Over the weekend, we learned that King Charles and the Prince of Wales planned to skip President Jimmy Carter’s state funeral, which was held in Washington yesterday. I think most people understood that Charles couldn’t or wouldn’t attend, but it’s still bizarre to me that Prince William skipped it without even offering a statement or reason why. Yes, it was his wife’s birthday, but that wasn’t even cited as an official reason why the “global statesman” skipped out on an event which saw dignitaries from around the world gather in DC. Instead, former prime minister Gordon Brown and Prince Edward were sent to the funeral. Edward sat next to outgoing Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Now even old-guard royalists are wondering if William should have gone:
Prince William’s decision to swerve Jimmy Carter’s funeral means he has turned his back on a major “global stage,” a royal author told Newsweek. The Prince of Wales spent Thursday marking Princess Kate’s 43rd birthday, paying a heartfelt tribute to her “strength” in a post on X. Prince Edward—who is 14th in the line of succession—flew to America to pay the royal family’s respects to Carter in D.C., where he has been lying in state at the Capitol building.
Ingrid Seward, author of the bestselling book My Mother and I, about King Charles III and Queen Elizabeth II, told Newsweek: “Of course Americans would have preferred William but on the other hand I think Edward was 13 when Jimmy Carter was president. It’s possible that Edward did meet him. Yes America would prefer William but I think it was quite carefully considered and decided that Edward would be the right person to go.”
“Kate wouldn’t have let her birthday encroach on it,” Seward continued. “If William was meant to be going she would have said you’ve got to go.”
Carter visited Britain in 1977, the first year of his term as president, and attended a state banquet at Buckingham Palace as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II.
William certainly has more name recognition in America than his uncle Edward and attending the funeral would have given him an opportunity to build on his growing status a global statesman.
“It would have been a good opportunity for William to go,” Seward said. “He probably has missed a trick. You can’t get a bigger global stage than Jimmy Carter’s funeral today, especially with everything that’s happening in California.”
I will continue to point out that when Charles was PoW, he was constantly stepping in to represent his mother at these kinds of state events. Charles was known for it, and that’s why he (legitimately) has all of these international relationships to draw on at any given time. He was an internationalist Prince of Wales and he’s an internationalist king. Meanwhile, William is content to be king of the British tabloids and prince of Britain’s dying royalist class. There’s always been a sense, even now that William is well into his 40s, that William can’t be trusted to not make a horse’s ass out of himself internationally, and like William still needs significant “management.”
Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.
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- The Prince of Wales (centre) and Theyazin bin Haitham, heir to the Omani throne, both co-patrons of the Jewel of Arabia Expedition, listen to British explorer Mark Evans (left) during the London launch of the expedition at The Royal Geographical Society, London. The Expedition – which is inspired by a route taken by British explorer Bertram Thomas in 1928 along the southeast coast of Oman – aims to raise awareness amongst young people both in and outside of Oman of the value of the country’s natural heritage and biodiversity as well as environmental challenges Featuring: Prince William (centre) and Theyazin bin Haitham, heir to the Omani throne, both co-patrons of the Jewel of Arabia Expedition, listen to British explorer Mark Evans (left) Where: London, United Kingdom When: 25 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales, co-patron of the Jewel of Arabia Expedition, during the London launch of the expedition at The Royal Geographical Society, London. The Expedition – which is inspired by a route taken by British explorer Bertram Thomas in 1928 along the southeast coast of Oman – aims to raise awareness amongst young people both in and outside of Oman of the value of the country’s natural heritage and biodiversity as well as environmental challenges. Featuring: Prince William Where: London, United Kingdom When: 25 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales arriving for the Tusk Conservation Awards at The Savoy Hotel, London Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 27 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Welcome ceremony at official reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame Cathedral after more than five-years of reconstruction work following the April 2019 fire Featuring: Prince Willlam, President Emmanuel Macron, Brigitte Macron Where: Paris, France When: 07 Dec 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince William meeting US President Elect Donald Trump in the Salon Jaune room at the UK Ambassadors residence as the pair attended the Notre-Dame Cathedral reopening Featuring: Prince William, Donald Trump Where: Paris, France When: 07 Dec 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince William meeting US President Elect Donald Trump in the Salon Jaune room at the UK Ambassadors residence as the pair attended the Notre-Dame Cathedral reopening Featuring: Prince William, Donald Trump Where: Paris, France When: 07 Dec 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince William meeting US President Elect Donald Trump in the Salon Jaune room at the UK Ambassadors residence as the pair attended the Notre-Dame Cathedral reopening Featuring: Prince William, Donald Trump Where: Paris, France When: 07 Dec 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince William meeting US President Elect Donald Trump in the Salon Jaune room at the UK Ambassadors residence as the pair attended the Notre-Dame Cathedral reopening Featuring: Prince William, Donald Trump Where: Paris, France When: 07 Dec 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Peg does things when he wants to do things. Maybe all the real statesmen and women there intimidate him as they should because he is a very poor excuse for a statesman. Maybe there weren’t enough celebrities there for his liking. Or it’s just that he was busy doing something else. I don’t believe for a minute that he was celebrating Cants birthday.
All they had to do was tell him Harry was invited.
Was William refused a front row seat? ?
He would have been sitting next to Trudeau and those seats look like the front row, but I think in a different aisle of the cathedral from the presidents.
William just doesn’t care.
Add clueless, entitled and lazy to that.
That was my initial thought, that he wouldn’t have been placed up front as he thinks is his due, like at the Jordanian wedding where they were in Row 9 or something. As we see in the photos, they’re in a front row of some section but William wouldn’t have known that.
You can see in the video of the service there’s a substantial row of seating to the left of where the presidents are, on the other side of those big columns. But I’m pretty sure that’s not where the foreign dignitaries were. The viewer on the cathedral page shows a seating area on the left of the stage, with an excellent view of anything going on, and that’s probably where they were. When Biden and Dr. Jill get up to leave, they walk to the left, then are shown shaking hands with Trudeau and Edward at the front, who look to be facing at a right angle to the seats in the church’s main body. There’s also an outside door at the back of that section, for a convenient exit.
Who the heck knows why William didn’t go. Maybe he figured with so many former presidents, no one would pay special attention to him. Maybe he didn’t want to do a long round trip flight to spend two hours sitting in a church. Maybe he knew Trump would be busy and no one else would want to talk to him. Maybe someone in the UK realized it was a big deal, Will wouldn’t be up to the job, so they didn’t ask (or push) him. It’s not like he knew Carter, or has a sense of history or anything, and blowing things off is what he does best.
Better that Edward was there
“There’s always been a sense, even now that William is well into his 40s, that William can’t be trusted to not make a horse’s ass out of himself internationally, and like William still needs significant “management.”
How embarrassing. 42 years old and you can’t even be trusted to go and sit silently at the funeral of a beloved leader. Justin would have been lovely to him and he would have had a bunch of newspaper headlines about what a statement he is.
They would have been bullshit because this is easy lifting. But he doesn’t even try. He only cares about trying to one up Harry and he’s constantly failing there. Willy doesn’t want any responsibilities at all. What a lazy brat.
“he would have had a bunch of newspaper headlines about what a statement he is.”
He and his team are idiots, but I can’t imagine they disn’t see the opportunity. William included. He does want to look like a statesman and attention from the US specifically. There must be a reason why he skips this stuff beyond being lazy. My current theory is that KC doesn’t want W and K to become the faces of the monarchy while he is king, so he severely limify their appearances.
There may be a pathology at work here, too. This isn’t the first time Billy has declined to represent the family in an official capacity at a funeral. Large funerals might be triggering to him. Triggering or not, a latest example of needing to put on his big boy trousers and do his job.
Funerals can definitely be triggering— someone once said to me that every new funeral also contains memories of every past funeral. I’m sure W & H have trauma from their mother’s funeral, and W has undoubtedly had less therapy than H, but even good therapy is probably not doing any significant “prep for other funerals” work.
Billy would’ve been uncomfortable during the service, hearing all about Carter doing God’s work and walking the walk and not just talking the talk.
No, he wouldn’t have been self-aware enough to appreciate the irony. He’d just have been bored.
“You can’t get a bigger global stage than Jimmy Carter’s funeral today, especially with everything that’s happening in California.”
Did she really just do that? Bemoaning his lost opportunity to be “seen”, what with all that *stuff* happening in in California?
She was probably trying to draw a link between the visibility afforded the funeral attendees and what Harry and Meghan are doing (I’m sure she thinks Meghan started the fires herself deliberately to draw headlines from Kate’s birthday)
The “California” reference is just bizarre — and dumb!
Typical British reporter, probably thinks California is the next state over from Washington DC
Strange that he forced to go to France….I guess that he has said what he wanted to say to Trump….
Just to be clear, Americans would not have preferred William to be there. I don’t know a single person here who gives a flying flip about what William does. However, if they rearranged the seating and put William next to Trump, preferably in the back of the Cathedral, I think everyone would have been happy, including William and Trump.
Brassy Rebel, I laughed when I read that. They are determined to make Billy Idle somekind of ‘loved’ person in the US. Well, it’s good have dreams, I guess.
The funeral was about Jimmy Carter–it didn’t give any of the Windsors an opportunity to be spotlighted.
Careful consideration that Edward should go. No way, It should have been William, Easy to excuse the King when we know he has cancer.
IF he has cancer. I’m not convinced.
I think it is true although Kate was a different matter, I even wondered if it were William who had cancer instead and the government didn’t want the world to know about it. (heir to the throne and all that)
I remain unconvinced. I mean, what better way to detract from being named the Royal Racists than playing the cancer card? People will feel so much empathy for cancer sufferers, so if you want guaranteed rehabilitation, cancer is the card to play.
Maybe Charles really has cancer, who really knows? 🤷🏾♀️
The reason I believe Charles has some form of cancer is that first, the royal racist reveal didn’t affect his reputation the way it affected Kate’s. A lot of people had already assumed that he was the one anyway, and I don’t think anyone was really surprised to learn that an elderly upper-upper-crust British man who was raised by Prince Phillip was racist. And we also heard that he and Meghan communicated after it, which I think also softened the blow to his reputation.
But besides that, his behavior just fits with having cancer. He took an extended period of time off (unusual for him), he was looking sick and frail especially over the summer and now he’s starting to look better and more like he did a year ago, so to me that fits with having chemotherapy and now starting to recover from it.
It was a mistake AND it was disrespectful…but we should be used to that from the Royal Family by now.
Facts Lala. Those people are low rent with no manners. The negative stereotypes unfairly put on people from the hood, the trailer parks, and the council estates are the behaviors we actually see time and time again from the Windsors. Clowns.
Obviously, the purpose of Jimmy Carter’s funeral is first and foremost to honor Jimmy Carter.
However, not that I think W shouldn’t have attended (I think he would have been a logical choice), a lot of world politicians are battening dow the hatches for the coming of CFDT2. If the UK thinks that our incoming president might respond to royalty, and knowing the CF wasn’t pleased with flags being half mast, I can’t entirely blame W for this without knowing the background. Gordon Brown is also an interesting choice. Trudeau will be leaving.
Gordon Brown was actually a friend of Carter. Makes sense for him to be there.
Edward was sent because he “may” have met Carter when he was a teenager? Is that really the best they can come up with? This would have been an easy gimme for Pegs – all he has to do is sit there, look appropriately serious, say a few meaningless things. International coverage, done. But no, he couldn’t be bothered or maybe trusted. When will he and the powers that be realize that he needs the international community more than they need him? When it all hits the fan, he will need allies and the good old boys from Eton aren’t going to cut it. The world took notice of who was and wasn’t at Carter’s funeral and Pegs was once again absent.
I did snort at that one; how do these people get published???
Overall I don’t think many Americans – including the Carter family – cared too much about who the royal family sent. Sending Edward may have made it easier for Biden even because there was no expectation that Biden carve out time for Edward and if it was william, you know he would have insisted on a photo op with either Biden or Trump or maybe even Obama and that just wasn’t the appropriate venue for that.
What I want to know is how this was decided in the royal family – was William asked and he said no, was he never considered a real option and it was always Edward, did the family decide who to send or did the government ask for Edward?
I’m sure Willy was asked first and said heck no. His list of why he can’t work on certain days or at certain times is way longer than his available dates/times. I mean, who doesn’t stay home from work on their partner’s birthday? He didn’t want to miss out on cake. I’m sure it will all be filed under Kate’s mystery illness and the need to spend all their time together just like everyone else does. Like when a family member gets sick and you stop going to work and that job stays open for you even though you didn’t tell your boss what’s going on and then you sent a fake photo as proof but still kept your job. Just like that. 🤪
Agree that Americans don’t really care whether it’s Edward or William. Interchangeable royals at this point. I can see the rota caring bc it means silly embiggening stories. But yeah you would’ve thought William might care but maybe not?
Reading the local DC Reddit sub, I saw several people say they saw Edward come in to see Carter lying in state. They said he was quiet and didn’t hold up the public line. You know POW wouldn’t have done that.
(FYI The viewing of the body is open to the public and there are long lines. For security reasons dignitaries are just brought in the side door. Some people cause a big fuss and make the line wait for a photo op or whatever.)
Edward is as much of a racist snob as the rest of the left-behinds, but he at least does seem to have some sense of how to comport himself in these situations. William is a buffoon.
Yes, William is provincial. It’s interesting to think that although we ascribe all of Harry’s good qualities to Diana, he also acquired some good qualities from Charles – devotion to certain issues, imagination and intention, and a global view.
I actually think Edward was the perfect choice. Edward is capable of respect and sensitivity. William has neither. That he chose not to go demonstrates this.
Okay, no American cared which British royal attended. We weren’t sitting at home with a bingo card to count the attendees. But yeah, William missed an opportunity to center himself with real leaders that actually do real things.
Sending the heir would have been the logical choice.
But we all know that Bulliam the Incandescent doesn’t do diplomatic. Sometimes I think he’s even more gaffe-prone than his grandfather.
Poor Ed though — the Guardian had quite a few photos from the ceremony, and Ed next to JT, but they didn’t even acknowledge him. Just JT. While I think this is a bit sad, it also shows the RF no longer plays an important part in public perception, in reporting — unless it’s gossip in the red tops.
But for the BRF to have become sidelined like this, they’re much too expensive for the British taxpayers. It’s time for the monarchy to be abolished.
Oh well….
Bill sprinted to France to meet Trump… he set up a photocall and everything.
He can’t hold a photocall at Carters funeral…
Wanting to see Trump proves that he has bad taste.
This is another case of William not wanting to do his job. As PoW he represents the sovereign and the UK at the state funeral of a former president. William noped out because he didn’t want to miss Kate’s birthday party? Bad look for the UK here.
We are snowed in here – rural village Oop north- and most local schools are closed
If Lambrook school is similarly closed due to bad weather then obviously, devoted dad of 3 younguns need intensive homeschooling. After all he prioritises being a hands on dad before being Global Statesman. Will can’t multitask because it would coarsen the purity of his parenting.
It’s clear to me that William thinks he’s above anything where he might simply be another “face in the crowd,” if that makes sense. He probably wouldn’t have gone to this funeral unless he was going to be sitting right between Obama and Trump. He probably thinks it isn’t worth the effort otherwise for…reasons. Plus, he’s a Tory and he wasn’t going to fly halfway around the world just to sit next to an unpopular, lame-duck Canadian politician like Justin, who is handsome and dignified even in defeat. It could be true that Charles is holding back William and Kate from doing things like this, but if that were the case I think the media would say so. But instead they’ve provided no real explanation at all. They tried to say he missed it because of Kate’s birthday or whatever, but that excuse doesn’t really work here.
“Missed a trick” is such a minimizing, trivializing way to articulate “faux pas” or “William should have been been here”. Compared to the language in H+M’s stories, W’s press protection is bright and clear.
Yeah it pained her to say anything at all negative so she minimized it as much as she could. Probably wanted to say “what the eff you lazy dummy this was a great opportunity”
Does this mean that Will has given up on winning the US?
Did Charles skip William for Edward? This has been a question for the last year. Ever since Charles announced he illness and it was immediately assumed William would step up but initially it was Camilla who stepped in for Charles. There seems to be an estrangement between Charles and William that the tabloids of course do not acknowledge.
It definitely feels icy between Chuck and Wills.
Being a “global statesman” requires *far* more work than William is interested in.
William is looking more and more like Edward every day so it’s like they sent his stand in.
I’m really surprised that Sophie didn’t show up to the funeral as well. Her 60th birthday is coming up soon and it would have fit right in with her incoming PR campaign.