By trying to highlight the severity of war in Europe, he seemed to overlook entire continents
Prince William has been blasted for what many are calling “offensive”, “tone deaf” and even racist comments regarding the current situation in Ukraine.
The Duke and Duchess visited the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London earlier this week, where William made comments that have been labelled highly inappropriate.
The comments come days before Prince William & Kate's tour of former colonies in the Caribbean…where their ancest-. Pfft.
— Nadine White. (@Nadine_Writes) March 9, 2022
As the Independent’s race correspondent and columnist Nadine White reshared on Twitter, William reportedly suggested to volunteers that it was “normal” to see war and bloodshed in Africa and Asia but “very alien to see this in Europe”.
While the couple was said to be understandably moved by Ukraine’s struggle, expressing a sentiment of solidarity in assuring “we’re all behind you”, the downplaying of conflict and hardship in eastern continents has been criticisied.
Prince William very moved by war on "European soil"
Conflict in Africa and Asia v normalised, apparently. pic.twitter.com/R0KmVFx4Hi
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) March 9, 2022
As White went on to point out, not only did these comments come just after the couple had finished their tour of the former Caribbean colonies, but the Royal Family had directly benefitted from Britain’s bloody colonial past.
Prince William’s comments are deeply offensive. He must apologise
This future King of England parrots racist rhetoric shamelessly
His caucacity after public backlash at Western media humanising White pain while dehumanising Black/Brown pain in #UkraineWar is a slap to our faces https://t.co/2oR1weXASr
— Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (@SholaMos1) March 9, 2022
Bernice King, civil rights activist and the youngest daughter of Martin Luther King Jr, also shared her dismay at the understated assessment of wars in Africa and the East, labelling it “horrific”.
https://twitter.com/BerniceKing/status/1501713841356476416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1501713841356476416%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-2439477907232573242.ampproject.net%2F2202230359001%2Fframe.html
Plenty of other commenters have also pointed out that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is by no means the only war in Europe in the last century – multiple in the post-WW2 era, in fact.
https://twitter.com/scobie/status/1501699001489448965?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1501699001489448965%7Ctwgr%5Ehb_2_8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joe.co.uk%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php
Neither Prince William nor the Palace has issued any response to the backlash.
However, on Thursday afternoon and hours into the backlash, ITV Royal correspondent Lizzie Robinson shared a clip of the conversation in question—not featuring the words “Africa” or “Asia”.
During a visit to the Ukrainian Cultural Centre yesterday, Prince William said: “Everyone is horrified by what they are seeing. The news every day, it’s almost unfathomable. For our generation, it’s very alien to see this in Europe. We’re all right behind you.” Watch here👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/kQFbcivgvK
— Lizzie Robinson (@LizzieITV) March 10, 2022
Related links
- Prince William, father of three, worries about African population growth
- ‘One of the world’s deadliest snipers’ flies into Ukraine after answering Zelenskyy’s plea
- Royal fans convinced Queen dropped hidden clues about Ukraine support
