“We are all for you,” he said, reportedly expressing support for the people of Ukraine, who have been massively bombed by Russia during its invasion of their country.
The prince, second in line to the throne of a country with a long colonial history, received a quick online backlash as many pointed out that his ancestors were responsible for the conflicts on the continents he mentioned.
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“War and bloodshed were initiated by his family,” wrote Snehesh Alex Philip, editor of the Indian news site Print. “In India they robbed and robbed even when [many people] died of starvation and torture. The subcontinent is still facing violence thanks to the seeds they sowed before they left.” He wroteadding: “Such a racist comment by Prince William.”
CNN host Jake Tupper tweeted, “Read a book about your family, man,” and attached a picture of Edward, Duke of Windsor and his wife Wallis Simpson meeting Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1937. In a 2016 BBC report, the visit was not an endorsement of the Nazi regime, as an aide to the Duke said years later, but rather served as a chance for Simpson to make a state trip.)
Bernice King, daughter of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, called William’s remark “terrifying.”
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“Europeans ran wild across the African continent, pillaging communities, raping women, enslaving people, colonizing for profit and power, stealing resources, causing generational devastation,” she said. wrote on Twitter. “And European countries continue to harm Africa.”
AJ+ journalist Sana Said wrote: “I really expect nothing less from a member of one of the most brutal empires in modern human history that has yet to be tried for its crimes against millions of people.”
Robert Jobson, royal editor of the London Evening Standard, told The Washington Post on Thursday that he was confident that William’s statement “was taken out of context.” Jobson described William as “an educated man”, adding, “I’m sure he didn’t mean to be a racist.”
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Jobson noted that “war in Europe is unaccustomed to most Europeans and deeply disturbing.”
“Perhaps he was just trying to say, albeit awkwardly, that this war in Ukraine seems very close to home to him, since he was just a small child when the Bosnian conflict began, and this may be his first experience of such a terrible conflict, happening in Europe during his growing up”.
Kensington Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Accusations of racism within the British royal family spread around the world last year after Prince Harry and Meghan gave an explosive interview to Oprah Winfrey in which they said that prior to the birth of their son Archie, there were “talks” at the palace about “how his skin may be dark.” to be.”
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Winfrey later said that Harry told her that it was not Queen Elizabeth II or her husband Prince Philip who raised the issue of the child’s skin color, but the claim stunned onlookers and prompted the Queen to make a rare personal statement about the family disagreement.
“The whole family was saddened to learn how difficult the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,” she said, adding that “the issues raised, especially racial ones, are worrying.”
After the interview, William was asked about the claims.
William and Harry’s late grandfather, Philip, was often criticized for making racist remarks that stunned viewers. “If you stay here longer, you’ll all get squinted eyes,” he told a group of students during a 1986 visit to China. In 2002, he asked Aboriginal people in Australia “if they still throw javelins”.
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Prince Charles, father of William and Harry and heir to the throne, has also come under fire for his remarks about race.
William was not the only high-profile figure to have made such a gaffe since the start of the war in Ukraine. CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata said in a report from Kyiv that Ukraine has not been “a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, where conflict has raged for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European – I also have to choose my words carefully – a city in which you do not expect this and do not hope that this will happen.
This was reported by the correspondent of the British television company ITV Lucy Watson. said “Now the unthinkable has happened in Ukraine.”
“And this is not a third world developing country,” she said. “This is Europe.”
Ukraine ranks 74th in the UN Human Development Index, which measures life expectancy, education and economic well-being, behind African and Asian countries such as Iran, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.