Looks like the lovely Jan Moir at the Daily Fail has been reading my posts again, as she's decided to literally LAY into Prince William for being a "celebrity flake". Royalists, grab your pearls!
Copying parts of the piece out here so you don't have to give DM click revenue:
"William, Harry and Andrew should remember that having Prince in front of your name brings more responsibilities, not fewer
"Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew. As time goes by, they present as not quite the Three Wise Men of royal life, but increasingly like the Huey, Dewey and Louie of some grim caper; the imperial Bee Gees on eternal reprise, jive-talkers just trying to stay alive in a world they find increasingly hostile.
Two estranged brothers and a disgraced uncle, scrabbling for scraps at the royal banquet. With the best will in the world, they are hardly an inspiring bunch, are they?
Call it what you will, but the gilt is slowly peeling off this soured game of thrones, this line of succession in terminal recession. For every so often the three masks slip and we see these princes for who and what they really are: a trio of spoilt man-children who demand accountability from everyone else while doing as they please themselves, an unholy trinity who still can’t quite believe the age of deference is over.
Prince William is by far the best of them, not least because it is upon his shoulders that the burden of royal responsibility must lie. In his rather passive-aggressive way he has never made any secret of the fact that he finds this an onerous task, but who could blame him for brooding, or seeing his birthright as a velvet bind?
As his stricken father and recuperating wife keep out of the spotlight, this is William’s moment of truth. Yet instead of stepping up to the challenge, he seems to be all over the place. That ill-advised statement on the Israel-Hamas conflict for a start; now going awol from a royal event at short notice and without a proper explanation?
It is all very odd. If William has a good reason for his absence, then he should tell us or even drop a comforting hint — the public would understand and sympathise. Of course he is entitled to a private life, but he is not some movie star bleating about privacy in a moment of crisis. He is the heir to the British throne — a man with a unique set of public responsibilities.
One day soon he will be the head of the nation, a focus for national identity, unity and pride. So maybe he should stop behaving like a celebrity flake and reign in that impervious attitude along with his indulgent fondness for obsessive secrecy. If this is a sign of what is to come when he ascends the throne, it is very worrying one."
She also lays into Prince Andrew and Prince Harry, so there's enough to satisfy everyone, though I always find amalgamations of radically different situations (one's been credibly accused of child sexual abuse, settled out of court and is still wanted by the FBI, I'm yet to hear of what heinous criminal activity the other's been accused) intellectually facile and downright lazy.
What's new here is that it seems to be open season on Prince William at the DM this week.
I wonder why...🙄