Tuk, tuk! Pak snub for Brit heir
The motto of the House of Windsor is ich dien, ‘I serve’ but the Royal couple Prince William and his Duchess learnt firsthand that they also serve those who only stand and wait – sometimes with a whole platter of snubs.
The couple’s bizarre attempt to throw the starched British jacket and dress to the winds and when in Pakistan, do as the Pakistanis do backfired this week on their Royal tour to the nation in the Indian sub-continent.
Either they overdid it or, they did so in a very condescending manner. But either way they did not win the applause of the Pakistanis who gave them the thumbs down for hitching a ride on a Pakistani trishaw and wearing Pakistani garb to show that the descendants of those who had conquered their land could be more Pakistani than the Pakistanis themselves if the occasion so demanded it and a profitable trade could follow the flag. There was worse to come at the British High Commissioner’s reception as the BBC’s Johnny Dymond reported, "six Pakistani Ministers walked out of the reception held at the British High Commission on Monday night." They were reportedly annoyed at their place in the gathering. However, the British High Commission has replied. It says, the Duke and Duchess ‘were delighted to meet a range of people from across Pakistani society.’
As they headed towards Britain at the end of their tour after such a frosty reception, the British winter may have felt much warmer.