‘Lazy Star Players’: Prince William and Kate Middleton Blasted for Their Dismal Work Record Throughout 2023

Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, seem to have a problem with royal work. The future king and queen's "lazy" output of royal duties throughout 2023 has become a talking point in royal circles as the lack of proper representation throughout the Commonwealth of Nations continues.

As 2023 comes to a close, the Prince and Princess of Wales completed 172 and 123 royal duties, respectively. This is far below what some analysts say an heir to the British throne and their consort should be comfortable with. By comparison, Princess Anne will end the year with a whopping 457 engagements to her roster, while King Charles III took second place with 425 completed duties. The Princess Royal's impressive streak each year has won praise once again.

"She just gets on with it, often carrying out multiple engagements in one day. Of course, much of what the King does is behind the scenes, in meetings and going through his red boxes, which doesn’t warrant a mention in the Court Circular," former Press Secretary for Queen Elizabeth II, Dickie Arbiter, told an outlet.

Princess Anne and King Charles completed 214 and 181 engagements, respectively, in 2022, which was likely interrupted by the drastic changes that occurred when Elizabeth II died on September 8.

For William and Kate, one commentator says there is a good reason why their tally is so low.

"This is where you very much see that William is Diana's son. Recently, there has almost been a perception that he is Charles' son and Harry is Diana's son. But you know Diana was immensely close with William. You can hear it when Prince William speaks about how there's so much love and admiration for his mother," royal expert Gareth Russell told a publication.

"This is the Diana impact on the monarchy, so I don't imagine that William and Catherine are as wounded as maybe other royals would have been, by this level of press criticism," he added.

Russell continued: "The danger for them is that even though this is almost certainly motivated by prioritizing their home life, it has enabled their critics to paint them as lazy. That reputation can take quite a bit of time to shirk off at the moment. Because of the difficulties the monarchy has had in the last few years, William and Catherine were very much expected to be the star players and to be the star attraction for positive publicity."

"If they're not seen as often, there is a risk that they enable their critics to write the story for them," he concluded when highlighting how critics of the monarchy expect to see hardworking senior royals.

GBN interviewed Russell.