Poor Jason (the Cambridges’ press secretary) must have been royally chewed out over that Daily Mail piece about Prince William “refusing” to take over more royal work. The Mail’s piece was stunning because it feels like Prince Charles’ camp is trying to publicly call out William for being lazy and for wanting to play-act this “middle class life” that he fetishizes so much. So William actually got off his royal arse and he’s done back-to-back events over the course of three days. I’m including photos of William and Harry visiting the DIY SOS Veterans Build Project in Manchester today (the hard-hat photos), plus photos of William yesterday at RAF Coningsby, doing something to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
The event today was for William and Harry to do some work on veterans’ housing, which is a great project. It strikes me that this is more of a Harry thing, since he’s so involved with veterans. I kind of wonder if Harry was already scheduled to do this event and William invited himself? I also think it’s interesting that we’re getting a flurry of activity from the Cambridges just as soon as Harry comes back to Britain.
Meanwhile, during William’s trip to the Hammersmith Academy a few days ago, William ended up making some news for all the right reasons. You have to understand, Princess Diana was basically the only British royal to ever talk about LGBT issues, and even then, it was almost always in the context of HIV/AIDS. So when William actually said words about homophobia, it’s noteworthy.
Prince William has spoken out against homophobia in what is believed to be a first for the royal, while taking part in an anti-bullying session with schoolchildren. Discussing LGBT bullying and cyber-bullying with pupils at the Hammersmith Academy, the second-in-line to the throne talked about the best ways to deal with a homophobic bully.
Agreeing with one student who said he would speak up, the Duke of Cambridge said: “As the young man said, I would try to confront.”
Discussing the idea of a support network, William named his wife, brother, father, grandmother and grandfather as the people he would turn to if he was bullied. As an afterthought he added in his trusty pet, Lupo the dog.
He also heard from young people who had suffered bullying, including one 17-year-old who said that an online troll urged him to kill himself when he came out, according to the Daily Mail. According to Pink News, a Kensington Palace spokesperson commented, saying: “He hopes it will help de-stigmatise bullying issues in schools. He particularly likes the idea of a peer-led support network to prevent any child or young person suffering in silence.”
[From HuffPo]
If this is the new and improved William, willing to do more events and raise awareness for important causes, God bless. I hope it’s true. But I suspect this is just a flurry of hastily scheduled activity just before a three-week vacation in Mustique.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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