Julie Burchill Julie Burchill

Prince William is just a chip off the Charles block

Generally, I am the last person to advocate modesty, sobriety or duty. But then, I have been supporting myself financially, with no assistance from any other source – spouse or State or taxpayer – since I was seventeen years old, and am free to do as I please. The same, sadly, cannot be said of Prince William, who swerved this year’s Commonwealth Day service in favour of dad-dancing, Jägerbombing and high-fiving party-girls on a four-day jolly with his mates in Verbier. And this after spending a surprisingly modest thirteen days performing his official duties this year. 

It’s no secret that I was one of the late Princess of Wales’ most rabid cheerleaders so naturally I was favourably inclined towards the poor bereaved Diana-faced boy. Looking back on what I wrote at the time of the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, I find it fair: ‘They seem genuinely to be mates in that particularly British way young lovers often are here, and which other nationalities just don’t get, which no one could have said about the prince’s parents.’

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