According to Becky English at the Mail, Kensington Palace only informed the media about Prince William’s absence from his godfather’s Windsor memorial service less than an hour before it began. KP told reporters that William had contacted the Greek royals beforehand, but William’s name was still in the program (he was supposed to give a reading) and KP would not explain why William was skipping, other than “Kate is doing well.” Hours later, Thomas Kingston’s passing was announced – Kingston, the husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, died in Gloucestershire on Sunday and the Windsors waited two days to announce it. KP rushed out and told every royal reporter that William’s memorial absence had nothing to do with Kingston’s death. It’s all very strange and I don’t have one coherent conspiracy theory to explain what’s happening. But I know that it’s notable that even royal commentators are openly discussing the weirdness around William:
Royal experts said today it ‘was strange’ that Prince William pulled out of attending a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at the last minute for unspecified ‘personal reasons’. No further detail was given on William’s absence, with royal sources saying his wife the Princess of Wales is ‘doing well’ at home as she continues to recover after her abdominal surgery last month. William was last seen at the Baftas on February 18, while Kate has not been seen since Christmas at Sandringham.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams described the Prince of Wales’ cancellation ‘very strange’, especially because the heir to the throne was due to give a reading. The last minute decision resulted in the Greek royal family posting online an old order of service containing his reading and a eulogy given by Lord Soames in which he spoke about how ‘very touched and proud’ King Constantine would have been that it had been given by his godson.
He told MailOnline: ‘William’s non-appearance at the Memorial Service for his godfather King Constantine, the last king of Greece, owing to a personal matter is certainly unexpected. This will be an event that William will be extremely sad to have been unable to attend.’
‘King Charles was close to King Constantine and his second cousin. Queen Camilla led the royal family. Princess Anne deputised for him at the King’s funeral in Greece last year as he could not attend owing to a prior commitment. The late Queen famously met Camilla at a party given by Charles when Prince of Wales for King Constantine’s 60th Birthday which was symbolically a highly important moment in their relationship and seen as giving her approval to it’.
Royal biographer Phil Dampier told MailOnline that the move was ‘worrying’.
‘Constantine was his godfather and very close to all the royals, particularly King Charles, and he would have wanted William there as he didn’t attend,’ he said. ‘William only lives a stone’s throw away, so it’s very concerning.’
Mr Dampier praised Camilla, who he said was doing a ‘fantastic job in recent weeks keeping the royal road show on the road’.
“Worrying,” “strange” and “concerning,” all while pointing out that William lives just a short distance away in Adelaide Cottage, and if William was actually staying at AC (no one knows), then the church service would have been within walking distance. Take your pick of conspiracies: William was too drunk or hungover to go; William is forever lazy; William didn’t want to see his family, particularly his stepmother; William was too tired from doing the school run; William is upset following Thomas Kingston’s death. As I said, I don’t have one theory which answers all of these questions, but it definitely feels like something significant has shifted and more people are paying attention to how f–king weird the Windsors are acting these days. This week really has been a turning point.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.