Over the course of six months, Prince William’s office kept shifting the goalposts around the World Cup. Originally, the plan was that Prince William AND Kate would visit the US around the Fourth of July and attend some World Cup matches and visit the White House. Then that was quietly downgraded to “maybe William will come to the US solo to watch the World Cup and not meet with Donald Trump.” Then it became “William will only go if England makes it to the quarterfinals.” Then, mid-World Cup, William shifted the goalposts yet again and told the New Heights podcast that he would only come if England made it to the final. This whole storyline was so typical of William, right? Spend months promising to do this or that, only to chip away at his own promises until he never actually had to get off his lazy ass and do anything.

One could argue that William should have turned up at England’s quarterfinal against Norway, but he absolutely should have gone to the semifinal, which England lost on Wednesday. As it turns out, William’s absence throughout the WC has not gone unnoticed anywhere. Politico had a story about his refusal to travel, and Politico pointed out that other European royals have cheered on their teams in person. Hello Magazine had a similar piece. Everyone thought the same thing, that William refused to travel out of pure, undiluted laziness. But according to “sources,” he actually had a different reason.

Prince William wouldn’t have a ball at the FIFA World Cup soccer games if Donald Trump was also in the vicinity. The Prince of Wales, 44, reportedly chose not to attend any matches this year so he could dodge running into the president, 80.

William — who is also the president of England’s Football Association — wanted to “avoid any chance” of seeing Trump in the arena, a source told journalist Dan Wakeford for his Celebrity Intelligence newsletter.

“Trump loves the royals, and William and Kate [Middleton] especially, so there are concerns within royal circles that if William turns up in America right now, Trump makes a beeline for him. William’s done more than enough Trump-time over the past year,” a palace insider said.

[From AOL]

While I’m suspicious of Dan Wakeford, this sounds exactly like William’s office: “William’s done more than enough Trump-time over the past year.” That is exactly how William’s people speak, they say things like “William told the government that he’s only going to do one international trip this year” and “William is a global statesman because he spoke to Donald Trump.” That’s another thing though – why is William suddenly Trump-shy? I thought they were BFFs? William has been bragging about that for two years now, that Trump loves him and thinks he’s handsome. *hork*

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.