I remember last year, when Prince William launched Homewards, his big “homelessness project,” and suddenly, it felt like the knives were out for him. This wasn’t just royalists sniping at William for something arrogant and tone-deaf (although that was part of it and it was funny). Actual activists and experts in the field of homelessness criticized him as a dilettante who was centering himself in a complicated and highly political issue. He really thought he could create a “program” – which is just his foundation donating money to shelters – and everyone would fall all over themselves to call him the savior of homeless people. Perhaps Huevo’s documentary is a mulligan – one year later, we have been given another opportunity to praise him and tell him he’s the keenest and most credibly homeless savior ever. Except that Prince William: We Can End Homelessness has only revealed yet again that William is really bad at this.
Prince William has opened up about “feeling guilty” in a new documentary amid the royal privilege row. The Prince of Wales has released a new documentary regarding homelessness, a year after launching his Homewards campaign. Many fans and commentators have criticised the 42-year-old over his privilege, and whether or not he is the correct person to tackle homelessness.
Prince William spoke about this in the new documentary, and explained that he often feels “guilty” that he is not doing enough.
He said: “I’ve spent enough time learning and listening to what people have been through that I feel almost guilty every time I leave, that I’m not doing more to help, and I feel compelled to act, because I don’t want to just talk about it. I don’t want to just listen, I actually want to see someone smile, because their life has been made better. So therefore, building a project is the only way I can see at the moment to try and alleviate and help people who are in a much less fortunate or in a very difficult situation.”
The voiceover in the documentary could later be heard saying: “The Prince of Wales has already faced accusations surrounding his own privilege. There has been some criticism of the prince’s plans because of the multiple homes he owns. Some believe the prince is coming uncomfortably close to meddling in matters of policy.”
William insisted he has “no other agenda” than “desperately trying to help” people in need through his drive to tackle homelessness. He described how he views his royal role as attempting to influence and help where he can.
In the documentary, an interviewer probed: “There will be some people who might question whether you’re the right person to lead this project and its efforts to end homelessness. How would you respond to that?”
William replied: “I think everyone having a right to a safe and stable home benefits us all. I come with no other agenda than desperately trying to help people who are in need. And I see that as part of my role, is that, why else would I be here if I’m not using this role properly to influence and help people where I can?”
William has several homes, including Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, as well as his Anmer Hall mansion in Norfolk and Apartment 1A in Kensington Palace in London.
The voiceover is doing dirty work, OMG. How did Kensington Palace approve of that? Was William like, “no, leave it in, we should acknowledge my privilege and get it out of the way!” That only works if your work can actually back up your privilege. As in, people wouldn’t care so much about William’s multiple mansions, palaces and castles if Homewards was truly a program which drastically improved homeless people’s situations. If William was a credible expert in the field, or if he was doing anything more than just “visiting a couple of homeless shelters a few times a year” and “donating money,” acknowledging his privilege and moving on would be exactly the way to play this. Unfortunately, there’s no there there. This isn’t actually about solutions for homelessness. It’s about William centering himself in a complicated issue he is too stupid and too privileged to understand.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.