Here are some photos of Prince William today at RAF Northolt. William was there to highlight the two new London Air Ambulance Charity helicopters, helicopters which were bought via a charity fundraising drive. Bizarrely, David Beckham joined William at this event. David is, as always, desperate for a knighthood and willing to cozy up to the Windsors whenever possible. This sort of looks bad for William though – it looks like he’s acknowledging that he has no star power, and that he has to invite celebrity “friends” to join him at work events. It also appears that this Beckham appearance was designed as a “clapback” to Harry’s visit to London yesterday. Speaking of, the Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes got a hot tip that William did something else to try to steal Harry’s thunder on Monday. The fact that William’s office has to point this out is hilarious to me – Kensington Palace posted their “September Rewind” tweet-thread about an hour before Harry appeared at the WellChild Awards. You guys…
Hours before Prince Harry took to the stage Monday night as the star of the WellChild Awards, his most prestigious remaining U.K. charity commitment, his brother released his “monthly rewind.” The moments highlighted by Kensington Palace included Princess Kate’s announcement that she has recovered from cancer, plenty of coverage of the newly bearded Prince William’s Earthshot prize, Kate’s impromptu and private visit to a ballet performance, and an art exhibition in support of and advocating on behalf of the homeless. The social media messages were posted at 2:39 p.m., local time. A little over an hour later, at 3:57, WellChild began its online stream, with Harry arriving shortly thereafter.
Prince William’s office declined to comment, though a friend of the prince’s told The Daily Beast: “It’s the end of the month and at the end of the month they do release the rewind. I’m sure the time of day they did it had nothing to do with Harry. But I think what is notable is that it shows how much they do on a monthly basis, and if that has been inadvertently highlighted it’s no bad thing.”
Another royal insider said: “It’s the age old weaponization of scheduling. The different principals were always supposed to try—but often failed—not to schedule high-profile events for the same day to avoid knocking each other off the front pages. It’s less of an issue now that there are fewer of them. But old habits clearly die hard, and there is no reason now that William should make allowances for Harry’s schedule.”
“I certainly wouldn’t buy anyone saying it just happened to be posted so late in the day by accident. A ‘monthly rewind’ could equally well have gone out the next day, or earlier in the day. It looks to me like someone is stirring the pot and letting Harry know he is not going to have it all his own way if he wants to pitch up in London and do what always used to be a royal job on a freelance basis.”
“The different principals were always supposed to try—but often failed—not to schedule high-profile events for the same day to avoid knocking each other off the front pages.” That’s just the thing, isn’t it? William’s sad monthly rewind didn’t knock Harry off the front pages. It was a minor blip online as the royal rota desperately awaited Harry’s appearance at the WellChild event. All of the royal coverage on Monday – and in Tuesday’s morning papers – was about Harry, WellChild and how Harry didn’t bother to see his brother or father. William *wanted* to steal Harry’s thunder and he didn’t, so now William sent his people to point out what he did. Such a dolt. He can’t even do a simple RAF event without needing a Security-Blanket Beckham. Pathetic. Also: “letting Harry know he is not going to have it all his own way if he wants to pitch up in London and do what always used to be a royal job on a freelance basis.” William thinks ALL charity work is a “royal job.”
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.