Catching up with the royals (April 28, 2025 edition)
The King on a Canadian tragedy, the prince at the Pope's funeral, the duchess in New York
The tragedy in Vancouver
On Saturday evening, a driver crashing his vehicle into people enjoying a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver, killing at least 11 and wounding more than 20. Within hours, the King of Canada issued a statement of condolences:
Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals.
Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada.
Charles R
It was the sort of message that you’d want to hear from a head of state to a nation dealing with the unthinkable. As well, I’ve heard enough of his speeches to know that those were very much his words and voice.
The prince at the Pope's funeral
As the April 26 Court Circular stated, “The King was represented by The Prince of Wales at the Funeral for His Holiness Pope Francis which was held in Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City, this morning.”
Two controversies that need to be addressed:
William wore a dark navy suit with a black tie that complied with Vatican protocol rules that men wear dark suits and black ties (The fuss over President Trump is that he wore a mid-blue suit and tie).
He was there in his role as heir to the throne, performing a duty that his father did for decades when he was Prince of Wales. The King’s non-attendance at the Pope’s funeral had nothing to do with his heath and everything to do with tradition that monarchs don’t attend funerals of foreign leaders. Indeed, I can only find Queen Elizabeth II attending the funeral of one foreign leader during her 60 years on the throne — that of her friend, King Baudouin of Belgium, in 1993.
Video games and hugs
Earlier in the week, the prince went to a youth club called Mentivity in London that helps 400 youth a week through mentoring programs, school outreach and youth clubs. He appeared to have a great time, including playing video games with some of the kids. By all reports, he’s pretty good at Mario Kart but not so skilled at FIFA soccer games.
There were fun videos of people coming up to him as he walked to the club to get hugs and selfies, which felt like such a big contrast to the heavy security that is so much part of Harry and Meghan’s outings.
A royal birthday
Prince Louis turned 7 on April 23 and his parents marked the day by releasing an image of a gap-toothed grinning boy by photographer Josh Shinner, which was taken this month at the family’s country home on the Sandringham estate.
A few hours later, his parents did something completely unexpected when they released a video of the photo shoot, showing Louis as a confident boy, jumping off logs, and laughing at the photographer. We've never seen such a behind-the-scenes video before, and it comes after other recent authorized peeks into the private lives of the Wales family. It feels like they are getting more comfortable revealing more carefully controlled bits of their private lives, especially now that the kids are growing up.
Photo above, video below.
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