As we discussed, Prince William’s new private secretary Ian Patrick already seems to be in over his head. William has been trying to brand himself as a “global statesman” for a few years now, ever since he saw his brother get embraced internationally and also get invited to speak at the United Nations on Mandela Day. William wants the exact same thing as Harry, but without having to do any of the work. William wants to show up somewhere and have everyone scream “the global statesman is here!!” All of which to say, William has now blundered into the Israel-Palestine mess with zero training, zero briefing and nothing but self-interest and vibes. He’s issued a bizarre set of statements about his “concerns,” statements which… in retrospect were completely unnecessary, given today’s event.
These are photos of William visiting the British Red Cross headquarters in London. It wasn’t some highly political event after all – just a prince visiting the Red Cross HQ, speaking briefly with the head of the Psycho-social team and getting an in-person briefing from British aid workers about how they’re getting medical supplies to Gaza and working in partnership with the Red Crescent. He also did a video link-up with people on the ground in Israel and Gaza. That’s it. Kensington Palace could have done a brief preview of this trip by saying “the Prince of Wales will visit the British Red Cross HQ today to get briefings on what is happening in Israel and Palestine.” And that would have been perfectly acceptable and even royally “apolitcal.” There was no reason for William to issue two statements within 24 hours, neither of which sounded like they were vetted by Downing Street. That being said, Richard Palmer claimed on Twitter that Peg’s statement today was “run past the Foreign Office before he issued it.”
I know everyone has their own trending topics on Twitter, but from what I can see, William is being ripped to shreds for being political in the most bone-headed way. It’s not just by regular anti-royal critics either – there are historians and policy experts criticizing William’s statements and his event. It’s like people don’t even understand that William merely wanted a quick “statesman” photo op and he really doesn’t give a f–k about anything other than his competition with Harry’s successful trip to Canada.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.