Don’t get me wrong, I love volleyball and beach volleyball. Volleyball is my jam and it’s super-fun to play and to watch. I do not blame Prince William for putting a beach volleyball session on his Rio de Janeiro itinerary whatsoever. But this is exceptionally bad staff work – letting William play beach volleyball in jeans/trousers, and not shutting it down when William was flailing all over the beach and making those crazy faces as he tried to play the game with little kids. Yikes.
Anyway, these are photos from William’s first day in Rio, where he checked off a bunch of appearances and events in a steady clip. He received the keys to the city (Rio) from the mayor. He visited Sugarloaf Mountain. He did a meet-and-greet and took selfies with Brazilians. He went to a football pitch and kicked a ball. And yes, the volleyball photo-op.
The real story of William’s first day in Brazil is that his brother stole his thunder by announcing a trip to Toronto this week. Harry will be highly visible and doing events on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Also on Wednesday: William’s Earthshot Prize ceremony. Then later in the week – I don’t know if it’s on Thursday or Friday – William is supposed to make a “landmark” speech at COP30. While William is surely seething about the head-to-head competition, he should be thanking Harry. More people will pay attention to William’s Rio stuff because of the comparison with his brother. Plus, if those volleyball pics are a harbinger of things to come, William should find Harry’s Toronto visit invaluable as a distraction.
The Telegraph’s Victoria Ward was seething about Harry’s announced trip, as were other royal reporters and royalists. Ward pointed out something I had already assumed: while Harry gave his father/Buckingham Palace a heads up about his trip to Toronto, Harry doesn’t tell Kensington Palace jacksh-t. The question then becomes… why didn’t Buckingham Palace inform KP about Harry’s trip? Meanwhile, Tom Sykes devoted a whole Royalist Substack piece to Harry “dramatically reigniting his long-running war” with Huevo. Sykes also called it “needlessly antagonistic,” which is a fancy way of saying “hilarious.” Sykes actually made one good point though – it’s not like Harry has scheduled something at the same time as the family’s Remembrance Day events. All Harry is doing is some pre-Remembrance events, and he’ll presumably stay somewhat quiet on Remembrance Sunday.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
