It’s pretty funny to watch Prince William and Kate sort of flail around, completely underprepared for this big career advancement for which they’ve been waiting for decades. It reminds me of Kate’s single-minded campaign to land William and get the ring, then once she finally got the ring, she didn’t do a damn thing. She had zero plans for what happened once her decade of waitying paid off. In the past decade, William and Kate have been so focused on accruing power and lording their status over everyone, they forgot to actually do the work to prepare to be Prince of Wales and Princess of Wales. So here we are.
William is a 40-year-old man who speaks no second languages. He couldn’t be bothered to learn a few words of French when he visited France. He couldn’t be bothered to speak a few words in Arabic when he visited the UAE. He couldn’t be bothered to speak a few words in Urdu when he visited Pakistan. What makes anyone think that he would bother learning any Welsh after waiting his entire life to become Prince of Wales? Roya Nikkah was part of the Rota tracking William and Kate in Wales on Tuesday, and she noted on her Twitter that William told Welsh people that “I’ve been brushing up on my Welsh, all the little snippets, I’ve got to remember them” and then he said “I’m going to have to branch out a bit” as he only knows “a couple of phrases.” Like, did this trip sneak up on you, Peg? You couldn’t have studied for a few hours on Monday night to pick up some conversational phrases? The bar is set so f–king low. Meanwhile, they magically found some Welsh reverend to sing their praises:
The heir to the throne spoke about getting to grips with the language with Reverend Steven Bunting from St Thomas Church in Swansea where he and Kate visited on Tuesday afternoon, telling him he had already picked up the word ‘paned’, meaning a cup of tea.
Rev Bunting said: ‘We already know they love Wales, but having them here has been amazing and is an early sign, I think, of their commitment to Wales. They’ve blown us away by speaking to every person young and old, it shows how wholly committed they are to their role as Prince and Princess of Wales. The Prince of Wales was even talking about learning Welsh, and said he’d learned the word “paned” meaning cup of tea and “bara brith”. I think he’s taking being Prince of Wales very, very seriously.’
Narrator’s voice: He was not, in fact, taking being Prince of Wales very seriously. I should also note that this whole “William should learn Welsh” thing didn’t just appear on Tuesday. People have been saying for years that William should learn Welsh or at least study it long enough to be able to make some amount of conversation. Before Charles’s PoW investiture, Charles actually went to Wales for a semester and studied Welsh for real, and he still knows enough Welsh to speak it conversationally and pepper his speeches with Welsh words and phrases. Shortly after Charles gave Peg and Buttons the Wales titles, the First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford went on record saying that William needs to learn the language. And then William just choppered into Anglesey and decided to half-ass it.
During the Prince and Princess of Wales’s visit today, William admitted “I’ve been brushing up on my Welsh, all the little snippets, I’ve got to remember them” admitting “I’m going to have to branch out a bit” as he only knows “a couple of phrases”.
— Roya Nikkhah (@RoyaNikkhah) September 27, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales and his wife Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales greet members of the public following a visit to the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) Holyhead Lifeboat Station in Anglesey, north west Wales on September 27, 2022.,Image: 726450878, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: PAUL ELLIS / Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales and his wife Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales greet members of the public following a visit to the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) Holyhead Lifeboat Station in Anglesey, north west Wales on September 27, 2022.,Image: 726450884, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: PAUL ELLIS / Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales and his wife Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales visit the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) Holyhead Lifeboat Station in Anglesey, north west Wales on September 27, 2022.,Image: 726451037, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: PAUL ELLIS / Avalon
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- Prince William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, visit St Thomas Church, a re-developed church in Swansea which supports people in the local area and across the City and County of Swansea. Tuesday 27 September 2022.,Image: 726477612, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph / Avalon
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- Prince William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, visit St Thomas Church, a re-developed church in Swansea which supports people in the local area and across the City and County of Swansea. Tuesday 27 September 2022.,Image: 726477612, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph / Avalon
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- Prince William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, visit St Thomas Church, a re-developed church in Swansea which supports people in the local area and across the City and County of Swansea. Tuesday 27 September 2022.,Image: 726477686, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph / Avalon
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- Prince William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, visit St Thomas Church, a re-developed church in Swansea which supports people in the local area and across the City and County of Swansea. Tuesday 27 September 2022.,Image: 726477710, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph / Avalon
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- Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales visit St Thomas Church in Swansea on what is the couple’s first visit to Wales with their new titles Featuring: Prince William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Charlotte Bunting Where: Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom When: 27 Sep 2022 Credit: Joann Randles/Cover Images
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- Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales visit Swansea on what is the couple’s first visit to Wales with their new titles. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom When: 27 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
Is it proper and within protocol for Kate to be wearing red so soon after the Queen’s death?! I thought they were still in official mourning.
They aren’t yesterday they officially announced that the period of mourning was over. It’s on the royal family twitter page.
I saw somewhere that red is the color of Wales. Diana also wore a red coat when visiting, so somewhat another cosplay of her dead MIL. For once I thought she was actually somewhat appropriate as she was wearing black under the coat.
They are not in mourning, but I still think that the color is way too festive. There’ s always an excuse for these two. If it was you know who all the haters would be on here saying “I like her but this color is too much”. The Wales will never improve, too much fake adoration since another woman entered the picture. The queen hadn’t just died when Diana wore red to Wales🤢
I agree Swaz…in addition, I believe official mourning and personal grieving for a loved one are two completely different things… yes, the official mourning is over but don’t they grieve the loss of their beloved grandmother who was so close to them according to reports and articles? They should act with more decorum..
@riah Diana wore red and black on her first official engagement in Wales as Princess of Wales so naturally, K had to as well. It’s also the reason why on her very first engagement after they got engaged, k wore brown and black, because that’s what Diana did
Oh please – the Queen was 96 years old. While I am sure there is grief and sadness, I don’t think Kate needs to wear black for weeks.
A person’s age shouldn’t correlate to a family’s grief. Sorry, but I truly loathe it when someone says, of an older person’s death, “oh, well, she/he had a good long life.” As if everyone should just get on with it, because the deceased was elderly.
She also didn’t need to buy a new red coat but she did anyway.
Wearing bright red literally the day after official mourning ends really isn’t tasteful. This whole family is about protocol and other nonsense.
Charles should have demanded he learn it years ago. He never will now. I hope everyone in Wales talks sh!t about them right to their dumb faces
The only the William has learned is how to grift and undermine and terrorize people he views as threats.
Only 10% of Welsh people speak Welsh fluently. I don’t think being a modern POW hangs on his language skills, but rather his priorities and work for Wales.
Is it just me or does William have a permanent sneer on that face of his?
Even if it was only 1% he should speak it. Honestly I blame the parents, how can you not raise ‘a kind to be’ multilingual. I am not going to be queen and i speak the 3 languages of my country and 2 more, it is not that difficult.
Learning Welsh is not the same for an English speaker as learning Spanish or French (which are still tough). It would be INCREDIBLY difficult to pick up for anyone who’s no longer a young child.
Kirsten- what exactly else is he doing all day? He could hire the best tutors in the world. Hell, he doesn’t even need to learn it, just make some speeches.
@Kirsten, maybe, but many people learn languages that are very different at a later age.
I’m still progressing in a very different language from my own. I’m not a language talent and near William’s age, but I’m still making progress by studying about 15 minutes per day to the point where I can now have general conversations.
And he knew his future job would be about Wales. He could have had lessons since he was young, even if just once per week for a while to get some knowledge in.
As for French; I thought that was a basic skill and the first language to learn for people in “polite society” in the UK?
@Kirsten, Princess Mary of Denmark learned Danish much later in life. She didn’t spend her whole life knowing she was going to live there and address its people.
William has known since birth that that the POW title will be his. He has done zero preparation. There is no excuse, so please stop trying to find one for him.
Charles just coddled William and will spent his twenties clubbing and vacations much of the time
Yep, and now it shows.
How much is it going to suck for William or George if the monarchy is abolished when Charles pops his clogs, or while William is King?
Yes, Welsh along with French and Spanish, should have been taught to the future POW and king as a child.
I predict this is the one and only time the matter of the POW actually speaking Welsh will be addressed by William or KP.
The other princes/ princesses in Europe speak at least three languages. Sorry, but Charles and Diana should know better when he was a child.
He also should have been made to take media relations and international relations in school instead of wasting time and money on a bs geography degree. He is completely unqualified for this job.
Plus, he actually lived in Wales for a few years when first married. You’d think he’d have picked up at least a little bit of the language then. It’s not like he just heard for the first time he was going to be Prince of Wales when his father gave that speech right after the queen died.
How do we know he didn’t? My sense is that William realized early on that he was going to be King no matter what, so no one had any hold over him at all. With these sorts of people, you eventually stop arguing with them because every fight you lose just makes things worse.
We know he didn’t because he has never, not once, been captured on video, audio, or through anyone’s observation been heard to utter a sentence or phrase or word–except, apparently, the one for tea–in Welsh.
ot but I just have to write that I am glad i saw your post. my family are very selfish and no one had time to raise me. I would make a point and it got to the point where they just stopped arguing or explaining things to me. your post helped me see that they realized the more they argued the more I saw the truth. so they stopped. they figured I was becoming worst.
I was a child when we stayed in Wales but there are things I remember vividly. One being that Welsh schools taught in Welsh, English and French which I thought was wonderful and still do. Not as separate courses, but as immersion. I think Math was in English for instance. (To be clear, we were there for the summer, so I had no first hand experience).
I’m a speech pathologist and know all the research says acquiring languages before age 7 is the easiest way to learn. So perhaps we can fault Chucky for not providing a tutor.
The other thing I recall was the singing ( maybe it was more the voices?) but either way on a higher level than anything I have heard before or since.
Eh I don’t think Chuck wants Pegs to outshine him so he probably didn’t care that he did not learn the language. Chuck wants him to work more but not outshine him by being a popular POW. Yeah they need popularity but they’re all so petty and can’t stand each other.
LOL!!!!!!!!! @ the Pegs thing…
They also lived in Wales for a few years so you would think they would have picked some things up then.
This is what I don’t get. They LIVED there. They presumably picked Wales to create a connection for the future Prince/ss of Wales.
How on earth did they not:
1) make a sincere effort to learn the language then;
2) brush up before any trips to Wales they’ve made since then; and
3) realize – especially after Charles’ massive faux pas of showing up in Wales as King for the first time on the major Welsh holiday celebrating the last Welsh Prince of Wales – that they really needed to up their game for their first appearance as the Prince/ss of Wales?!
It’s like they are daring Wales & Scotland to leave.
And imagine, he got ‘promoted’ to this ‘position’ without bothering to learn the language. And how many real-world examples would we see of such a promotion? Royalty, particularly the British variety, is beyond ridiculous.
I don’t know why we expect the RF to be powerhouses of intellect, competence and glamour. History has shown them to be mostly mediocre. Even Harry, who’s practically a unicorn, would have been buried under his brother’s mediocrity if it weren’t for Meghan. Once the spotlight goes off H&M, what’s left is the usual blah.
It’s pathetic that William can’t speak the language, or any other language. Past royals, going back hundreds of years, have learned other European languages and took pride in education.
Imagine knowing you have a test 40 years in advance, and never once studying for it.
All the resources at their fingertips, all the thousands of pounds spent educating them – how are the members of the 21st century royal family so shamefully ignorant? At what point did British kings, queens, princes, princesses etc. stop being multilingual, writers, artists, musicians as well as sporty? How is there not some sort of vocational training for the heirs to the throne to prepare them for the role they will eventually inhabit? It doesn’t have to be formal university education, but it should be something.
I have wondered that too. Remember that Elizabeth I spoke five languages!
William and Kate spent a few years living in Wales, and he couldn’t have learned Welsh then? He could have spent the past 11 years learning Welsh from Duo Lingo or Babbel, or hired a tutor.
I mean its pretty sad when Rob McElhenney speaks more Welsh than the Prince of Wales.
Yeah he hasn’t even tried. Like the PoW title is already contentious. Maybe it would work if will at least tried to pretend he cared about the culture.
And I hate to drag H&M into this, but think of how they would have approached this.
He was too busy trimming rose bushes. And he really doesn’t seem to plan ahead well.
QEII’s parents didn’t believe in education. Her father was really really bad in school and her mother just didn’t think that girls needed extended education.
You don’t need a good education when you’re going to inherit all the goodies the world has to offer anyway. Of course, you’ll look like an utter fool & be taken advantage of by your personal Iagos, but still.
Maybe not but Queen Elizabeth spoke nearly fluent French. If you watch this video from 2004 (skip to 1:48) where she addresses the French Senate is entirely in French. There are other videos on Youtube of her speaking it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxQpdHz7t2o. She had an accent of course but her pronunciation was very good and she is decent and sounds fluent.
The Queen could speak French and German and Charles can as well. William is the one who is basically unilingual.
Over the past millennium, were the royals exceptionally talented? Or is it only the few we’ve heard about? And for the current crop, has more than a normal amount been spent in educating them? I think Charles was the first heir to go to university and Edward went, I think, but he squeaked by. And now William. Higher education should have prepared them to navigate a normal life, but none of it would have prepared them for royal life. I’m sure there have been tutors for all the history, protocols and procedures of the RF, but unless one is the heir, there really isn’t a specific job for which to prepare. The rest can sit and wait in comfort until somebody tells them where to go and what to do.
After that, it’s up to the individual personality – are they interested enough or talented enough to educate themselves on a specific subject? Charles is when it comes to organic farming, architecture and the environment. Harry is, with his charitable interests. So we end up with Will and Kate, who are both university educated, but, it seems, not seriously interested in anything outside of the RF. I think now that W&K are being forced to do more is when their royal education really begins. Unfortunately, it will be in the public eye.
It would be so interesting if someone were able to spill some tea about Peggington’s scholastic accomplishments at Eton and uni. 😉
in the past kings and queens at least had the benefit of better education than the vast majority of the population, and many had some ability in other languages, but they also had actual power and purpose as opposed to now, where they’re just moth-eaten window dressing and the less they say in any language the better
Or have they always been this lazy and it was just easier to lie about their supposed accomplishments and talents before modern reporting and the internet?
In the 16th century, it was fashionable to learn a lot.
Tudors Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane Grey and Elizabeth I were all extremely well educated.
Mary I (the Bloody one 😉 ) also had a good education. She’s slightly older than the rest apart from Henry, and women being well-educated was taking off more during her lifetime.
Some pre-Tudor medieval kings were also well educated by the standards of their time (which were different from the Tudors). Henry I was called Beauclerc for his education. There were quite a lot of intelligent Kings in medieval times.
I’d say the medieval kings had way more bright, intelligent people amongst them than the post 1600 crew.
There were also a few duds, who were weak or downright detrimental to the monarchy, but that is compensated by intelligent people with the ‘star’ factor like an Edward III or Henry V. Goes for some of their wives as well, like Mathilda of Scotland or Philippa of Hainault. Even those considered the ‘bad ones’ were not boring, like Isabella of Angouleme or Isabella of France.
I don’t really see much of that after 1600. Most of them were rather dull.
Seriously. William is an embarrassment as a royal and as a soft diplomat.
I am 40, speak four languages and was raised on 40k a year in North Carolina.
The squandering of access and resources is truly staggering. Same goes for Kate. How sad.
I think they wanted to be seen as less frivolous in order to be more relatable. however, not only have they not been working but they also havent been studying. its sad. I think everyone expected more from william.
Meanwhile, the Welsh are organising an Independence March 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’m choosing to hear that line in the narrator’s voice, which was the very best part of this post 🤣🤣🤣
In Michael Sheen’s voice, in particular.
William is scared of the Welsh. I saw on Twitter one of the rota saying that news of their appearance was embargoed and another reporter commenting on the crowd size despite the short notice. They are already reduced to using the “don’t tell anyone we are coming until the last minute” approach to keep protesters from showing up with their #notmyprince posters.
So Wales is the new Northern Ireland?
My first thought when I saw reports on the trip was huh, not going to Cardiff then? It sounds like they purposely went under the radar which is a great start!
Go Welsh independence.
But a small child knew far enough I’m advance to wait for hours in the cold. That’s a kid with his ear to the ground!
As soon as he was selected as Photo Op Child #1, the small child and his handler were plunked out in the cold to wait for Keen’s arrival, thus successfully isolating them from any poster-making materials.
Shouldn’t learning welsh have been part of his education growing up? Its no secret or surprise he would eventually become the prince of Wales.
This! Being in the line of succession is not something that happens overnight. I mean, the whole country knows from the moment you’re born!!
I’m from Spain and people here can like our royals more or less, but there’s no denying that Leonor is being thoroughly prepared for her role. She’ll be 17 next month and, that we know of from past speeches, she speaks Catalán (a co-official language in part of the country) and English (she is finishing her studies in Wales). Plus, she is really, really good at public speaking at such a young age. It’s clear that *someone* thought about her education!!
Edit to add that I bet she already knows more Welsh than William! XD
Leonor is amazing (and, I’d add, seems to treat her sibling with love and respect!). Estelle of Sweden is amazing (also treats her sibling with love and respect!). Both of them decades younger than William and already more accomplished (in preparing for their roles), poised, articulate, and both speak more languages than the new prince of wales. How can Peggington not even be a bit embarrassed?! He’s so lacking, in every single way.
This! When I heard he’d said he was “going to learn it” I was like, dude…you knew this was coming. You had 40 years. Unbelievable.
it reflects that he doesn’t really view being prince of wales as anything more than a waiting room before he becomes king… but yeah, he literally has no job but to show up and say vague pleasantries and they knew for years he’d be doing that in Wales so why not learn Welsh from day one?
He learned “Bara brith”? Everyone who watched the British Baking Show knows this is a type of cake. So impressive Peg!
Well, we know Mary Berry were Louis’s first words 🙄 so perhaps Louis taught it to his dad.
@Sussexwatcher, I forgot about that! LOL
I was waiting to see what would happen!! I didn’t have any expectations, and I am still let down. As I’ve mentioned a zillion times here, I am Canadian but moved to the UK nearly a decade ago. I went to Wales for the first time last month to visit my partner’s godmother, who is Welsh. She has actually spent her whole life trying to preserve the Welsh language and culture, she’s a fascinating woman. She translates children’s books into Welsh, and has visited other countries (in South America, for example) where they have Welsh communities, to try to preserve the language.
All that to say, I see how passionately she works for it, how she sees herself as both Welsh and British (but Welsh first!), and how much of her free time she devotes to developing children’s literacy as well as the Welsh language. She is retired but she is constantly being sent books to translate, history to research, etc.
I see someone like her, and how inspiring she is. I didn’t know much at all about Wales or Welsh history (shame on me!) but I am keen to learn now. I managed to learn phrases and about two dozen words and I only visited for a freaking week, and that was my first exposure to it.
How the current Prince of Wales only just getting round to it? What is the point of him? Abolish the monarchy.
Your second sentence says it all and should be the Will and Kate motto: I didn’t have any expectations and I am still let down.
W&K, letting people around the globe down since 2012. Well prior even, as we know the queen wanted to know “but what does she do?!”
Utterly useless and pathetic.
I lived in Wales for three years starting with a year in Cardiff doing my masters then moved to Swansea and it was fascinating seeing the efforts to rebuild the language after years of having it suppressed.
Although about halfway through a very intense week of exams I did look at my answer paper and think I’d forgotten how to read only to realise they were double sided and mine was Welsh side up.
Love that story @IForget. A few years ago I was at a baby shower. One of the games was matching 15 country’s word for baby. A vast spread of countries/continents. One person correctly matched all of them. We’re all like that’s amazing. She said not really. During the last month of her first pregnancy she really couldn’t do much and out of the need to do something, she spent time learning how to say baby in different languages to her belly. She really got into it and learned different phrases in quite a number of languages. (I matched 8 right-the least amount right was 5).
It seems the new P’s of Wails didn’t think the same way during all their time off over the years. Will just doesn’t care enough and Kate’s concern was working on sounding more aristo.
All the resources in the world and he doesn’t make the most of them. What a life. Lazy and useless.
Exactly, when did royals, or at least English royals, stop learning different languages? It used to be something that they all did. If I had the means and access I would 100% have my children learning a second or even third language beginning when they are young, the best time to learn and mine aren’t even supposed to lord over anyone! The fact that he’s supposed to become the king of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and doesn’t know any of those languages?
I feel like here in the US, learning multiple languages is considered a sign of privilege (IF you don’t come from a multilingual family already where its just the norm to speak two languages.) Like the rich people around me have their kids in Mandarin classes from a young age because they can afford it.
they figure they’ll take Mandarin outside school, they start learning Spanish in school in kindergarten, and then they plan to throw in another language at some point in a very “well Junior really need to learn Greek darling, we’re on the yacht every summer in the greek isles so it was a priority for us” kind of way.
I guess when you’re the FK you don’t need that status marker? (FK is not as fun to say as FFK.)
When they got so caught up in their own bubble of superiority that they stopped thinking anyone else matters?
This is right on brand for W&K–to be going to do something at some unspecified point in the future. Then the point will get moved again. His accomplishment with the language is like a child knowing how to count in spanish because they saw it on Sesame Street. And “They’ve blown us away by speaking to every person young and old”. Really, every person? There’s over 3 million people living in Wales.
This is why I’m surprised with people saying that now, as prince and princess of Wales, Will and Kate have to work.. they certainly don’t have to work or do anything in particular…the press is doing everything for them…why bother?
Colour me surprised.
I mean even if he CBA being tutored at this stage of his life, you can study it on Duolingo.
Omfg you can too. They are beyond a joke.
Best comment on the twitter feed re learning welsh:
“Was waiting for Harry to do it for him. ” 😂😂😂
LOL LOL
😂😂😂
LMAO!
Sounds about right. LOL.
so colonizer. they can’t even get it right with the wyt countries!
I agree with the commenter who said that the real reason TQ never abdicated was because she didn’t want to have to see this isht.
Even the poor Rev. Bunting not able to say with certainty that new POW is committed to Wales.
He is so lazy and apathetic
He should learn welsh and gaelic. A future king should have the ability to impress.
This man has had 20+ years to do something with his life. He knew he was going to be the future PoW, he knew he had to serve some sort of purpose to the Welsh people (learn Welsh for a start) and yet what has he done? William has been bone-idle since day 1 by hiding behind courtiers, smearing his younger brother and playing pretend helicopter pilot as if he was a 7-year old all over again. These two completely deserve each other. I hope Wales see through them quickly because they will do absolutely nothing to benefit the nation. All they care about are themselves.
To the Queen’s credit she took the time to learn some Irish and nearly managed to thaw 7 centuries worth of anger towards Britain when she visited the Republic of Ireland.
Her hair needs updating way too long
Hahahahahahaha, busted. PW has had numerous webpages dedicated to his superior language abilities. Welsh was supposedly one of the languages he (somewhat) spoke, after living there and because he would become the next Prince of Wales. I agree that KC should have seen to his education when he was a child, but it was W’s responsibility to learn a bit (more) of Welsh as an adult. https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/prince-william-foreign-languages.html/
That is funny. I like this “Apparently, Meghan Markle also knows a little French, but her fluency is unclear.” Because, of course, she couldn’t be as good as the born royals. Interesting how they don’t mention her speaking Spanish. They also don’t mention PH at all and he has actually been heard to speak various languages in speeches.
Meghan is a fluent Spanish speaker. She learned it while she was doing her internship at the American embassy in Argentina so of course that accomplishment has been stricken from any reporting.
Jaded- as a lifelong CA resident, I think people from other states don’t realize how omnipresent Spanish is in this state.
Meg likely would still know more Spanish than Will knows Welsh, just from living in CA for a long time. No Argentina necessary.
@equality, that is lol. Those a$$holes know very well what her fluency is, and, yes, it’s better than certain royals. It’s like when they pretend to not have knowledge of how well she did at Northwestern.
@Rapunzel, personally speaking, I know how much Spanish is spoken in CA. Even in my small WI city it’s very present. What the BM/BRF like to pretend/ignore is how culturally diverse and knowledgeable Meghan is. They want to act like her International degree was a fluff class.
It would be amazing if Meghan was quietly becoming fluent in Welsh, so the next time she had to spend any length of time in the UK she can bust out some Welsh and make courtiers burst into flames. Fan fiction, I know…but fun to imagine.
William should then be able to converse with Melania in multiple languages as there must be a similar cheat sheet about her.
ahahahhah, yes, her many, many language skills *snorts*
To be fair to W, at least he seems to know English, while I doubt she can (still) use Slovenian properly.
(writing this as a multilingual Slovenian).
Can I also put “knows a little” of all the languages I know a handful of sentences in? My CV would look amazing if I could list that I know a little of over 7-8 languages haha
I can say F you in 10 languages (or the closest comparable phrase) and a couple other insults easily in 5. I have to go update my CV lol
Princess “Kate”, the new Princess of Wales, only knows a couple of words in English… is that’s why she mumbles?
Notice, they didn’t mention anything about Kate learning Welsh.. they already know that this is beyond her and people have to accept it… I read somewhere that diana’s speech in Wales was made half in Welsh. Kate obviously can’t copy her dead mother in law in anything else than clothes.
Forget Kate. She’s too busy trying to tame that poor child in the above picture. Somebody should send help, Kate’s got the same look she had with Louis the last time we saw him in public.
I still think this is a part of Charles’s plan to expose Will and Kate’s laziness and incompetence so people will stop calling for Will to become King.
@Nevia, I also believe that KC did this on purpose to expose his son.
Charles was so messy to give the wales title to the Cambridges immediatly, in absolute opposition to his own access to this princeship.
It looks like a soft version of the same pattern used to sink the duchess of sussex with royal duties , without any time, preparation, adequate help or the promised protection.
the spanish princess who is 13 already speaks 3+ languages fluently – the british royals are so provincial. I wonder if wills watched harry’s invictus presentation from before the funeral where he spoke in german for a full minute.
@Ana, I love Harry, but I’m very sure he doesn’t speak German. I do appreciate that he memorized a short speech for his German audience.
The Dutch royals are also multilingual enough to converse with native speakers of a few different languages. What W&K are doing well is making sure they’re kids grow up speaking Spanish as well as English. However, the parents should brush up on their skills.
PH said in the past that he didn’t speak German but that he wanted to. It is possible that he has been studying and does know some now. Interacting with native speakers would make it easier to learn.
Absolutely @Equality!
I can’t understand why they wouldn’t also get all the kids learning Welsh, they’ve certainly tried to convince us that’s “home” for the kids. Silly.
SAS, I wonder if the disregard for the language is a colonizer feature, not a bug.
Maybe They’re not bothering to learn it, to have their kids learn it because they don’t want to, they don’t want to honor that culture, they don’t care if that language dies out. (Then again they seem narrow minded and incurious about everything, so this could just be par for the course for them)
Well, that’s unfortunate because they’ve forgotten the entire usefulness of royalty are to act as soft diplomats. Having such a large family fluent in a variety of languages would make them look like a great investment.
But they are solely focused on what others can do for them.
@North of Boston – I’ll go with “colonizer feature.” I can’t say if it’s the same now, but when I used to travel extensively, the British travelers I encountered thought they could get by in any country by speaking English very slowly and very LOUDLY. For the RF, that comes from a tradition of “the sun never sets on the British Empire,” I’m sure there still exist the vestiges of “Civilization = English language.
Leonor does speak several languages and has made many speeches. I think she is 17 now and studying in Wales. Maybe she could tutor both POW’s.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark speaks 4 languages (Danish, French, German and English). Mary speaks obviously English and Danish and by now has probably picked up some French as well. QMII speaks 4 or 5 I believe.
If only Peg had something to show for all those years of doing nothing. So far his legacy is racism, jealousy & rage.
Next Kate will say George can speak fluently the Welsh language
He learnt the word for tea so he can bark at some poor peasant to bring him his.I think they both have a responsibility to learn the language but What do I know, I am but a simple peasant.
I personally think Kate and Willy terrify children, none of theses kids look happy to be around them and Kate s holding on to that little girl like hug me damn it, I need my early year child expert shot.
Kate’s face in that picture with the little girl is terrifying. Would have given me nightmares as a small child.
@Over it you are right about learning the word for tea so the peasants know what he wants. Some of the other “little snippets” of Welsh phrases Burger King managed to learn while in Wales: Hi Rose, what time are you going to be here? I don’t have any cash with me so you pay. No, I don’t want to do that. Be quiet, Kate.
That picture is so awful. She looks like she is terrifying that child who is bent on trying to escape from the manic woman
As Jane says above, it is just odd how poorly educated and poorly cultured the royals are. I don’t think a privately educated British kid would understand why “Rushmore” is funny or entertaining. That’s just life for them. Ten year olds play chess, develop portfolios of art, learn multiple musical instruments, maybe throw in some rugby, cricket or cross country, learn drama and public speaking, learn a modern foreign language or two and Latin.* A lot of that is to have a competitive application into (private or grammar) secondary school, and my guess is that royals just know they have a place and they certainly don’t need a scholarship.
Imagine! Having access to that kind of education and not needing it for a scholarship — you could learn… anything! It takes a lack of imagination and curiosity (and laziness) to wilfully not take advantage of those opportunities.
* This is referring to children whose parents can afford private education which includes the royals.
ps The ten year olds I know in London (of which my kid is one) feel like stressed out middle aged adults. It’s not great.
I’ve read articles about Eton public school program, i was so jealous…
They can learn swahili, invite great personnalities from politics for speeches, etc.
Worlds of possibilities are theirs
The problem is the windsors aren’t a very intellectually stimulating family environment.
Charles was so much involved in becoming camilla tampon, and only used his sons as protection against the press.
moreover William and Harry time in Eton was quite hard with their parents divorce, and Mother ‘s death.
i remember gossips about some pupils stealing from them, Harry having a kind of untreated dyslexia.
I mean, they did live in Wales, right? For several years, right? And Anglesey is still in Wales, right? And during this period they had no royal duties so they could “be newlyweds” and “focus on their new life together.” Might have been a good time to learn the language of the country you’re literally living in, no? (Rhetorical questions, all! I know they weren’t there as much as they proclaimed since Peggington could barely keep his pilot’s license and Kkkeen was frequently seen shopping in London.)
These two are such losers. They do not care about anyone or anything beyond pegging partners, acquiring jewels and shopping, and passing down to George all of Basher Billy’s old one-liners to his childhood classmates (“my dad’s gonna be king so you better watch out”).
I read that more independence protests are planned so I hope Wales gives them a big ol’ boot in the arse. It’s hilarious that wherever Peggington and Kkkeen go, demands for independence from the crown follow shortly after. Breaking up the empire, one tour at a time 😂
Anglesey is very much in Wales! It’s pretty much as far into Wales/distant from the English border as it’s possible to get. It has an extremely proud and strong Welsh-speaking presence, I used to know someone who grew up there and Welsh was his first language and the only one allowed to be spoken in his family home. To live there and not pick up even a few basic conversational phrases especially when, um, you’re literally going to become Prince of the whole country is just beyond pathetic and embarrassing.
Remember all the stories/pictures of Kate shopping for groceries while living in Anglesey. Stories of Kate conversing with shopkeepers. Like she was one of them! One would think they learned more Welsh living there. How much actual time did Will spend with the Ambulance Rescue Service? to only know a few words?
Loving the foreshadowing on just how well-prepared this man will be to be King.
They are praising William for saying a few Welsh words in private whereas when Harry open a speech with a sentence or two in German the conversation was about how he didn’t learn other languages like William. However Harry does try to pick up and use a few phrases when traveling. He also used a little Dutch in the run up to the last Invictus games. The bar indeed is quite low for William.
Their first visit to Wales should have been to Cardiff to meet the First Minister
Yes, that was quite the snub on their part, as it could be seen as a slap in the face to the First Minister. A faux pax on level with snubbing the Italian (football, rugby?) team after their win against the English.
Just a quick note on KC and Welsh: he took a 10-week course eons ago in preparation for becoming PoW and mastered a bit of the language. My own experience with foreign languages is that if you don’t regularly speak/ read them, your language abilities decrease. I do think that KC spoke some Welsh, but I’m not sure how much of that ability he still has.
Seriously? How can someone say he mastered it then forgot? I’ve had years of Spanish. As you say, unless you speak it regularly, you forget. True. I’ve never claimed to have mastered Spanish. You master something-you do it without thinking. I have one sibling who has ‘mastered’ 5 languages. She can carry on a conversation with people easily within the different languages because she has ‘mastered’ them. Will really hasn’t ‘mastered’ anything, except, smear campaigns. That’s his 2nd language.
Oops, I apologize. I misread and thought you were talking about the current PoW. I’m sorry.
To be fair, the majority of Welsh people don’t speak the language either, and they have it in school. Most never get pass a few words.
I was shocked to discover that when I worked there for a short time.
And it’s a shame, it’s a beautiful language. Good on Charles for giving it a serious go, even if he was forced into it.
Thank you @nanny to the rescue! – there are huge numbers of Welsh people (75%!) who don’t speak a word despite having had lessons in school. And a lot of native speakers speak relatively different Welsh from that taught in schools anyway. Martin Sheen’s post also is selective in how Wales is represented- talking about rejoining the EU when Wales votes pretty strongly to leave. Stirring up this kind of is vs them feeling is ultimately damaging to Wales that relied on EU money and would be a lot weaker outside of the UK.
Martin Sheen? Did you mean Michael?
Yes! Not Martin Sheen!
The Welsh were forbidden from speaking their language by the English which is why this happened. The push to teach Welsh is only fairly recent.
William not learning Welsh is just laziness not lack of opportunity.
Historically, the language was opressed by the English, yes. Lately, it is by monolingual Welsh people who feel forced to learn the language and who resent the resources poured into it. You cannot blame the English anymore.
William is a lazy ass but him not speaking Welsh doean’t set him apart from majority of the Welsh. If he actually gave a speech in Welsh for example, you’d have the other side complaining as well, feeling left out.
I think its that not bothering to learn anything in welsh over the past 40 years (like not even “good afternoon, we are very happy to be here” or something) just seems so emblematic of William’s laziness and entitlement. He’s not going to learn Welsh. He’s not going to learn Gaelic. He’s not going to learn French. He’s not going to do anything that is slightly hard for him or that he does not want to do or that interferes with his vacation schedule.
“The Prince of Wales can’t speak Welsh” to me is just the epitome of all William’s failings in a way. It’s not that he has to be fluent in Welsh or that no one in Wales speaks English etc. It’s just kind of like….man, you couldn’t even learn a phrase or two. How lazy are you?!?!
Nanny to the Rescue:
Of course William not speaking Welsh doesn’t necessarily set him apart from majority of the Welsh. You know what does? Not being Welsh in the first place and carrying an antiquated “victory” title to lord over them. So, yeah, learning the language, or even speaking in a bit of it, would help.
you can absolutely still blame the English. they suppressed the language for many years. it’s a colonizer tactic, and just because Welsh can now legally be taught in schools doesn’t mean that the language will suddenly snap back and be accessible to everyone and frequently used. the effects of the suppression are still being felt.
the cultural damage caused by British colonialism is massive. everywhere they went they tried to take all they could and destroy as much of the existing culture as possible. and they were quite successful at it. a lot of blame can be laid at the feet of the colonizers. everywhere they went they were incredibly destructive.
The Welsh are not to blame for colonizer supremacy of the English language. It’s like if Canadians blamed indigenous peoples for not learning their languages while ignoring centuries of assimilation, genocide and the residential schools.
Gosh even his supposedly “dumb blond” mother bothered to make a speech in welsh. It’s astonishing to see how incredibly boring he is. He never do shits. Even his asshole father had some contribution.
Diana was just out of her teens and she was nervous about the tour of Wales unlike will she was eager to improve and she did learn languages and took public speaking lessons
Diana’s famous Cardiff speech contained only 10 seconds of Welsh, phonetically learned. Hardly an achievment.
Or did she make another one I am not aware of?
10 seconds more than William’s did lol.
Becks, agreed, I’m just saying they both didn’t exactly put in any effort. I don’t understand why Diana is praised for something that takes 10 minutes to learn. The only person from that family who actually tried was Charles. And even he was forced.
At least she tried. She was very nervous and I believe newly pregnant, but she showed what she was made of even back then.
This visit was carefully choreographed to go to “friendly” places for W&C. There is a reason her did not give a speech today. They just wanted a fluff visit with no risk for incident.
And he isn’t shy to to admit how incompetent he is , the man knew from birth he will be pegginton of Wales and he still didn’t care to learn the language. What a waste of space
It was either pegging or learn Welch. I guess he choose .lol.
So my first reaction was, “What, can he say ‘diolch yn fawr’ and that’s it?” Then I realised that actually he probably can’t, because it means “thank you very much” and the Windsors don’t feel the need to thank people — they take everything as their birthright. ::barf::
He absolutely should have learned Welsh because of his future role as PoW, but I don’t think that one should expect him to have acquired much of it simply by virtue of living in Wales. Yes, Anglesey is a “bastion of Welsh” according to Wiki, but I know people who have lived in my country for 15+ years and still can’t speak the language. It takes effort, diligence, and willingness to learn, and William has not shown that he possesses any of these qualities.
I don’t expect him to be a full on native Welsh speaker but surely he could have learned how to have a basic conversation in it? I don’t know how hard the language is but if I knew from my teens that I’m going to be Prince of Wales I would want to learn even just the basics.
I heard William made a short speech in French during his first tour of Canada. His accent wasn’t very good and of course it was a prepared speech which he just read. I believe he said he would try to improve. I think his accent did improve a bit when he made a second speech on another tour. I assume there must have been a second language in the curriculum at Eton or earlier schools. I find that native English speakers are the least multi-lingual people in general because they seem to expect the rest of the world to learn their language. And English is the mostly widely used language in the world and in many areas, result of Empire no doubt. Hope that wasn’t too gross a generalization. Whereas, continental Europeans live in close proximity to many languages and if they travel or have any kind of decent education, will at least familiar with second and third languages.
His French was awful. The average Canadian his age would have much better facility in reading French.
Seeing as it is an official language of a country he wants to be symbolic head of state he should have been much better than that.
Colonialism definitely plays a huge part in the dominance of English, but in the past century I’d argue that American global prominence and the fact English is the language of tech and science have helped keep it there. Brits are not good at learning other languages but in fairness, that’s partly because those languages aren’t prioritised in the education system, the way they’re taught hasn’t changed in more than 30 years, and it’s very hard to become fluent in a language if you only have 3 hours of class a week and never have any opportunities (or genuine reasons) to practise it.
Welp, if there’s no consequences for him not learning Welsh other than he looks like a slacker (I’m gonna guess he doesn’t care so much on that), why bother to do the work?
Rob McElhenney bought a Welsh football club (with Ryan Reynolds) in 2020. He learned Welsh and spoke several sentences during the documentary series about the club and a funny PSA about getting a colonoscopy.
Imagine getting your a– handed to you linguistically by Ronald “Mac” McDonald from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
I LOVE Welcome to Wrexham!!!!
I spent 2 weeks in Wales when I was 13 and I still know more Welsh than William. I find it utterly shameful the lack of preparation he’s had for a role he’s had his entire life. Even his formal education (a bachelor degree in geography?) seems like a pretty low bar for a future head of state. That being said, at least William and Kate did live in Wales for a couple of years, which is more than can be said about former Princes of Wales. But it’s still shameful.
It is the ” Bill and Katy” show. There is no need for preparation.
They would ad-lib, should things fall apart complain the staff to the media.
Even Diana learned some Welsh for their first visit there with Charles as husband and wife. She made a charming little speech thanking the Welsh people for greeting them so warmly IN THEIR LANGUAGE. Neither he nor his stick figure of a wife put forth the slightest bit of effort to connect with people. They are utterly disinterested and all they can do is performative nonsense for photo ops. I wish them nothing but continued flops.
So many skills are easier to learn when you are younger.
I would think that the Royals would have gotten a better rounded education, tho.
Charles learned to speak the language before he was named PoW, IIRC.
You’d think George, Char, and Louis would be learning a second language.
I just assumed the better colleges in UK, had those included in lessons for Will and Harry.
I freely admit, I can’t retain any of the middle-high school German I took years ago tho.
I took Latin in high school. At the time, it was considered better to have a classical language on your transcript, so that’s why I chose it over French or Spanish. (Sometimes I sound so old…). I can’t say it has been that helpful. Except maybe noticing other people probably took Latin because they wrote “having been” which isn’t something you would ever use in English. But I can still say “love” in all kinds of tenses 😂
Charles was created Prince of Wales when he was 10, in 1958. He studied Welsh for a term in 1969, the year his *investiture* as Prince of Wales occurred, and a year before his university graduation from Cambridge.
When you have had more than thirty years to do something, and you’re just getting around to it now…
It’s a lot harder to make the case for the British monarchy as these amazing sift power rock stars when they can’t be bothered to take even the smallest interest in their so-called work. William likes to think if himself as a diplomat, but the reality is he is not fit for anything but taxpayer-paid vacations and maybe ensuring that all of his mediocre old boys network are gainfully employed.
The real test will be: is George learning Welsh?
I believe Wills speaks number of languages proficiently if not fluently. I grew up with a grandfather who spoke
Welsh. It’s a very complicated language.
I really don’t think he does. If he does, we’ve never seen it.
Which ones? I heard his French when he visited canada and it was awful. His accent even in reading French was barely comprehensible.
Even Canadians who simply take French as one class in an English school would have done a better job.
He doesn’t. There is absolutely no proof of his linguistic skills other than sychophantic articles written by RRs. He may have a very basic understanding of several languages and read phonetically from cheat cards, but his French when he visited Canada was laughable.
From birth this was his future and the fact that he never bothered to learn the language is disrespectful to Wales and there culture. Shows exactly what kind of leader he will be, I don’t blame them for not wanting him as their Prince. This should be a huge embarrassment for the monarchy.
Is he seriously saying that the people of Wales are “blown away” because these two do-nothings spoke to a bunch of people? Blown away. By adults chitchatting with people in brief passing.
That’s how low the bar is for these two. “They talked! To other humans! In the one language they speak! Eleventy-three articles, on this stunning behaviour, write them now!!!”
So what is all of this lifelong training about then? Why wouldn’t they speak at least basic languages of some of the commonwealth territory?
If one day i am going to be a prince to a country/state, i am sure going to learn the language. It is an embarassment to be that ignorance.
For those who are backing him up. Please stop. You are not going to be in the position as a figurehead (in name only)
Stop making excuses for that bonehead.
“Like, did this trip sneak up on you, Peg?” 🤣
I actually don’t think the title of Prince of Wales is what should indicate to Peg that he should have learned Welsh– it’s that he is the future king of a United Kingdom that includes Welsh people… it’s an official language of a country that he ‘rules’ over.
Some of this is simply symbolic– three quarters of people in Wales don’t speak Welsh. But it would certainly be a signal to people there about his level of commitment. Felipe VI of Spain speaks Catalonian, for instance. It’s pretty astounding that William is willing to be shown up by his own father and other European royals for just basic statecraft.
Neither Baldy, nor Weasel Wife, will ever bother learning Welsh. Period. Baldy has decided that he wants to be the sort of white English male who would go over to Wales, and then complain endlessly about how the menus and street signs are in Welsh. I’ll bet you $10 that he’s actually muttered the words, “It’s Britain, speak ENGLISH,” to himself, under his breath, at least once while he’s been in Wales recently, lmao.
Given both his and Kate’s political proclivities, it should be very very clear that, much like the Tories (whose secretarial rejects these two make a habit of hiring for their own staff at KP), their concept of the world is England first. Southern England is the biggest priority. Northern England is where the working class peasants with the funny accents are. Scotland is tartan Disneyland. Wales is ??????, and they probably can’t tell the difference between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which I hope someone has spent some time trying to patiently teach them bc boy, would THAT ever be a diplomatic crisis for the British govt if there was one.
But yeah. Of course William doesn’t know any Welsh. And he won’t learn any Welsh either. Why would he? He doesn’t have the humility to ever try and do something like that. His whole life, he’s been raised with the basic expectation that others will cater and capitulate to HIM, not the other way around. Why would he act any differently now?