The internet exploded in controversy on Thursday night as royal reporters and anti-monarchists alike reacted with shock to Prince William’s allegedly “tone-deaf” and “racist” comments about the conflict in Ukraine.
According to reports at the time, the Duke of Cambridge – and future King of England – had been overheard calling the situation “alien”, as the British public is “more used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia”.
He had allegedly made the comments during a visit to a Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London with his wife Kate Middleton, who brought homemade baked treats to volunteers there.
From the moment the comments appeared online, William was branded everything from a “white coloniser” to an “ignorant racist” by social media users and even respected royal reporters.
Prince William faced backlash over a comment he supposedly made on Thursday.
(Image: Getty)Omid Scobie, co-author of Finding Freedom, a biography about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2020 royal exit, called the Duke of Cambridge “ignorant” in a since-deleted tweet.
“Unsurprised to see backlash against Prince William’s ignorant remark (reported by @PA). Europe has seen some of the bloodiest conflict in the past two centuries—Balkans, Yugoslavia, Germany and Kosovo to name a few,” he wrote.
“But sure, let’s normalise war and death in Africa and Asia.”
Martin Luther King Jr’s daughter Bernice King branded William’s comment “horrific” on Twitter, though her tweet has since been removed too.
“European people ran roughshod over the continent of Africa, pillaging communities, raping women, enslaving human beings, colonising for profit and power, stealing resources, causing generational devastation. And European nations continue to harm Africa,” she wrote.
What led so many high profile personalities to slam the Duke of Cambridge online, then swiftly remove their comments?
Well, it turns out William never actually made those comments about being “used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia”.
The quote, which was originally attributed to the prince by the Press Association, appears to have been misreported and quickly spread online in the hours before the outlet was able to issue a correction.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have shown their support for people fleeing violence in Ukraine.
(Image: Getty)Footage from the event shows the royal actually said: “The news every day, it’s just, it’s almost unfathomable. For our generation, it’s very alien to see this in Europe.
“We’re all right behind you. We’re thinking about you. We feel so useless.”
While he did indeed call the conflict “alien to see in Europe”, William never compared the Russian invasion of Ukraine to past or present conflicts across Africa and Asia.
Furthermore, he noted that it was alien “for our generation”, suggesting that he was making an observation about the timing of the invasion, rather than the conflict itself.
WATCH: Footage from royal event proves Prince William never made ‘racist’ remark. Story continues after video.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is one of the first European conflicts to be documented and witnessed in real time across social media and the internet, with live, round-the-clock reporting broadcast across the globe.
Tweets lashing William were quickly removed or followed up with amendments as the clip of his actual comments began circulating online, though many refused to backtrack on their claims that his sentiment was “tone-deaf”.
Some commentators suggested his comments were dismissive of other conflicts the world has seen in recent years, from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the conflicts in Sudan and the Republic of Mali.
Omid Scobie refused to back down from his earlier position, telling The Telegraph UK: “It wasn’t my reporting and saying it’s alien to see war in Europe is still an ignorant remark.”
Footage from the event proved William never compared the European conflict to wars in Asia and Africa.
(Image: Getty)He also took to Twitter to share a screenshot of the original PA report, which contained a “paraphrased” line suggesting William had made the comment about Asian and African conflicts.
Scobie then tweeted out screenshots of other outlets sharing the misreported line – which has since been corrected by PA – and claimed he and others were being blamed for the backlash.
“Despite its origins, the spread of this inaccurate quote is now predictably being put on others—myself, @Nadine_Writes, @BerniceKing, @jaketapper and @SholaMos1—by a royal correspondent (@Hannah_Furness) belonging to the very press pool responsible for it. Fake news indeed,” he penned.
While the misreported quote originated in PA copy, there’s no denying that the backlash against William and the wider royal family would have been much less severe had it not been spread – often with the addition of biting commentary – by individuals such as Scobie.
Meanwhile, King suggested that William’s comments still played into outdated and “racist” ideas about conflicts in non-white nations, writing: “I believe that language matters … And that it is harmful for a global figure to express war as ‘alien to Europe’.”
The backlash and swift turnaround regarding Prince William’s comments on Thursday serve as a pointed reminder that not everything we read online – even when it concerns the royal family – is accurate.
While it’s likely people will remain divided on his comments, it’s clear from the delivery and his recent work supporting Ukraine relief efforts that the duke never meant to cause harm or offense.
