On March 1, St. David’s Day in Wales, Prince William posted a video in which he spoke Welsh. Before now, William could only say a handful of Welsh words, despite living in Wales for several years in his late 20s and early 30s, and despite the fact that he knew for 40 years that he would eventually inherit the “Prince of Wales” title. William spent his first two years as Prince of Wales refusing to even commit to taking Welsh language classes. Then, finally, he claimed to be learning the language via Duolingo last year. The St. David’s Day video was supposed to be the big reveal that Duolingo lessons paid off. Except that most people believe he was reading from a teleprompter. Personally, I believe that his whole speech utilized AI. In any case, people are unimpressed.
A Cardiff University professor has suggested the Prince of Wales should be able to be able to speak better Welsh by now after 42 years preparing for the role. Dr Dylan Foster Evans gave his assessment after the prince posted a video greeting in Welsh to Instagram on Saturday to mark St David’s Day.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme Dr Evans, head of the school of Welsh at Cardiff University said many viewers would not be impressed.
‘People say that he should be able to do a bit more than read for a few seconds from an autocue since Welsh does have an official status in Wales since 2011,’ he remarked. ‘Maybe we should expect quite a bit more.’
In 2024 William revealed he was using popular language app Duolingo to help him learn Welsh unlike his father who spent nine weeks at Aberystwyth University learning Welsh language and history before his investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969. He was taught by the Welsh nationalist Dr Tedi Millward and went on to give a number of speeches in Welsh.
When asked what the prince needs to work on Dr Foster Evans said: ‘His pronunciation is a little faulty.’ He continued: ‘He gets most things right but practice will do him a great deal of good. You need to use the language in a real world situation with real people to really get to grips with it.’
But Dr Foster Evans conceded that the prince had made an effort. ‘He was quite understandable and clear but he has a little way to go I think,’ he added. ‘It’s not perfect but it’s a start. I think many people were impressed and pleased to hear William speaking Welsh. Most people in Wales don’t speak Welsh and it’s not easy to broadcast in your second language.’
The prince’s ability to speak Welsh has prompted reactions across social media. One X user said: ‘Given that he’s always known he’d be the Prince of Wales one day, William’s Welsh really should be better. It’s not as if his family couldn’t afford private Welsh lessons.’
This is the real story: “Maybe we should expect quite a bit more.” This is what decades of infantilization and embiggening has gotten people: an heir who expects to be praised and lauded for doing less than the bare minimum, a man who can’t even commit to taking private Welsh-language lessons when he’s Prince of Wales. Maybe people SHOULD expect “quite a bit more.” All I know is that if I was being paid $30 million-plus annually from slumlording, I would be eating up those private Welsh lessons AND I would buy a cute little Welsh cottage.
Happy St David’s Day from The Prince of Wales 🏴
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus gan Dywysog Cymru 🏴 pic.twitter.com/0PryZlImBl
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 1, 2025
Photos courtesy of KP and Avalon Red.
-
- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales and Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales talk with people about the recent flooding in Wales, during a visit to Pontypridd Market, south Wales on February 26, 2025.,Image: 969210743, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: BEN STANSALL/Avalon
-
- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales and Theresa Connor, owner of the The Welsh Cake Shop, watch as Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales places rolled and cut Welsh Cakes onto a tray for baking, during a visit to Pontypridd Market, south Wales on February 26, 2025.,Image: 969210776, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: BEN STANSALL/Avalon
-
- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales talks to well-wishers during a visit to Pontypridd Market, south Wales on February 26, 2025.,Image: 969212000, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: BEN STANSALL/Avalon
-
- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales visit Meadow Street Community Garden and Woodland in Pontypridd, Wales, Britain, February 26, 2025.,Image: 969220561, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jaimi Joy/Avalon
-
- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales visit Meadow Street Community Garden and Woodland in Pontypridd, Wales, Britain, February 26, 2025.,Image: 969244335, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jaimi Joy/Avalon
-
- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales reacts as he meets residents in the garden during a visit to Millennium House in Poole, on the south coast of England on February 28, 2025 to unveil a new Homewards Activator partnership which will help to deliver new homes across the six Homewards locations. Millennium House is an 11-bed mental health supported housing scheme where residents are given their own support plan, tailored to their specific needs, to help get them to a place where they can live independently.,Image: 970138753, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
-
- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales reacts asm he meets residents in the garden during a visit to Millennium House in Poole, on the south coast of England on February 28, 2025 to unveil a new Homewards Activator partnership which will help to deliver new homes across the six Homewards locations. Millennium House is an 11-bed mental health supported housing scheme where residents are given their own support plan, tailored to their specific needs, to help get them to a place where they can live independently.,Image: 970138939, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
-
- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales gestures during a visit to Millennium House in Poole, on the south coast of England on February 28, 2025 to unveil a new Homewards Activator partnership which will help to deliver new homes across the six Homewards locations. Millennium House is an 11-bed mental health supported housing scheme where residents are given their own support plan, tailored to their specific needs, to help get them to a place where they can live independently.,Image: 970139042, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
He should be giving more, but he won’t. He’ll always be William the Underperformer.
Underperformer for sure. But also petty and a rage monster. He is going to be super pissed at the Welsh people when he finds out they didn’t fall over themselves in gratitude for his efforts. I wouldn’t put it past him to brief the fail about it too. Those Welsh plebs don’t deserve him.
Failure to launch.
💯🎯
Also surprising that fail launched this article. Last month vacation, this month language. Are they turning against Wales? Feels like nostradamus predictions coming true. Another king not William???
Yes the should expect so very much more!! Too bad that’s all anyone will get from I’m lazy and want to phone it in Peg.
I bet if they were paid a flat rate per engagement over 2 hours and they had to have at least 3 engagements per week to qualify for security we would see them out working a lot more. There is zero incentive for them to work with how things are currently set up.
Solid ideas. I cannot imagine how anyone could get them to agree to that. There’s really no accountability.
Yes that is a very good idea but Peg has already said he was going to be a work from home king so I don’t even think he would do it if they took his money away he is just too lazy.
If they were smart he would be enrolled in Welsh classes with all three of his children, but I doubt they are that smart.
I honestly cannot understand why william didn’t get a private welsh tutor while he was at Eton. And why they are now making the same mistake with George.
I feel like the Royals should be doing a lot more to support the minority languages in the UK in general. Not just Welsh but also Irish in NI and scots + scottish gaelic in Scotland. If you are going to claim to be a monarch of all people then BE a monarch of all people.
Chloe,
That would imply intellectual curiosity. However, neither William nor Kate have any.
For the kids, they made the same mistake with Spanish: those kids had a Spanish nanny for 11 years. It would have been a piece of cake for the kids to pick up the language effortlessly, had they been spoken to in it. But the parents are too dumb to realise that. Kate said George and Charlotte had picked up counting up to 10, as if this was a great achievement.
William and Harry should also have had foreign nannies as kids. The best way to learn a language is by immersion.
William already has a Welsh cottage. He inherited it with the rest of property and money held by the Duchy of Cornwall. Charles bought it and used to stay there when he had Wales week. He really should be more advanced in his ability to Welsh. There’s no excuse for his poor Welsh speaking.
Wasn’t that the first thing William did, get rid of any Welsh real estate? I remember an idiotic article about how they would give the economy a boost by staying in hotels and eating at restaurants while staying in Wales.
Ignore the fact they helicopter in and out on the same day. These two lazies have done nothing for the Welsh economy, much less actually sleep in Wales.
It’s the same listening to him mangle French in Canada. Except here, he gives that “can you believe how bad I am but applaud me for doing the bare minimum” energy that is republic-making.
Interesting! the second negative piece about Kate and Willi in the Mail. What’s up?
I’m so unimpressed. Royal princes are supposed to use private tutors, not Duolingo. No wonder the press are complaining.
duolingo gives the impression that he’s spending a few minutes learning Welsh while waiting in line to pick up the kids or something. He’s the freaking Prince of Wales. We should expect a bit more from him but what is his incentive to do more? He doesn’t want to work more or put forth any effort and no one has ever made him. He gets paid the same regardless, gets all the same perks. So why should he bother?
William is a lost case and at 42 he already looks like 52 😶
More like 62.
Speaking multiple languages often is a necessity for us here in Europe, either because it’s job-related, or because the family lives all over the place.
So it’s a joy to read those Britishisms like ‘Maybe we should expect quite a bit more’ that we ESL speakers have come to enjoy so much.
Of course we all should expect *a lot* more from him. It’s not like he/his family hasn’t known since his birth that he’d probably be the PoW one day.
Instead of employing someone, and giving them the chance to earn money by making Harry’s brother learn *how to speak* by teaching everyday situations, help with pronounciation, intonation, grammar — he uses a free app that was meant to do other things, and cons people out of a job.
Saying Welsh is difficult is a lame excuse when one starts learning a language that should have been acquired decades ago. Language learning is not easy if one doesn’t have the chance to practice it. But it can be fun, especially once one is sufficiently proficient.
Thinking about bilingual people, I was very much impressed with Justin Trudeau recently, who switched from English to French *mid-sentence* when talking about retaliatory tariffs. I can do two languages too, but not like that. I always need to take a deep breath before I can switch, while making sure I don’t lose the plot.
Being bilingual in English and French is something that was started by Pierre Trudeau in the 80s. Some provinces do it more than others but it is expected for anyone with serious ambitions to be prime minister to be fluent in English and French. Even prime ministers like Stephen Harper worked on their French so that they could be fluent.
There is also now encouragement for indigenous people to preserve their languages as well. This is more recent, but it is similar to how the welsh have brought back their language.
The queen and Charles were smart in having Charles take the time to learn welsh in wales. That William never bothered reflects poorly on Charles but also on William.
“Maybe we should expect quite a bit more” is a massive understatement when talking about William.
Understatement is Brit-speak. What he’s actually saying, in his stiff-upper-lipped way, is “What the actual fuck here??” It’s a complete own.
Yeah, this guy was trying to be diplomatic. He’s clearly not a fan, lol.
Sometimes things have more veritas if they’re whispered, not shouted. When used ironically, understatement is a powerful tool to convey humor, sarcasm and depth.
He looks ridiculous with that beard. His lack of fluency speaks volumes about his dedication to his future role as monarch. Everything has been given to him. Nothing has been earned, so he gives it minimal attention. Nothing holds value to him because he hasn’t had to work hard to achieve anything.
Maybe ??
Remember that the media and palaces presented William as the studious one who supposedly spoke fluently 6 languages and had taught himself Swahili. Well, it was a lie.
Prince Philip was excellent at languages and the Queen was fluent in French. Easy to forget that he was not a native speaker of English.
I do find it somewhat strange that that there wasn’t much emphasis after that on foreign language proficiency (aside from KC3’s stint in Aberystwyth).
Chloe,
That would imply intellectual curiosity. However, neither William nor Kate have any.
For the kids, they made the same mistake with Spanish: those kids had a Spanish nanny for 11 years. It would have been a piece of cake for the kids to pick up the language effortlessly, had they been spoken to in it. But the parents are too dumb to realise that. Kate said George and Charlotte had picked up counting up to 10, as if this was a great achievement.
William and Harry should also have had foreign nannies as kids. The best way to learn a language is by immersion.
Every time I see him with that alleged beard, It’s a Jump Scare 🫣😳 and the Queen was so right to tell him NO and someone needs to tell him No again 🤢
He whiffs on everything. He shirked his helicopter rescue work half the time and was only a co-pilot, didn’t complete the bespoke sustainable agriculture course he took at Cambridge, the one where students openly condemned him as he didn’t have the appropriate A-levels to even get into Cambridge. Non-attendance at BAFTA, countless other events where he should have been front and centre, prepared and knowledgeable about the subject matter? No, he just goofed and bumbled through just about every last one with the exception of a football match or drinking in a pub. Useless as tits on a bull as my dad used to say.
It truly seems as if he goes out of his way to give constant “FU’s” to anyone with even the slightest expectation of him. Impressive, almost.
Get in line my man. They expected William to go to the BAFTA’s but he decided to go on his second (that we know of) vacation this year.
You get what you pay for. My goodness, what has he done to his skin? Did that just happen? Or have I not been paying attention. He has lost a lot of weight, so maybe that is why he looks so wrinkled.
I hope William continues to do (that is, not do) exactly what he’s been doing (again, not doing). That should move the monarchy a bit more toward abolition.
Also, I’d be miffed if my husband didn’t wear a wedding ring — not because I need him to be marked as unavailable, but because it’s a sign of commitment and love. I guess that explains why William doesn’t wear one.
The only thing that slacker commits to is not working. Mr. Jaded loves his wedding ring and takes pride in wearing it (we got married last July), and yet his first marriage was a disaster (his ex has BPD and NPD) even though he stuck it out until their daughter was out of the nest. A few years later the ex suddenly dumped him without warning, but he never wore a ring during that first marriage, he realized he’d walked into a kind of trap after the first few years and preferred to go ringless.