Prince Charles worries that people pay too much attention to the Brexit issue

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales arrives at St Philip's Church during an official visit to Leicester

Sometimes, I feel like Prince Charles gets a bad rap. He strikes me as someone who genuinely cares about many issues, and he’s taken the time to at least be familiar, if not well-read, on many different subjects. Does he come across as a bit daffy and out-of-touch at times? Sure. But I mostly think his heart is in the right place. So I have mixed feelings about this story, because at first I was like “Oh, Charles, people have a right to be concerned” but then I really thought about it and he’s not completely wrong. Charles apparently complained that people in the UK were too focused on the Brexit issue, often to the exclusion of other pressing concerns.

The Prince of Wales has complained that the British public has become ‘obsessed’ with Brexit at the expense of other burning issues such as the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. Prince Charles expressed his concerns to guests at a Lambeth Palace reception hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby where he was a guest of honour.

The heir to the throne is reported to have said he believed a major report on religious persecution has ‘sunk without trace’ due to the UK’s focus on leaving the European Union. The Telegraph reported, citing a well placed source, that Prince Charles told guests at the event on Thursday evening: ‘People are more interested and obsessed with Brexit than persecuted Christians.’

The comments, made in private conversation, have not been denied by Royal Aides and Clarence House said it does not comment on private conversations. The Prince has spoken often on religious persecution in recent months and in December warned against a repeat of ‘the horrors of the past’ on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. During the reception he outlined his dismay that a report called Religious Freedom in the World 2016 by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Catholic charity that supports oppressed Christians, had received little coverage in the mainstream media.

The source at the Lambeth House event said: ‘Prince Charles complained that the Aid to the Church in Need report had sunk without trace because people were so obsessed with Brexit.’

The ACN welcomed the prince’s comments and said it had received a donation from the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation. Neville Kyrke-Smith, ACN’s national director, said: ‘Despite highlighting the genocidal attacks on Christians and other minorities in the Middle East, the secular press showed little interest in the Religious Freedom in the World Report and there was no national television coverage. It is those who are suffering at this time who are left abandoned unless ACN and other charities respond to their terrible plight.’

[From The Daily Mail]

A few points for Charles. One, people can care about many things all at once. It’s not a zero sum game where there’s a limit to how much people can care and they’re improperly allotting their care to only Brexit. Two, Brexit is a huge deal which affects the entire British – if not European – economy. Of course people are paying attention – they should have been paying attention BEFORE the vote. Three, Charles’ point still stands, if you interpret his point as a larger media critique of what subjects get coverage. In America, media outlets should have spent less time on the “horse race” of the election and more time actually informing voters of the fact that Donald Trump is an unhinged lunatic. Even now that Agent Orange is president, the media just runs around in circles. People are ill-informed in general, but here’s a larger critique: many of those uninformed people want to be uninformed. They don’t want to use critical thinking skills.

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall visit St Mary Magdalene church on the Sandringham Estate with other members of the royal family

Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.

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24 Responses to “Prince Charles worries that people pay too much attention to the Brexit issue”

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  1. littlemissnaughty says:

    Honestly, I thought he was going to say “Nobody pays attention to the environment anymore. Brexit is peanuts compared to mass migration due to global warming.” Or water shortages. Or rising sea levels. I didn’t see the Christian thing coming.

    • perplexed says:

      Neither did I. That was not the story I was expecting him to comment on. To be fair, I didn’t even know that was happening, so he may be correct about lack of media coverage, at least. Sounded like he was talking about the media, more than anything else. And who doesn’t complain about the media?

  2. A says:

    Sure, don’t think too much people. It’s not like Hitler and Himmler are rising up again and the world economy is going to —it.
    Keep watching old movies and telenovelas, nothing else to see here.

    • Saras says:

      King Trump will do whatever he wants and remove dissenters at will. He has already hollowed out our government agencies and has radical plans that the majority of Americans are against. Over 1,500,000 in the UK signed against our dear dictator. That is what the Prince should be concerned about!

  3. Shambles says:

    On critical thinking, I was just thinking about this ok my commute yesterday. I posted a Facebook status thanking all of my teachers for teaching me critical thinking. Because that’s truly the age that we’re in right now: there are quantifiable numbers that show that a significant number people in this country are living in pure delusion.

    I watched Sean Spicer go on TV yesterday and parrot the exact same talking points KellyAnne has been squawking: people at airports were “slightly inconvenienced” and it was “only 109 people out of 30 thousand whatver people that came into the country over the weekend,” over and over and over. And I thought… the people who can’t see this for what it so clearly is truly cannot or won’t think critically. These are proveable lies.

    We watched the muslim ban unfold over the weekend, and this was not a god damned “minor inconvenience.” These people were detained illegally, some for over 18 hours, some without food, some small children separated from their families… it was a f*ckikg human rights violation. And JUST 109 PEOPLE?! It is shameful that we did this to one person at all. The fact that this happened to over 100 people is disgraceful. The fact that the current leadership is trying to act like people are being too dramatic about this is egregious and criminal.

    So forgive me if I can’t get down with
    Charles and his “people paid too much attention” over here.

    • NeoCleo says:

      Couldn’t have said it better.

    • original kay says:

      You got it.

      Even 1 is too many.

    • anon2 says:

      he’s right you know. you are justifiably angry abkht 109 people. however change it tk millkons, imagine people being raped and killed for their religion, imagine churches forcibly converted to mosques, imagine the birthplace of christianity-the middle east without assyrian christians and cultures destroyed. it’s been happening since past 12 years and no one cares. So, you decide what’s a bigger priority? at least the immigrants in the us have people fighting for them. the christians and other minirities kn the middle east have been abandoned to genocide.

  4. Megan says:

    Perhaps the ACN did a really crappy job of publicizing their report. Perhaps it was released on a day when breaking news grabbed the headlines. Perhaps ACN is not considered a neutral source. I have no idea why the report wasn’t bigger news, but that doesn’t mean no one cares or the media failed to do it’s job.

  5. sarri says:

    Wow, the comments on this DM article are brutal.

    The DM and its user seem to respect the Queen but they don’t care about the other royals. I see a royal Brexit someday.

    “felix2001, melbourne, Australia, 3 days ago

    The monarchy needs to be abolished after HM passes on. We can’t have a king who doesn’t stand for his own people.”

  6. JesB says:

    Just started to read this article but saw this and had to comment: ” gets a bad rap. He strikes me as someone who genuinely cares about many issues, and he’s taken the time to at least be familiar, if not well-read, on many different subjects. Does he come across as a bit daffy and out-of-touch at times? Sure. But I mostly think his heart is in the right place. ” insert George dubya or even the horror show now, do not excuse ignorance and intolerance, it’s dangerous, and it’s contagious, Quebec city (we are not immune Canadians, hatred is catching). It grants freedom for bigots to bigot, and gives the real bad guys fodder to be like “see we told you, come fight for us” 🙁

  7. perplexed says:

    If he said this in private conversation, I think it’s a bit weird to be criticizing over this (as long as he wasn’t using slurs or anything like Mel Gibson).

    It seems like famous people aren’t allowed to express thoughts in private conversation anymore.

    If he had made a public statement, I can see why he might be ripped apart (if you feel what he said is incorrect). But all of us speculate in private about how the media handles things, and I don’t see why his private conversations should be censored (so long as he isn’t treating anyone badly or abusing anybody).

  8. Clare says:

    Maybe I would be less ‘obsessed’ with Brexit if, like him, my ability to pay my mortgage wasn’t hanging in the balance.

    Maybe I would be less ‘obsessed’ with Brexit if half my post-docs weren’t afraid that their right to work in Britain will be taken away.

    Maybe I’d be less ‘obsessed’ with Brexit, if we weren’t seeing a ridiculous surge in hate crimes and discrimination agaisnt EU citizens, living in the UK.

    I can go on, but you get the point. Charles can shove his privilege and opinion about what we should and shouldn’t care about. Besides, we’ve shown this week that we are capable of caring about more than one issue at a time. What Charles doesn’t like is that people aren’t obsessed about the same issues as him.

    • Sixer says:

      I concur. It is difficult to type much more without risking spontaneous combustion.

    • Sixer says:

      Actually, no, I will say something else.

      Perhaps he could get himself to Stansted Airport tonight, where a mass deportation charter flight will be leaving for Africa to return people to Nigeria and Ghana, some of whom will be facing religious persecution and one of whom is gay and Nigerian and may face death but is being deported even though his ASYLUM CASE IS STILL ONGOING.

      There you go, Chuck. Get involved. You dipshit. You could even donate to the Unity Centre. If you even know it exists.

    • Where'sMyTiara says:

      A+ response, +1000000000

  9. Hejhej says:

    I have heard that currently Christians are the most persecuted religious group (an more Christians are persecuted than ever before in world history too) so I do think he has a point. Nobody seems to care about that – but it’s interconnected to the hatred towards anyone “different” that’s spreading like wildfire and which likely caused the Brexit side to win and certainly also Trump winning in the US. The more hate towards Muslims in the West, the more hate towards Christians in the ME, I think 🙁

  10. PHAKSI says:

    Completely off topic cos I don’t feel like talking politics after the past week; who is the little girl standing in front of Harry in the last photo?

  11. Lisa says:

    Charles is paid millions upon millions a year to shut his mouth and smile for assholes like Donald Trump. That’s his job. He should shut his mouth. Or quit if that makes him unhappy.

  12. eileen Facey says:

    Prince Charles need to look at his mother the Queens reign who stayed neutral in her comments and behind the scenes moved mountains because if he continues to act like a politician he will destroy the monarchy. He has not got the respect his mother has and been self absorbed and opiniated is not being a modern prince just a divisive one.