Here are more photos of Prince William and Kate’s big “return to work” following their summer holiday. I already talked about Kate’s new wiglet in another post. As for William’s appearance… he looks pretty much the same. Last year, he lost a dramatic amount of weight and then, last summer, he grew out this sketchy little beard. It appears that the beard is here to stay. He has gained some weight back though. Anyway, William is currently in deep sh-t with Scottish people, interestingly enough. Back in 2014, Scotland had a vote to decide their independence from the “United Kingdom” and the crown. At the end of the day, Scottish people decided to “remain,” but before that happened, Queen Elizabeth II made her anti-Scexit feelings known publicly. As it turns out, William was one of the people in the inner circle who convinced QEII to interfere in the political situation.

The Prince of Wales helped to persuade the late Queen to make her unprecedented intervention in the Scottish independence referendum, a new book claims. The future king was among the figures to apply “pressure” on the monarch to speak out days before the vote in September 2014, alongside then prime minister David Cameron, according to Valentine Low, the respected royal biographer and former Times royal correspondent.

The Queen said four days before the historic referendum that she hoped Scots would “think very carefully about the future” when talking to members of the public outside Crathie Kirk, her place of worship when she visited Balmoral. While at the time Palace sources attempted to present the interaction as entirely spontaneous, Cameron has since confirmed that he had been lobbying for the Queen to make an intervention, amid panic in Number 10 that the pro-independence Yes campaign was on the brink of victory.

The role William played behind the scenes — which has never been revealed before — is documented in Power and the Palace, in which Low, who reported on the royal family for The Times between 2008 and 2023, examines the relationship between the monarchy and Number 10.

Low writes: “The pressure [on the Queen to intervene in the referendum] did not just come from Cameron, however. Prince William also wanted the Queen to say something, and urged the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Christopher Geidt, to get her to intervene. Geidt and the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, had… already been talking about the constitutional propriety of an intervention by the monarch, and between them they came up with the formula that the Queen would use when she stopped to talk to members of the public outside Crathie Kirk that Sunday.”

The following Thursday, the No campaign won 55 per cent of the vote, a result which Cameron later revealed, accidentally, had delighted the Queen so much that she “purred down the line” when he called her to tell her the UK was secure.

Claims of a political intervention from William are likely to fuel suspicion among Scottish nationalists, which may cause issues once he becomes king. Tommy Sheppard, the former SNP MP who is planning to stand as a regional candidate in next May’s Holyrood elections, called for the claim in the book to be investigated.

“If true, it runs a coach and horses through the claim that the royal family are not involved in politics and further undermines their standing,” Sheppard said. “The public have a right to know if this happened or not. It is time for William to tell what happened.”

[From The Times]

There was a general belief that Scotland was fine with QEII because she was half-Scottish, but that Scotland would have more of an issue with King Charles and eventually King William. Charles seems to have placated Scottish people and god knows, he makes tons of visits to Scotland. William… does not. William and Kate barely visit, and when they do, it’s usually just a day trip or a long weekend in Balmoral once a year. I guess my point is that I’m surprised William even had strong feelings about Scottish independence, since he doesn’t seem to give a sh-t in general about Scotland. But sure, investigate the sh-t out of him! I find it interesting that William’s name is being mentioned here, and yet… Charles was silent about Scottish independence, even behind the scenes?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.