The current tour of Meghan and Harry in Australia is exposing an irony: some fans of William and Kate are behaving exactly like the most unhinged fans of Meghan and Harry they love to criticize.
Because the point here is simple — and, frankly, quite obvious: William and Kate should be the ones doing this kind of tour. They should be in Australia, in New Zealand, fulfilling exactly the role that is expected of them — and one they themselves have promised since 2014.
The last relevant tour was in 2022. After that? Strategic silence. Conveniently, right after the Caribbean tour that was heavily criticized — criticism they clearly chose not to engage with. Instead of adjusting course, improving their approach, and continuing the work, they stepped back.
And here’s the part many people don’t want to address: yes, Kate’s health issues were serious, and that deserves respect. But using that as a permanent shield is a stretch — especially when, at the same time, there have been multiple private trips, holidays, and regular travel happening without issue.
So: leisure travel is fine, but institutional duty isn’t?
You can’t pick only the perks of monarchy. You can’t live off privilege, comfort, and status while expecting zero accountability for presence, work, and delivery. That’s not how it works.
What’s even more striking is watching people defend this blindly, as if any criticism were a personal attack. It’s not. It’s the bare minimum. The monarchy depends on visibility. It depends on showing up. It depends on staying relevant.
William and Kate are getting closer and closer to the throne — and, honestly, they’re not acting like it. They’re adopting a far too comfortable posture for people who should be building image, leadership, and public connection.
Because in the end, the biggest risk here isn’t criticism.
And that is usually ruthless.
Let's take a walk through recent history.
February 2022: Queen Elizabeth celebrates 70 years on the British throne. The royal family begin traveling throughout the Realm and the Commonwealth to mark the occasion.
March 2022: William and Kate are dispatched to the Caribbean and face great criticism. Some of it is deserved (colonialist optics of inspecting the troops, Caribbean independence from the crown) and some of it is manufactured by pro-Sussex disruptors and the press (William and Kate greeting the locals through a fence, though they later did go around the fence to meet them). At the trip's end, William issued a statement addressing the criticism and his and Kate's intent to learn from it.
June 2022: The official Platinum Jubilee celebrations are held. The Queen attends only two of the seven events and she makes a very brief appearance at the end of a third event. When The Queen does appear, it was very obvious her health was declining and that her time was nearing.
July 2022: The Queen moves to Balmoral for her summer holiday. The fully extended family (minus Sussexes) begin spending more time at Balmoral with her.
August 2022: The Cambridges move to Windsor.
September 2022: The Queen died and King Charles takes the throne. In a transition plan later revealed by the rota, the working royals scale down their appearances from now through the coronation so King Charles and Queen Camilla can have center stage.
November 2022: William and Kate go to Boston for Earthshot. While en route (or maybe just before they leave), a royal race scandal involving William's godmother, Lady Susan Hussey, and Ngozi Fulaney. William, with the lessons he learned eight months prior fresh in mind, issues a statement condemning Lady Hussey's comments but everyone gets angry because he's not supposed to have learned from the mistakes in the Caribbean, so they accuse him of abandoning his godmother and acting too brashly.
May 2023: Charles has his coronation.
September 2023: Kensington Palace announces that Kate won't travel with William to Singapore for Earthshot.
November 2023: William goes to Singapore for Earthshot.
December 2023: Kensington Palace announces that William and Kate will travel to Italy in the spring. These trips take time to plan, so likely they started planning in late spring/early summer.
January 2024: Kate has surgery and the palace says she will be out till Easter. Charles is also hospitalized. William cuts all of his work back.
February 2024: Sussex trolls spread vile rumors about Kate's whereabouts, suggesting that William beat her or that she's dead. Sussex trolls also spread rumors that William caused the death of his cousin's husband. Charles announces that he has cancer and is beginning treatment but will continue to work. Members of the rota drop hints that Kate's illness is more severe than the palace has admitted/allowed people to think.
March 2024: Kate's Mother's Day photoshop fail causes widespread internet shame. Some of it is deserved, the global pile-on isn't. Kate later announces she has cancer and will begin chemotherapy and will not work but may make the occasional public appearance.
September 2024: Kate announces that her chemo is complete. Everyone thinks that means she will get back to work ASAP. Kensington Palace manages expectations.
October 2024: Rebecca English confirms that Kate has been ill and/or dealing with symptoms long before December/January 2024 and the surgery. (My theory: the symptoms/illness began over summer 2023 and that's why she pulled out of Singapore but they expected the surgery to be routine and that's why they continued planning the Italy trip.) (Also, I don't remember specifically when the Becky English article was, but I feel like it was fall and sometime after the "chemo is over, the healing begins" announcement.)
January 2025: Kate announces that she is in remission and her priority for the year is recovery, which she emphasizes will take time. She hints that she will resume some work. Everyone thinks that means she will be back on a pre-cancer schedule. Kensington Palace continues to manage expectations.
February 2025: The Waleses miss the BAFTAs for a trip to Mustique with Kate's parents and the commentariat gets angry because if Kate's well enough to go to a private Caribbean island, then she's well enough to put on a gown and walk a red carpet.
April 2025: The Waleses are papped skiing in France on the kids' Easter break and the commentariat gets angry because if Kate's well enough to go skiing, then she's well enough for a full-time working schedule.
July 2025: The Waleses are spotted on a private yacht in Greece on vacation and the commentariat gets angry because if Kate's well enough to go to sailing, then she's well enough for a full-time working schedule.
September 2025: Kate starts doing more appearances and the commentariat gets angry because it's not a full-time working schedule. The Australian PM visits Charles and issues a public invitation to William and Kate to come visit Australia. The invite goes unacknowledged.
January 2026: Kate issues the final video in her four-video series and the commentariat gets mad because if Kate is well enough to make shampoo commercials, then she's well enough for a full-time working schedule.
April 2026: Harry and Meghan visit Australia and the commentariat gets angry because if Kate's well enough for private leisure trips with her family, who understand that her needs and abilities may vary day to day, who don't expect anything of Kate other than for her to have what she needs, then she's well enough for public working trips with her husband, their staff, the press circus, 24/7 media cycles, constant and public scrutiny, intensely detailed itineraries that are planned down to the minute, and meeting members of the public with god-knows-what germs and impossible expectations.
So, let me ask you this. When during all of this were William and Kate supposed to pick up tours and work? In hindsight, the only window of time was May 2023 to July 2023...but they actually were working. They were in the early phase of planning a trip to Italy, a "relevant tour."
True, there's 2025, and 2026. But Kate herself said her focus in 2025 was healing and getting back to fulfilling work. That leaves 2026. And she has actually done a bit more work in the first few months of 2026. She just hasn't gone on a foreign tour, which apparently is the only relevant metric for determining whether someone is worthy of being a queen or not.
I mean, never mind that William has been traveling since "the last relevant tour," with his most recent trip to Saudi Arabia in February 2026 on behalf of the Foreign Office.
Ah, right, right. That's not a "relevant tour" because Kate didn't go with him. Gotcha. I'm with you now.
Let's do another walk through history.
In 1952, Queen Elizabeth accedes the British throne. She is 25 years old and has two young children: Charles, who is 3, and Anne, who is 18 months old. Her husband, Philip, is 30 years old.
Queen Elizabeth and Philip undertake many, many foreign tours and travels for their institutional duties while leaving their young children at home in London with their grandmother and the nannies.
In the 1990s, Charles publicly criticizes his parents for their absentee parenting and distance in his childhood. It offends and upsets Queen Elizabeth and Philip.
While he's levying this criticism at his parents, Charles is doing the same thing to his own sons, William and Harry. He and the boys' mother travel often and they are both carrying on in extramarital affairs that distance their attention from the boys, who are away at boarding schools or in the care of nannies. Charles is also a workaholic, known to fall asleep at his desk and often being found by his sons looking to spend time with him. Charles is such an absentee father that he can't control his out-of-control younger son, doesn't even know the kid is smoking, drinking, and banging girls behind the bar until it's printed in the press, and has outsourced his parenting to Mark Dyer.
William may or may not have liked having absentee parents but when he gets married and has children, he prioritizes his family by reducing and scheduling his work to be fully present and engaged in his children's lives.
Harry, meanwhile, goes on a podcast and says his goal is to end his family's "genetic pain" so his children don't have to suffer the way he did. What exactly did Harry suffer? Absentee parents (his father by choice and his mother by death), which is the same suffering his father experienced - trauma by absentee parents, both by choice/institutional duty. Harry's criticism offends and upsets Charles, who leaks it to the press even though they aren't speaking to one another.
While Harry is levying this criticism at his father...he's doing the same thing to his children. He and their mother are constantly working (per their claims) and often traveling, both separately and together, without their children who remain at home in the care of grandparents and nannies.
Maaaaaaybe it's just me, but I think the couple who prioritizes their children, actually dedicating their time to them, actually investing in their emotional and mental development as future members of society are better and more aspirational leaders than the couple prioritizing their own ambitions and desires for "institutional duty" at their children's expense.
A king who is also his country's head of state will never be irrelevant. Not when the laws are in his name, the courts are in his name, the government is in his name, the mailboxes are in his name, and the money and the stamps have his pictures on them.
King William could spend the entire year on vacation, working only on the day he has to do the State Opening of Parliament, and guess what. The laws would still be in his name, the courts would still be in his name, the government would still be in his name, the mailboxes would still be named to him, the money would still have his picture, and the stamps would still have his picture.
The only way William and Kate become irrelevant is if the monarchy ends and Britain goes full constitutional republic. That's not happening any time soon, so don't let the door hit you on the way out.
(hi, houseofbrat! the wailers send their regards)
