William's non attendance to important events

[Spectre8]

Since there is a flurry of discussion on another thread its probably best to create a thread for it to take place here and not derail another one.

So William is not attending a number of important events the recent one being the VJ day..lots of you think he should have after all he is the future King and if he can't make time for these things then it begs the question what is the point of them?

So discuss away...what should he turning up to, what is his actual role if he starts to not do these types of things...

It’s a bit “have your cake and eat it too” at the moment I think. If they had form for carrying out lots of work and then it dropped off when Kate was diagnosed, I think a lot of people would be a lot more sympathetic. But as it is, he’s never really worked that hard. It worked for him when he was in his 20s and still seen as the grieving boy. Then he got married and everyone loved that, they started having babies and everyone adored it.

But now the babies are grown up and can understand that mum and dad need to go to work for a while, and they’ll be home at X time and they can do things with them then. There’s no real excuse for it anymore.

I’m following this thread with interest.
As far as I have read so far no one writing here was actually in attendance at the VJ Day commemoration at the National Arboretum…
from where I was sitting I only heard 2 people near me comment on the lack of the Prince and Princess of Wales. A very well spoken older gentleman commented audibly, “lazy sods”. Everyone around him ignored that.
What no one is discussing is how elegant, graceful and beautiful the Countess Mountbatten of Burma was at the service. I have not seen any photos of her in the press on VJ Day yet so maybe she went unnoticed. Her smile was so warm and genuine and she seemed to have a few lovely short conversations with the Chief of Defence Staff beside her.
It was a very special occasion and the King and Queen were perfect without anyone else from the Royal family nearby. They appeared to be very moved and were delighted to meet the veterans.
Nothing was missing from the commemoration.
I agree with some comments on this thread that the Prince and Princess of Wales could have chosen to attend another service. Wales seems the obvious choice of venue. Perhaps the King’s team arranged things this way? But they will hopefully have many, many years of memorial occasions ahead of them

I think this is fair.

This. The 80th Anniversary of VJ Day wasn’t just any event and the Forgotten Army deserved all the royals to pay their respects especially as this is the last big year there is likely to be any veterans alive to attend. It’s not right that the future king didn’t show up for any event or apparently mark it in any way. It’s a bad example for his children too - saying the sacrifice of those who fought in the far east don’t matter.

I don't think it is a question of William attending or not. It was left to the older generation who are closer to the events of the War and rightly so. William has had enough over the past year to deal with and needs rest and recuperation. He is not a machine. Our King and Queen are doing a marvellous job and I am certain that William will step in when deemed necessar.

It doesn’t matter whether we were there or not. It reinforces the idea that only the European veterans matter and are worth commemorating. They chose to post on instagram instead of taking some time to attend a memorial.

He and Catherine before her diagnosis did half the amount of work combined than Anne does! He should have certainly attended VJ Day particularly as his grandfather saw active service in WW2 and was present at the surrender of Japan! He does little to support his father who is still undergoing treatment!

But the Presidency isn't hereditory like our monarchy. The President's son won't automatically be President after their parent dies. They are not in training to be the President so it is irrelevant whether they attend these sort of special occasions or not.

I'm glad you were able to work part time during chemotherapy, I know some people suffer with very little side effects and can work full time.

As you'll be aware not all chemotherapy is the same, there are so many different drugs and strengths. My first lot of chemotherapy wasn't too bad, I didn't have that many side effects and was able to work part time, but my second lot of drugs was awful. I had every side effect going and had to give up work completely. Once treatment was finished I took early retirement.

Cancer treatment affects us all differently but I would never judge someone for how much or how little they are able to do once treatment finishes.

Particularly as his grandfather was present at the surrender of Japan!

How do you know what support William gives to King Charles. You don't spend your days with them so how could you possibly know.

The problem is the cancer diagnosis is a red herring. I’m not saying that Catherine wasn’t unwell or continue to suffer consequences, I have no way of knowing. But William and Catherine have always done much less than other Royals, long before the cancer diagnosis. That’s not an opinion, that’s just counting. That’s why people say they’re lazy.

Nobody is denying that chemotherapy affects everyone differently.

But does it not strike you as odd that she attended Wimbledon in the midst of her cancer treatment, despite the HUGE possibility of picking up a bug or virus? Or that while she was unwell and couldn’t take part in public engagements, William flew to the Euros final, again risking picking up a bug and passing it on to Kate and the children? Or that they have always taken part in fewer engagements than the other royals? Charles is going through cancer treatment in his 70s and has completed over 200 engagements this year. Surely this is the time, now that Kate is recovering, for William to step up for his father, take on more work and model that to the children?

No, he’s the laziest royal! His grandfather was present at the surrender of Japan so should have been at a service somewhere! He can turn up for freebies at football matches but significant events he ignores! If he wants the monarchy to survive he needs to up his game! No doubt he and Catherine were shopping for furnishings for their new home!

Currently undergoing extensive chemo, managed to work part time throughout, just goes to show we are all different.
But she managed Wimbledon valiantly!

@BlankBlankBlank14 I'm really sorry to hear of your own cancer, but you must surely understand that everyone reacts differently?

One of the main side effects of cancer treatment can be how it affects the bowels - urgency for example. Being on show in public could be a nightmare.

Likewise, anyone on treatment has good and bad days.

Extensive surgery can leave lasting issues not visible to anyone else.

I don't think anyone should make veiled snide comments about another person, Royal or otherwise, on how they are coping with cancer treatment or the after-effects. Some treatments are brutal and can leave permanent damage. Imagine having a TV camera focused on your every move and expression.

I hope you make a full recovery.

I think after I watched that documentary detailing the investigation into the Royal finances by The Times and C4, I lost my goodwill towards them. The fact they charge charities they patronise full market rents and charge their own army for using their land to practice manoeuvres really upset me. Are we your subjects or your cash cows?

I feel that Charles, Anne and Edward at least put the hours in because they have a sense of service but I don't think the younger generation feel the same about it. Yes they can have a holiday, life/work balance but as the Queen and Princess Diana figured out pretty early, optics matter, you have to read the room.

I don't want to end the monarchy but perhaps it's time to downsize them and take a look at whether some of the titles should exist and how the land attached to these titles should be returned to the nation.

I was on a thread about the royals some months ago and had a few, perfectly reasonable posts deleted @Spectre8 . One was similar to the above, which I suppose could be considered troll hunting. (The deflection posts on debates about the royals is weird, I think. Eg “oh, why, oh why are you bothering with this old thing again?” , a well known PR tactic.)

But the other was to mention the well documented reports of the less than welcoming reception the late queen received from the public at Grenfell. Which I believe may be indicative of a general trend of absolute disgust at their publicly funded immense wealth.

But there may have just have been a hardened royalist on duty at MN that day!

One last thing, it really annoyed me that he only brought Princess Charlotte to the Women's final. Why not the boys too?

Because of the publicity. It’s pretty grim - Charlotte very obviously enjoys sports. I’m sure she would have LOVED to have been at the final with her dad last year, especially with everything going on with Kate. But no, I doubt that fits with the optics of the family.

They are overpaid nobodies who have not earned the positions they keep.

Kings and Queens used to have to fight for their position on the battlefield, do the job of running a kingdom, and be at risk of being defeated by someone else. The whole concept of royalty is archaic, just as much as slavery. The idea that one person is better or more worthy than another, or that someone is worth less than someone else.

That’s the reason democracy has evolved in modern society, with elected people to run the country, who, while relatively wealthy, are not “more important”, are not “special”, have to work for their income and are not bowed down to by “peasants”.

This lot don’t deserve the abundance of wealth they have, they don’t work for it, they don’t have to run the country. Just swan around in luxury, being called “sir” or “madam”. It’s laughable really that people still buy into this crap.

Are we your subjects or your cash cows?

is this a trick question? 😆

The problem is the cancer diagnosis is a red herring. I’m not saying that Catherine wasn’t unwell or continue to suffer consequences, I have no way of knowing. But William and Catherine have always done much less than other Royals, long before the cancer diagnosis. That’s not an opinion, that’s just counting. That’s why people say they’re lazy.

The inconvenient truth

William has had a lot of goodwill through the comparison with Harry's behaviour, which tends to mask the fact that he can also be selfish and resentful. If he wants to scale down his role (and future role) that's something he needs to be more upfront with the public about.

My opinion is that William should have attended one of the commemorations for VJ day. As future head of the armed forces, former serving officer and senior royal family member, I thought his absence was notable, and not in a good way.

However, unlike many posters on this thread, I regard members of the royal family as human beings fulfilling a constitutional role first and foremost, not performing monkeys who have to dance for us. I also remember there were threads like this last year, accusing William of being lazy and workshy when he didn’t attend the memorial service for his godfather King Constantine of Greece. We only later discovered that he and Kate had very recently found out that unexpectedly her surgery earlier that year had revealed she had cancer.

Just a reminder: we don’t know their lives. Sometimes, judging other people so harshly rebounds on you.

But what excuse is there for his historically low level of engagements, which sit in line with minor royals?