For years, people have known that the FIFA World Cup in Qatar would be a political hot potato. Qatar brought in what amounts to slave labor to build all of the facilities around the games. The migrants were abused and there seems to be a sophisticated, state-run trafficking operation as part of the games. Qatar has draconian anti-LGBTQ laws, so there are tons of human rights concerns over how LGBTQ players and fans will be treated by the host nation. Plus, there was just a mountain of corruption at every level of FIFA and the Qatari government. So, yeah, this year’s World Cup was always going to be really awful, and political leaders will have a lot to weigh if they decide to go or stay home. Football Association president Prince William has weighed his options and decided to stay home. Hilariously, his excuse is that he’s too busy to attend the games. LMAO.
Prince William will not travel to Qatar to watch England play in the World Cup next month, according to a report. The Prince of Wales, who is President of the Football Association, had been expected to attend matches in the Middle East next month. But The Sun, citing Royal sources, reports that the heir to the throne’s busy diary means he will not be able to attend.
William and the Princess of Wales have a number of engagements throughout the World Cup, including a trip to Boston in the United States for the awarding of the Earthshot Prize on December 2.
Even if Gareth Southgate’s men were to progress to the final on December 18, sources told The Sun it is unlikely that The Prince would make an appearance. If it were to go ahead, he would form part of a broader government delegation.
It comes amid growing backlash against the World Cup being hosted in Qatar over the Gulf state’s poor human rights record and its criminalisation of same-sex relationships. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, this week provoked fury after warning that LGBT supporters needed to “compromise” and be “respectful of the host nation” during the tournament held in a country where homosexuals can face the death penalty.
His comments, made the morning after Rishi Sunak’s appointment as Prime Minister, drew a withering response from a Number 10 spokesman, who said of gay fans: “We wouldn’t expect them to compromise who they are and you’ll know the UK has very clear rules around this. Qatar’s policies are not those of the UK Government and not ones that we would endorse.”
England captain Harry Kane is among several captains from teams around the world who are planning to wear a rainbow “OneLove” armband during the tournament to make an anti-discrimination statement. It is understood that England players and the Football Association feel so strongly about Kane wearing the armband that they are willing to accept fines for making their stand.
I would have more respect for William’s refusal to attend the games if he was explicitly political about it. I know that’s not his style as a Tory stooge, but it would be bold if William was like “I’m not going because love is love, and LGBTQ fans deserve to be treated with respect.” It would also be amazing if William went to the games and made a similar statement of support to the English team and THEIR pro-LGBTQ stance. As in, William could say something like “I’m FA president and these guys don’t have to fight the homophobic system alone.” Instead, The Other Brother’s bold move is to make up an excuse about scheduling and his full calendar. The World Cup starts on November 20, with England playing their first match on November 21st- William and Kate aren’t due in Boston until the beginning of December. Scheduling-wise, William is not exactly booked and busy.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Instar.
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- North America Rights Only – Edinburgh, UK -20220512- Prince William at Heart of Midlothian Football Club, Edinburgh, during a visit to see the ‘The Changing Room’ programme launched by SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) in 2018 and is now delivered in football clubs across Scotland. -PICTURED: Prince William -PHOTO by: PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- North America Rights Only – Edinburgh, UK -20220512- Prince William at Heart of Midlothian Football Club, Edinburgh, during a visit to see the ‘The Changing Room’ programme launched by SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) in 2018 and is now delivered in football clubs across Scotland. -PICTURED: Prince William -PHOTO by: PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge visits The Spartans FC and Community Association in Edinburgh to see the positive impact of the Heads Up ‘Mentally Healthy Football’ declaration in Scotland. May 21 2021,Image: 611999693, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Katielee Arrowsmith / SWNS /rota / Avalon
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- The Duke of Cambridge, President of the Football Association, during a visit to Dulwich Hamlet FC at the Champion Hill Stadium in south London, where he met with players, club management, and football fans from a range of clubs to discuss the independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance. Picture date: Thursday September 23, 2021. See PA story ROYAL William .,Image: 633764337, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- The Duke of Cambridge at Heart of Midlothian Football Club, Edinburgh, during a visit to see the ‘The Changing Room’ programme launched by SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) in 2018 and is now delivered in football clubs across Scotland. Picture date: Thursday May 12, 2022.,Image: 690620198, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge with trophy after England women 2-1 the UEFA Euro 2022 Final women’s football match between England v Germany at Wembley Stadium in London, England.,Image: 711049183, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Richard Callis/SPP/Panoramic / Panoramic / Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince William, the Prince of Wales and President of the FA, centre right, stands with England soccer coach Gareth Southgate, centre left, as he visits England’s national football centre at St. George’s Park to mark its 10th anniversary as the home of English football, in Burton upon Trent, England, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022.,Image: 728290132, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: POOL PHOTO, Model Release: no, Credit line: Rui Viera / Avalon
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- Prince William, The Prince of Wales during a visit to St. George’s Park in Burton upon Trent to mark its 10th anniversary as the home of English football. Featuring: Prince William Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 05 Oct 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Prince William, The Prince of Wales during a visit to St. George’s Park in Burton upon Trent to mark its 10th anniversary as the home of English football. Featuring: Prince William Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 05 Oct 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
Great photos chosen. Lol. Will is usually busy going on vacation.
I don’t understand how William is FA president.
Translation: nobody in Qatar has bags of money to give him, do he’s not interested.
Exactly.
That was my takeaway too. If there was something in it for him, you bet he would be there.
Did his dad already collect??
I think the reporting is backwards here. The news shouldn’t be why William isn’t going and should be why UK teams are going. If ever there was a tournament to boycott, this is the one.
I don’t really blame athletes for participating in sporting events that make or break what their whole lives have been building up to.
But this limp fry excuse is just so typical. I guess they need to leave the door open for more bags of cash.
As if a team would really pull themselves out of a work cup for any political reason. The biggest honor a soccer team can have is winning the World Cup. William is a lazy tool for not supporting his team.
Isn’t he still on vacation this week? So he basically said he was too busy while he was literally on vacation. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Seriously, regardless of what the event is, it’s simply outright funny for William to ever claim he’s “too busy” to do anything. He’s still on his two-week vacation (from what, I don’t know) right now for crying out loud!
Think of the children, Kaiser! He has to do the school run.
Hahaha….. so true, we must think of the children!
He’s too cowardly to stand up go human rights. Pathetic. And he hasn’t been any definition of busy in his entire life.
Uncdancer, the most succinct analysis yet
He is a coward, but I also suspect he’s jealous of the wealthier Qatari royals and of their power. I feel like he agrees with their stances, he just doesn’t want any backlash. What a waste of skin and a platform.
+1
This 100%. Totally work-shy and completely cowardly.
+1
Bill’s mistress is demanding he spend more time with her now the queen has passed probably.
So much that he can’t do any work at all? I seriously doubt that. I also seriously doubt he has only one play buddy. Or that he even knows all their names.
William going missing like this at such a time where he should be promoting himself is truly strange. Kate went missing for a month last year and no one knew or cared what happened to her either. 3/4 of the “fab four” have gone missing and the press don’t care? They’ve had no content to use at all from the main BRF (besides charles).
Right, then.
Surely there’s a legit sounding excuse his crack PR team could come up with that falls somewhere between an outright, obvious lie and a political statement? Like, getting familiar with his new responsibilities as Wails and Cornwall, as well as coronation and 🌍 sh*t planning will be keeping him close to home during that period. Meanwhile, they’re still on a school break, right?
Snort. What a promising future leader! But that’s rather par for the useless monarchy’s course, isn’t it? The UK is experiencing a political and economic crisis, and rather than offer a stable, reassuring leadership stance, the RF is… screaming about The Crown. And Harry’s book. And whatever Meghan did last week.
Underrated comment. Well said.
Getting pegged 10 hours a day is hard work. He’s not the Norfolk peen — he’s the Norfolk ass.
“the Norfolk ass” I’m dying over here, the nicknames keep getting better and better
And he still has to start planning dad’s coronation and come up with ideas.
Awww, poor sausage! He doesn’t want to be photo’d in Qatar or to be associated with anything controversial (his dad’s shady deals and all that…) However he didn’t mind that ridiculous appearance in UAE some time ago. Now he is too busy doing what exactly? Chilling out and waiting for his brother to do something and then try to copy it? Smh
Good. It sounds more like a mini vacation than a work trip.
His day’s of being photographed doing questionable things are going to happen. He will do the same type of dirt, whether it’s with Quatari’s or Russians. It is all a matter of time. I think Russian’s are his preference. He has an uncle with close connections to Russia and their elite. They may be more discreet. The royals and the Russian’s will be involved somehow and it will be a lot of secrets shared between the two for the right donation/Cayman account deposit
The prince of wails needs speech lessons and learn not to use jazz hands .
+1
I know this would never happen, but even if TOB was “too busy” to attend, backing it up with a donation to (or even an appearance at) an LGBQT crisis center or support organization would go a long way to give some spine to his milquetoast excuse not to go.
Sometimes I wonder if he and his crack PR team don’t wait to see what people online expect them to do. Like they don’t have a clue, but if enough people come up with ideas like yours, they’ll say “Oh, right, let’s do that.”
They have to have time off for the vacation stuff and to throw back a few Crack Baby’s per Day while vacationing. Crack Baby,Baby Crack or whatever the drink of choice is called. Its too close to Crack Head, Crack in general. Find a different drink. How old are they 5? They
He will continue to watch the Sussex decision making on as many situations as possible. The problem is the Sussex aren’t involved in things like Brits FA. Work Shy Willie and Kween Cannot Khaate.
Moral cowards, every last one of them.
Guys, I believe this is the truth. See, Earthshot in Boston happens at the beginning of December. That means overseas travel, in an airplane. Then doing stuff with people, talking and smiling and all, which is exhausting. Then another airplane ride back. Afterward, he and the robot need a lot of time to recharge their batteries, usually two full weeks of being plugged into tropical air and then, also, don’t forget that their joints need a healthy massaging with tropical sand and water. We all know this about their delicate operating systems. So if you look at the calendar, two weeks after returning from Earthshot is exactly when he would need to travel to Qatar. It’s obvious he can’t go.
Yeah, saying he’s too busy is a cop out. Either say he’s not going for XYZ reasons (the corruption, the humanitarian issues, etc.) or don’t say anything. No one believes he’s too busy. Even in this article, the ONE event they could come up with was Earthshot as the reason he can’t attend.
His laziness was called out on one of the British morning shows. No one is surprised when William avoids work and finds any excuse possible to do it. Is he even back from “school break” yet?
@cessily he was called out recently? Which show? I want to find a clip. I haven’t heard any BM refer to their work shyness since Meghan entered the scene.
It was a clip from the a British morning show posted today on Twitter @jozzzaphen posted. The guest was actually defending the book which is a rarity on British shows. He referred to reports of Williams laziness.
If England was so opposed to the World Cup in Qatar they would not have entered the competition. The Australian team put a long video about human rights when their Government has a open air refugee camp on the island of Nauru.
Will stands for one thing only. Himself. Anything that doesn’t benefit him is of no interest. Plus, that coronation won’t plan itself and trashing the Sussexes has become an obsession for the Wails. And now Harry’s book is on his radar. He really is too busy haha
Willy only talks about human rights when it benefits him. He avoids work as if it’s some sort of plague.
He could have really won some respect if he had made a statement about the human rights angle. But of course he chose not to. But to say he’s “too busy” is just laughable. Poor old Wills and his massive workload.
This is serious. Qatar is one of the most evil, repressive countries in the world and I am scratching my head trying to figure out why England is taking part in the world cup. At least with the LIV Golf series, many pro golfers and sponsors have refused to take part. I wonder if Charles has been getting bags of money from Qatari billionaires too? He had no trouble taking it from the Saudis.
He can’t be political about. He literally cannot make a statement. He has a gazillion faults and I think he sucks but he and Kate are gagged from officially saying anything political, especially when it’s against another government. I wish they would, and I genuinely think they would happily say things against the Qatari stance on LGBT+ rights, but they have to issue dumb statements about being too busy so that everyone can save face.
Is James Cleverly (talk about not living up to your name) one of the people who advised Black people who wanted to volunteer to help the Ukrainian Refugee crisis on how to deal with the racism they were practically guaranteed to face?
James Cleverly is a mis-named Tory true believer and if there is a tone-deaf thing to be said, he’ll say it. But he wasn’t Foreign Secretary when people were volunteering to help Ukrainian refugees, so I don’t think that one can be pinned on him (much else can).
Isn’t is possible the the government leaned on him & told him it was a bad look? It can’t be because he’s busy.
“Too busy” is not a viable excuse coming from Will–for anyone else (except Kate) it’s believable. So he can easily and with no “ethics” violated siphon a huge amounts of tax money for his own luxury and pleasure because it’s not “wrong,” yet NOT comment on human rights abuses/international atrocities because it WOULD be wrong to be “political.” Bollocks. And they are clearly not Tory, right? Pure bullshit, and again, shameful. No respect whatsoever. Jail him.
Political has the same meaning as woke. It is only considered negative it is means leftist or socialist values. William is as political as anyone else in fact likely more than most because he will inherit the literal British establishment. That’s pretty political.
And now there is backtracking anyway because if England makes the final then he will attend.
They really are full of 💩they say and do exactly as they please unless they choose not to (unless they don’t give a hoot) and interfere anywhere they feel a need to protect them/ their Cayman accounts. Sickening