Prince William is being called out by journalists and activists alike after he reportedly claimed that war taking place in Europe is a foreign concept.
The royal and his wife Kate Middleton visited the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London on Wednesday to learn more about how those in the UK and throughout Europe can help Ukrainians amid the ongoing Russian invasion. During the educational trip, the Duke of Cambridge said that British people are used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia, but “it’s very alien to see this in Europe,” according to The Independent. William also expressed his unwavering support for the Ukrainian people, adding, “We are all behind you.”
His comment sparked some outrage on social media, especially given that the prince descends from a long line of colonialists who, as many pointed out, were directly responsible for many of those wars in Africa and Asia. CNN anchor Jake Tapper tweeted succinctly in response to the royal, “Read a book about your own family, dude,” adding a 1937 photo of Edward, the Duke of Windsor, and his wife, Wallis Simpson, shaking hands with Adolf Hitler in Germany. In a tweet that has since been deleted, Bernice King, the daughter of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., also called the comment “horrific,” adding, “European people ran roughshod over the continent of Africa, pillaging communities, raping women, enslaving human beings, colonizing for profit and power, stealing resources, causing generational devastation, and European nations continue to harm Africa.”
However, Evening Standard‘s royal editor Robert Jobson told The Washington Post that he is positive William’s comment “has been taken out of context” as he is “an educated man.” He added, “I am sure he didn’t mean it to be racist” and that “to have a war in Europe to most Europeans is unfamiliar and deeply troubling. Perhaps he was simply trying to say, albeit clumsily, that this war in Ukraine feels very close to home, as he was only a small child when the Bosnia conflict started and this is perhaps his first experience of such terrible conflict happening in Europe during his adulthood.”
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