tooth/
Wondering if Will decided to unretire from polo to counteract the glorious balance beam vs. Harry’s physical skills video.
It’s the fake tooth that he needed to get after knocking one out while being too drunk at a wedding.
A friend of mine has a fake tooth in front because of an accident. His dentist had it colored to match the rest of his teeth – and he’s just a regular dentist, not a purveyor to the crown.
@Eurydice “and he’s just a regular dentist, not a purveyor to the crown” LMAO 😀
Agreed, normally they color it to match the rest of the teeth. I don’t know why he couldn’t have sprung for that.
It’s all good and well if you never eat or drink or age so your teeth stay the same color your whole life to match the fake one 🙄
I see what you did there! 😄
@Chaine – they can just change the color of the tooth. My mother had a plate made with a couple of teeth – when it came in it was the wrong color, so they just sent it back and recolored it.
@JaneBee87 and (TheOG) – 😁
@Eurydice, sure you can take time when placing a cap or crown to make sure it matches the color of the teeth around it, but my point is that those teeth are going to change color over time naturally depending on what you eat, drink, and smoke and your age. No one is going to go through dental procedures and expenses to repeatedly change out their false tooth just because their other teeth color have changed and no longer match. It’s on the individual to take cosmetic measures to whiten their teeth back to match the fake one. Some people aren’t dedicated enough about their appearance to do that, or maybe to do that regularly as needed, and clearly William is one of them. We’ve all seen he takes literally the bear minimum with his appearance–the closet of matching sweater vests, the monkish tonsure, the constant scowls. I can’t see him putting in whitening trays 30 minutes each day.
@Chaine – Replacing a cap isn’t major surgery and expense isn’t a issue for William – but he’ll become king no matter what his teeth look like.
They are trying to make “william is just a regular guy” happen. That tid bit from cnn sounds unhinged
So he is only worried about catching this mood when it concerns England? Certainly didn’t seem to be interested in capturing the Aussie mood at Wimbledon.
Good point! He probably knows he will never be our country’s head of state. He’s the Australian Republic Movement’s best weapon.
Does anyone care that Willy the incandescent will be there?nope I didn’t think so
So the future of the monarchy depends on what kind of face William pulls? I would joke that’s such a low bar, but considering how he looks eternally engorged with rage, he won’t be able to reach it.
Its just so delusional. “William proves he is a man of the nation as he captures nations mood during the LOST Euro final”. I mean this would sound like an actual sun headline but its just so ridiculous
I guess my tin foil tiara is seeing something more tabloid-y. That without H&M to kick around, they’re turning their sights on Will. They’ve pretty much covered every possible way Will feels about Harry. Now it’s time to see how he feels about England.
Here you go…..”England OWES me!”
@LMR – I don’t know whether to laugh or cry to that.
Yeah, it has a weird feel to it, doesnt it? William is going to show that he’s as steady and supportive as his grandmother by….showing emotion at a football match? And if he doesn’t “perform” the way the tabloids think he should, its a bad sign of the monarchy? That makes zero sense.
And don’t we always hear that Brits themselves don’t even think or care about the monarchy very much, that it’s mostly gossipy American fans like us? So I doubt the expression on William’s face is going to determine anything. If they even notice he’s there.
I haven’t read the CNN piece but that snippet is unhinged. These last two weeks have shown that the work William does is farcical and for the press and the Palace to criticize Harry and Meghan for wanting to do more was ridiculous. The public has been brainwashed to believe that what the Royal Family does is public service.
Well, first of all, he might want to try a better fitting bra. But, seriously, that CNN article was weird. An oblique way to say the monarchy is in trouble and the RF better do something about it.
How do I know Max Foster? Oh right, from his TikTok 😅.
(Edit: Meant as a reply to Izzy’s comment)
The CNN article is staggeringly stupid, but then they had Max Foster write it, so there you go. He is nothing more than a rota rat wannabe.
Maybe Willieleaks is feeling more relaxed because he got to do some gardening… 😉
This is the dumbest “king test” ever.
Rota: “William must look like the people tonight to prove he is worthy to be our king!”
William: *looks at camera and briefly smiles*
Rota: “He is worthy! Long live the king!”
Seems like the difficulty level to become King has really decreased since Arthur hauled that sword out of the stone….
If his subjects let him get away with it, what else is there to say.
The ROTA is even worse than the worst of the American press, imo. They’re stenographers who should simply be ignored. They’re a joke. But for whatever reason, they seem to be considered legitimate “reporters” by a certain segment of the population. SMH
I would trust something I read in OK magazine as much as I trust whatever the ROTA is spouting.
Certainly weird because this baby rat seems to be sending a warning that every expression on Will’s face will be analyzed and criticized by the royal rota to see if he’s worthy to be king. Poor Will, that’s what happens when you banish your guaranteed lighting rods – Harry and Meghan can watch the match in peace from home and no one will care about their expressions.
“If he can look like the nation feels, it will be his biggest opportunity to date to connect with his future subjects and show he’s there for them like his grandmother has always been.”
In the Queen’s early days she showed she was there for the nation and connected to them by serving in WWII.
All Wills has to do is go to a football game.
Seems about right.
And he’ll probably find a way to mess it up.
I mean, he and his wife certainly turned a simple Wimbledon appearance into an international gaffe. Messing up even the easiest PR moments comes naturally at this point.
Right!? How hard would it be to at least appear NEUTRAL? Australians are PISSED!
They had plenty of practice in Scotland.
Just came to say — that horse is absolutely gorgeous!!! I won’t waste any words for the turd sitting on top of it.
Honestly, William is the last thing England fans will care about at the match tonight. This is just as much a misfire as thinking this gormless fool could influence the Scottish indie vote. The media seem desperate to persuade us that he’s relevant, but it’s not working.
I subscribe to Dictionary.com’s word of the day emails, and this morning’s word was “gormless”. Had I not read the email before seeing your comment, I would have had to look that word up, LOL.
gormless
[ gawrm-lis ]
adjective
lacking in vitality or intelligence; stupid, dull, or clumsy.
Thanks @Pickles! I was about to whip into my dictionary app because I’ve never heard of seen that word before, you saved me the trouble. I love learning new words!
Of course it came from Scotland and Northern England. All the best insults do.
I still think Wills had Kate put in isolation so he could bring his sidepiece to this event and enjoy the day out with his aristo set and her.
@Harper, that’s an interesting theory. His mistress out and about in plain sight, but hidden and sheltered within the aristocratic ranks. It’s possible.
This is oh so familiar, isn’t it. It’s Charles at polo and Di at Kensington (Wimbledon). It’s a couple sad together, happy apart.
And I’m wondering what the tabloids are up to. Are they forcing a story through visuals, showing us a couple falling apart (see my comments re Kate at Wimbledon). If so, why are they doing this? Are K and W not playing ball with the DM and the gloves are off. Or is the story so big the DM doesn’t care anymore about royalty loyalty and leading the public to a narrative that there is significant trouble in paradise. Did we need all those stories about Kate being left out of the unveiling???
Interesting observation, @Robin. Sad to see this particular piece of history repeating itself, but not a total surprise. With nothing to work out of Montecito, a pivot in order to keep selling papers and garnering clicks is likely in order.
@Robyn, it seems the crisis manager and the RR noticed more clicks and interest on pictures and stories about the status of their marriage. Whipping up the frenzy having William do some events without her and a few sprinkled in with her and as @Amy T pointed out there is the pivot to sell paper and garner clicks. It is all about the money.
Maybe William just sold all of Harry’s favorite ponies and kept one for himself?
There was an article at harpers bazaar about this event and in it they linked to the article about the last polo event with 24 pictures. Just to get my blood boiling, I clicked and looked over all those pics again. They just look really bad. This time, I noticed that Kate literally does not look at Meghan once, not once in any of the pictures. But she does spot a camera and give a full on smile to the camera, which says it all. Kate smiles at cameras but never at her sil who is a new mother.
Apparently the average Polo match sees an average player use three or four horses, so Will would have had to keep more than one. Or he might have borrowed a few from somebody, or a few somebodies.
I imagine a decent Polo pony would need a regular exercise schedule to keep fit, just like a player, so if a few of his friends each have a pony or two that they haven’t been able to work into their playing rotation as much as is really needed because of some expected or unexpected other obligations then why not lend the pony out?
Or maybe I am imagining wrong, and know absolutely nothing about ponies or Polo.
That CNN story has all sorts of weird stuff in it. Scroll down from the stuff about Wills and there are photos of Prince Charles struggling to exit a futuristic hydrogen powered sports car, and then meeting some diminutive nuns. All in a days’ work for the forever Prince of Wales! And then there’s a plaintive bit about the Sussexes not releasing any pictures of baby Lilly yet.
The CNN article confirms the Cambridges took a hit image wise, thanks to the Oprah interview. And it’s particularly bad in the US, MAGA not withstanding. The rota rats can’t make money off the BRF therefore the grip about a Lili picture. Here in the US minor children of public figures are off limits for the most part and the US press won’t trash the Sussexes if they don’t get one. Trying to use CNN to manipulate H and M to release a baby picture is pathetic. They would have shared pictures of the kids if the BM were decent.
EXACTLY THIS. If these cretins were halfway decent, we would’ve gotten a first look at Lili a month ago. I feel like the public may never get an official picture of her at this point, and I can’t say I blame them.
Max Foster/CNN are KP’s stateside propaganda machine so I don’t expect much but this was truly ridiculous. They are trying to turn attending a football match into something with diplomatic significance. Laughable.
Of course he’s super relaxed & happy–not only is there no Kate around, but no Harry or Meghan to draw focus. All the attention is on William. He’s loving it.
BeanieBean, I agree with your assessment. I also think that he enjoys playing polo? For some reason, I think that Harry was the better player? That could be wrong, but I do think that W just enjoys playing. Having the focus on him is a win-win for him.
I really wonder if they’re doing their best to sell W as a stand alone without K. Certainly, he’s a bit better at being able to talk to people without a script. I’m not saying he’s anywhere near Harry’s caliber, but he’s not as bad as K.
I don’t have a lot of sympathy for William because he had ample opportunities to make his life much easier but I do have empathy and am willing to acknowledge the pressure he is under. No matter how badly I think he’s handled it, I feel for the situation William is in and the undeniable pressure he feels. Figuring out how to do these events especially when you naturally aren’t really a “people person” can be scary. Having someone dragging you down when you are already uncomfortable in public must have been hard for him. At this point, England wins if William is a good king so whatever it takes to get him there, is a good thing. So I think whatever is happening that allows him to be more at ease in public and to make this easier for him to do his job (as long as he actually does it) is a good thing. Is it giving him a gold star just for showing up? Yes. But it’s a step in the right direction.
There is LITERALLY nothing William needs to do to prove he’s “worthy” of being king, except to out-live Charles. That’s how monarchies work. It’s so bizarre to me that people pretend there’s more to a monarchy than happenstance of birth.
Mrs Krabapple, I totally get why you feel this way but can you imagine being put in a position where all you have to do is outlive your father. On the flip side, if you piss people off enough and live above the means of the rest of the country and ignore them, they could come to your door and end your entire family (and not just by ceremoniously kicking you out of your palace either). Being a royal for the last 100 years has been a very precarious business for no reason other than birth order. I don’t *think* the United Kingdom would get bloody about it but the fact that the possibility exists is scary enough.
CNN is such a joke and barely a step above us weekly in their royals coverage. How are they not embarrassed to release drivel like this.
These people are such vampires. If their team wins, the win does not belong to William and the monarchy. It has nothing to do with them. They weren’t the ones putting in the thousands and thousands of hours it took to play a sport at that level. William’s a failed man with no accomplishments of his own. So he has to attach himself to the accomplishments of actual successful hard working men like those soccer players. It’s disgusting. I can’t wait for Harry to get his well deserved Emmy nomination on Tuesday.
Umm, regular guys don’t play polo, okay? And yes, I was checking out that ass shot. That is his best angle. And for God’s sake, would it kill him to have a dentist whiten his teeth once a year? As an American, the yellow teeth kill me. So his only job is capturing the mood of Britain? He’ll look happy if they win and sad if they lose. God, the pressure! See, that’s why he gets the big bucks. By doing kingly stuff like that. Quite the gig, ain’t it, William?
Say what you want about William — but he is an excellent rider – and so is Harry. Both of them have great form sitting their horses. William makes it look a lot easier than it is — especially since he’s so tall. He sits straight up in perfect alignment with his mount – that’s important because if he lost his balance and pitched forward, he could lose his seat and go over the horse’s head. Both William and Harry always had a natural affinity for horses and it shows. Both are relaxed and clearly enjoy playing polo — something they inherited from Charles.
Off topic I suppose but he really needs to up his game on sunscreen. His exposed skin is very red.
For some of us, there is no sunscreen strength that can protect them. I am one of those people. I can wear SPF 30 on a trip to a Spanish beach and I would still look like a lobster at the end of the day. Fortunately I live in Denmark so most of the time I’m fine.