Over the weekend, the Royalist Substack got the tip that Prince William is apparently quite reluctant to travel to the US around the Fourth of July. Supposedly, a US trip has been loosely planned for months, something about how Prince William planned to visit Washington to see his BFF Donald Trump and then William would attend some World Cup matches. There were also plenty of rumors that Princess Kate would join her husband, but that always seemed like the most unlikely part of the gossip. Well, Tom Sykes’ sources said that William is (basically) too lazy to travel for anything resembling work, and that he would only come to the US if England made it to the World Cup quarterfinals. Now a different royal reporter says that William and Kate haven’t actually been invited to the US, and that obviously, that suits them fine because they don’t want to work anyway.
Prince William and Kate Middleton have no plans at the moment to attend the FIFA World Cup 2026 in New York City, according to a royal insider.
“There has been a lot of talk about this over the past few months, but no invitation has surfaced so far, so right now I doubt it will happen,” royal reporter Emily Nash exclusively told Page Six this week. The Hello! Magazine journalist — who was promoting her upcoming appearance on the live recording of Hello! Magazine’s “A Right Royal Podcast” next Tuesday — noted that travel has been challenging for Middleton following her battle with cancer.
“As William said himself, these trips take a lot out of you,” Nash Said. “I think he said, you’re on send and receive the whole time, which I thought was a really interesting way of putting it. You are in a situation where you’re having to give 110 percent of yourself the whole time you’re out there, and you’re being scrutinized at every turn.”
Nash joined the Princess of Wales on her Italy tour last month, which marked her first trip after announcing she was in remission.
“It was so good to see her back on the world stage, and I know it’s something she wants to get back to for sure,” Nash said. “But whether it’ll be in the next few weeks or not… at the moment I can’t see it happening. But you can never rule anything out.”
If Middleton, 44, did make the trek to the States, it would be a “huge moment,” Nash said. “We’ve seen the reception that they’ve had in America in the past. And it’s fair to say that it’s always been incredibly warm,” she said. “I think, particularly, after everything she’s been through, people would be delighted to see her.”
Nash believes it’s more likely that the Prince of Wales, 43, will make an appearance if England reaches the finals, which will take place in New Jersey next month.
“I think if England would get to the final, then I’d be very surprised if William didn’t attend,” she said, noting that the prince is president of the Football Association. “He’s always been hugely supportive of the England team. We know he has close personal friendships with a lot of [players], and he would 100 percent want to be there.”
Nash has heard rumors that a trip was penciled in for a June appearance, but she doesn’t believe that will pan out. “But never say never, right?” she said.
As for whether or not their kids could join them overseas, Nash said there are several factors at play. “I don’t know about that,” she said when asked if Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8, could attend the games. “I think there is certainly going to be a lot of travel for William and Kate later in the year. So I think it may be a question of pacing themselves, but they’ve certainly taken the kids to football in the past.”
Nash also said that the royal family’s travel plans are “signed off by” the Royal Visits Committee. “There’s a big government element to this, so they don’t really choose when they get to go to things,” Nash explained. “It may be that the [UK] government doesn’t think it’s as urgent right now for them to make a visit to the United States.”
I love how Nash makes it sound like a perfect storm of laziness, incompetence, politics and football drama. I agree with the broad strokes too – there are no plans for Will and Kate to come to the US, they haven’t even been invited by the Trump administration, and if William did deign to travel (solo) to the US, it would only be to support England in the later stages of the World Cup. Plus, I doubt the Starmer government wants to continue using the royals to get absolutely nothing out of Trump – it’s all a geopolitical nightmare, one which King Charles was largely able to sidestep because Charles is a deft political operative (credit where it’s due). William is not deft at anything to do with politics or PR or optics. Oh, and Kate’s last trip to America was in 2022 and she and William got booed at the Celtics game. There really wasn’t a big show of support for them in Boston. There wouldn’t be support for them in New Jersey either, just FYI.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.
