William no-show has fans worried
LONDON: The Prince of Wales pulled out of a memorial service attended by British and European royal families on Tuesday (UK time) due to an undisclosed “personal matter”.
Prince William was due to give a reading at the thanksgiving service for his godfather King Constantine II, who died last year. The last king of Greece was Prince Philip’s sailing partner and cousin. However, William did not attend the event at
St George’s chapel in Windsor.
Palace aides said his absence was due to a “personal matter”. While not revealing the nature of the matter, they stressed his wife Catherine’s recovery from abdominal surgery was “continuing well”.
A Kensington Palace source said Prince William had telephoned the Greek royal family to apologise for his absence, which came at such short notice that the order of service remained unchanged.
Constantine’s son, Crown Prince Pavlos, delivered the reading on William’s behalf.
It was also the first time King Charles had been absent from such an important royal occasion as he continued his break from public duties during his cancer treatment.
This year has seen a sudden shortage of frontline royals after the almost simultaneous hospitalisations of the King and Catherine.
Charles was admitted for surgery for a benign prostate condition last month but was subsequently diagnosed with an unrelated cancer.
He has withdrawn from public-facing duties while he undergoes treatment. Catherine is expected to be out of action until at least the end of March
In their absence, Queen Camilla led the royal family, arriving with Constantine’s widow, Queen Anne-Marie. They were joined by a long list of British, Greek and European royal family members, including Prince Andrew, who attended with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.