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Prince William’s comments that it is ‘very alien’ to see a war in Europe while it was normal to witness conflict in Asia and Africa has invited a backlash on social media. His comments, made as he visited Ukrainian Cultural Centre to extend support to the country, have been termed ‘racist and tone-deaf’.
The Duke of Cambridge, who visited the Ukrainian Cultural Centre on Wednesday with his wife Catherine, extended support to the volunteers and said Britain and the rest of Europe were united behind them. However, he landed in a controversy saying, “It’s very alien to see this in Europe,” according to the Evening Standard.
The 39-year-old prince said Britons were more used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia, The Independent said adding, feeling “useless” for not being able to help more.
His remarks invited backlash as people termed the comments “ignorant” and “racist”. While some reminded him about the scores of wars that happened in Europe over the years, many shared images of his own mother, Princess Diana, visiting Bosnia after the war.
The remark comes almost a year after the royal figure claimed his family is “very much not a racist family,” in the wake of Meghan Markle’s shocking revelations on Oprah Winfrey’s show. People used the moment to discuss his “racist overview of things” in his remarks, which were dubbed as tone-deaf by a few online.
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Wearing pins in blue-and-yellow colours, the royal couple handed out trays of homemade chocolate brownies and granola bars from the Kensington Palace. The father-of-three also added that their children, 8-year-old Prince George and Princess Charlotte, 6, too had been asking them about the unfolding tragedy.
He suggested he had found it difficult discussing some of it with his children, adding he had to “choose my words carefully to explain what is going on,” Metro added.
“The irony is it brings Europe closer together. Europe is closer together than it’s ever been before because of Ukraine,” he was quoted as saying by the news outlet.
Earlier, the royals had used their official Twitter account to express their support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Ukrainian people, after Russia launched an invasion of the country on February 24.
