Prince William’s video in support of Lionesses backfires as he’s accused of ‘using Princess Charlotte, as PR shield’

On Sunday 20 August, the women's English football team, known as the Lionesses, played in the final of the Women’s World Cup. The game against Spain took place in Australia.

A few days before the final,rumours started to build around Prince William and a possible trip to Australia, especially after the Queen of Spain announced that she would be going with her daughter in order to support the Spanish team. Controversy mounted but Prince William didn’t change his mind.

In an effort to compromise, he took to Instagram and released a video of support alongside his only daughter Princess Charlotte. The video attracted many reactions from the public and royal commentators.

Prince William, why didn’t he go?

On Friday 18 August, we reported that Prince William was receiving a significant amount of backlash about his choice not to go and support the Lionesses in the final. Indeed, this final was the first time since 1966 that any English football team made it to a World Cup final.

Furthermore, as the President of the Football Association, members of the public as well as royal watchers expected the Prince to make the trip. However, Prince William didn’t.

Of course, the press and people have tried to understand this controversial decision but we will never know what the truth is. However, Express reports that there could have been several logical reasons for Prince William not to attend.

The first one is that King Charles III has not yet made the trip himself and that, therefore, Prince William can’t go before his father. Another explanation is that a trip to Australia for such a short amount of time would go against the Prince’s work to protect the environment. Finally, it is reported that Prince William wasn’t able to change his schedule just like he hadn’t been able to for the Men’s World Cup in Qatar.

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Prince William accused of using Princess Charlotte for sympathy

Since the controversy blew up, Prince William chose to release a video on Instagram with his only daughter Princess Charlotte. The pair had already filmed a similar video for the final to the European Championships.

In the video, father and daughter sit next to each other, Princess Charlotte holding a football on her lap. Prince William expressed that he wished he could have made the trip and wished the Lionesses all the luck.

What was intended to appease the backlash ended up doing the opposite and people, commenting directly on Instagram, aren’t impressed.

Some of the comments read:

Not good enough William! 😢 you should have flown out like the Queen of Spain & her daughter have done to support their team and women in sport everywhere.

Despite being a huge Royal supporter I think it is shameful that no member of the royal family or the prime minister will be there. Imagine that this was the men’s final - everyone would be there. It is shameful and hugely disappointing. Those girls deserve more.

Very poor Prince William. If it was the men’s final guarantee you would have gone. Disappointing on the back of their success in the Euros. Should have been planned for.

While these comments focus mainly on the decision not to go, others have taken another angle which implies that Prince William is using his only daughter in the video.

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Cringe, basic and tone deaf response. Effectively throwing his daughter’s privacy under the bus to protect his reputation.

And why not include the boys - do only girls watch the women’s game?

Grown men using their children to hide behind is never nice

Read more:Royal children: AI predicts what George, Charlotte and Louis may look like in some years

Sources:

Express: ‘Real reason’ Prince William missed England’s World Cup final clash in Australia

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