Prince William is facing accusations of staging a “surprise” appearance, with some critics calling it “Royal propaganda.” SheKnows reports that an anti-monarchist group known as The Campaign to Abolish the Monarchy took to Twitter to call out The Prince of Wales over what was said to be an unannounced appearance at a restaurant. “The supposedly ‘shocked diners’ were invited to a closed film venue, with a hired van, to be photographed & filmed for a publicity video,” the group wrote in a post on Twitter.
“They were told where to stand & what to do when meeting ‘prince’ William,” they added, then including the following hashtags: “#royalpropaganda #PropagandaStudies #NotMyPrince.” Republic, another Royal family opposition group, chimed in as well, criticizing British media for participating in the stunt. “The royals produce a staged video and @ITVand @SkyNews report it as if it were a genuine moment of surprise from ‘diners in London,’” they added.
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The new claims come at the same time that William and his wife, Kate Middleton, have had their work ethic called into question. According toย GBNย Royal correspondent Richard Palmer, “They’re very popular, they’re a huge asset to the UK, but there have been eyebrows raised in other parts of the royal household about the amount of time they’re not doing official engagements.”
“It may well be that they come under a little bit of pressure to up their number of engagements,” Palmer continued, sharing his perspective during GBN’sย Royal Round Upย podcast. “There aren’t many families where both the father and mother are able to have 12 or 13 weeks with their children on all of their school breaks. I think there’s an awful lot of goodwill towards them, but they do need to keep an eye on that.” The pair are parents to Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.ย SheKnowsย added that this is not the first time that William’s low number of royal engagements has been scrutinized, as in the past he’s been referred to as the “slightly reluctant royal” and “Work-shy William.”
Earlier this month, Middleton and William officially received new titles from William’s father, King Charles. A few weeks ago,ย PEOPLEย reportedย that Buckingham Palace announced new military appointments for several members of the royal family. Middleton’s new title is Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, Colonel-in-Chief of the 1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards and Royal Honorary Air Commodore of Royal Air Force Coningsby. Additional Royal Family members who’ve been awarded new titles include King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince Edward, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Anne, Prince Richard and Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester.
