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British RoyalsOpinionOtherPrince & Princess of Wales

How seriously does Prince William take his royal duties?

Everything the Royals do or don’t do is closely scrutinized by both the media and the public. The Cambridges haven’t been without controversy. They’ve been dubbed workshy and lazy. Even Prince Harry couldn’t escape that label when his grandparents and father and stepmother worked more than his brother, sister-in-law and him last year. The Duchess of Cambridge was heavily criticised for missing last year’s St. Patrick’s day service where she was supposed to hand out shamrocks.

For Prince William, add disrespectful to a list of criticisms. He was off on a drunken skiing holiday rather than attending an important event for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth as a whole.

His uncle, Prince Andrew also went on a brief skiing holiday, but returned to London in time to attend Monday’s events; and he will never be King yet he knows of the importance the day’s events are to the Royal Family and to the people of the Commonwealth.

And from all reports, Prince Harry’s relationship with Meghan Markel is still going strong. The fifth in line has yet to miss an important royal event. He hasn’t yet cancelled any engagements because he misses her or skipped town to be with her even if that’s something he’d love to do.

Later this year, Prince William is to leave his position as an air ambulance pilot to undertake more royal duties. He and his wife will be working more. I really wonder how seriously he is taking his responsibility as a future monarch. Unlike his uncle and brother who understand how important it is to be professional or the time and place for conducting yourself as a royal who is on duty, Prince William seems to not care about this. He’s fine with thumbing his nose at his royal responsibilities at the most inopportune times.

I recall during the Cambridges’ visit to Canada last year, Prince William botched his dialogue in French. He admitted rather carelessly he hadn’t looked at his itinerary either. I can understand messing up a speech, but not reviewing information your assistants and secretaries have spent perhaps hours putting together to help familiarize you with your working trip is very disrespectful.

I have a deep respect for royalty even though I’m American. I think the platform they have is amazing if used correctly. They can, and do a wonderful world of good if they choose to. They have more privileges than most of us. And to see how Prince William disregards these small things is well, quite sad. But after reading about him missing the Commonwealth day events, I have to admit I’m quite disappointed. I feel sad for the people who are to call him King one day. Yes, he’ll need to make sacrifices; and yes, I’m sure he has had to make tough choices already, but he’s known being King is part of his future. Is the future King now deciding on which ceremonies and events are more important for him to attend then others? The Queen certainly doesn’t have that luxury. Why should he? I think The Queen should address this with him because he obviously doesn’t get it.

If Prince William originally didn’t intend on going to the Commonwealth day events, his wife should’ve gone; as the future Queen, she should’ve been there to represent her husband. Yes, she was home caring for their children, but she could’ve gone to London with them and made it a family affair.

I’m not begrudging Prince William a holiday or time with his friends. The timing of such, this time, was not well planned. He really should’ve thought more about whether to take this holiday when he did.

I doubt Kensington Palace will comment on Prince William’s absence from Monday’s events or his skiing holiday. He should’ve been with his family instead of alone on holiday. This was a stupid slip-up; it shouldn’t have happened this way and if the Palace were to release something short and sweet, they’d be acknowledging that yes, a mistake was made but it won’t happen again. It would let the people know that Prince William isn’t so disrespectful to them and to his duties. Yes, he’s human, and yes, he makes mistakes; this skiing trip being one of them.

What do you think? Am I too sensitive about this skiing trip? Do you think Prince William made a mistake by going? Or are you unbothered by it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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