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...

No it doesn't strike me as odd. I can only speak for myself but I had daily injections for I think it was 5 days at a certain time every chemotherapy cycle to boost my white blood cells and so reduce the risk of infection. My eldest son who was working in a supermarket at the time still went to work so he would have been exposed to all sorts of infections that he could have brought back.

Resistance to infection is usually lowest 7-14 days after chemotherapy, so they would have discussed with medical professionals the risks involved with attending those 2 events.

So it comes back to them making those decisions in line with what they want to do. I find it pretty poor to be honest, they pick and choose the engagements in order to do what they like.

I think he should decide what he wants to attend. If the King is there, surely that’s more than enough.

I’m hoping this isn’t going to end up like the Easter thread !
all the angst and frothing only to discover that he did actually attend an event that wasn’t publicised by the media .

It’s pretty well known they didn’t attend a single VJ Day memorial service and opted to post a statement on social media instead.

How is this well known?
it was apparently well known that they skipped the Easter service, until it wasn’t.

Because prior to 2022 he was only the heir to the heir, and engaged in bringing up a young family. Presumably if the Queen and Prince Charles had been unhappy with the situation, they would have made it clear.

I find it pretty poor to be honest, they pick and choose the engagements in order to do what they like.

And we come back to my point about people regarding them as performing monkeys…

Maybe she wanted to attend Wimbledon because she could sit down, so less tiring than being at an event where she had to stand and greet members of the public where every person would have wanted to know how her treatment was going.

Yet every other member of the royal family has managed to bring up a young family and pull their weight. Since he became heir his engagements have paled in comparison to what Charles did as Prince of wales.

And appear on centre court to hand out trophies? Come on. Surely you can see how illogical this is. There are plenty of seated engagements that she could have taken part in.

In other words, he likes the money and fame that comes with "royal", but doesn't want to do the day to day grunt work of sitting solemnly in events he has no interest in.
But average people spend their working lives in jobs that they're not that interested in. He should be doing the same.

Personally, I think he should have stayed much longer as an air ambulance pilot. Doing valuable work that makes a real difference to people, and which he obviously enjoyed. I feel like he'd get a lot more respect from the public if he was still doing that, even on a very part-time basis.

They’re not monkeys but it is a performance. They are paid to do the job. I have to perform a role at my work no matter what goes on behind the scenes in my personal life. Most of us do. All some of us think is that they should be able to do that too.

Yet on other threads posters are arguing that the remote upbringing of royal children has been instrumental to the behaviour of certain members and that a more hands on approach would be more beneficial in this new generation.

Awf with their heads I say.

Pointless pratts.

Yes. I'm a late end Boomer, so more aware of this than many younger people. I recall that my husband had a neighbour who survived Changi but came home blind as a result of the treatment he received.

W's absence will not have gone down well in veterans' associations. As someone who served in the armed forces, he should be well aware of this.

It’s a fair question — public appearances at key national events are a major part of the royal role, especially for a future monarch. If Prince William is stepping back from these duties, it’s only natural that people start to wonder why. That said, we don’t always know the full story behind absences, so I think it’s worth waiting for clarity before jumping to conclusions. But yes, consistency and visibility do matter when it comes to maintaining public support for the monarchy.

“And we come back to my point about people regarding them as performing monkeys…” trouble is @Serenster , we’re not paying them in peanuts! But countless millions. That could be better spent elsewhere.

Maybe she attended Wimbledon because as you say it was less tiring and because of the absolute bizarre hysterical reaction to her previous absence.

There is a balance between shipping them off to boarding school, and working very little in order to be there all the time.

Do I think they should be off on tours every few weeks? No, of course not. But I do think they should be doing more domestic engagements during the school year (the children are old enough to understand that they’re working and will be home at X time), and during the holidays they could all be off on tours somewhere. You can’t tell me the children wouldn’t love a tour of Australia, or Canada? They could absolutely turn public opinion around if they wanted to.

Your employer owes you a duty of care though.I presume in their scenario the public owes them that? It’s not very evident in threads like this!

It's not illogical at all. Handing out trophies is less tiring than doing a walkabout where you have to greet people and make small talk with the crowds shouting at you and wanting to have their photo taken with you and being asked a hundred times how you are. I would definitely have chosen Wimbledon.

On no the hardcore crew have arrived!

I think he still does a lot and her prioritises his family. If I were in his shoes I’d want to cherish my time with them and focus on running the Duchy and charitable interests. His father is quite advanced in years and unwell - we don’t know how much time before he inherits the throne, which will unequivocally change his and his family’s life forever. I can imagine how vulnerable that might feel and how he might want to protect the time with his family now.

There are multiple other engagements she could have done. The point is, it looks fucking awful - they pick and choose what they want to do and it doesn’t work that way.