Well, well, well. Remember when The Sun called Prince William “Work-shy Wills” in 2016 and the Daily Mail referred to William and Kate Middleton as “Prince Workshy and Duchess Do Little” in 2017? It seems those old questions about their royal workload are making a comeback.
After years of flattering coverage and excuses about their schedules, even some of the royal press are beginning to ask whether the future king and queen are doing enough.
Has the royal press finally grown tired of making excuses for William and Kate?
Russell Myers Wants to Know Why William and Kate Aren’t Representing Britain Abroad
In a new opinion column for the Daily Mirror, royal editor Russell Myers is asking a question we’ve been asking for years: Why do William and Kate seem perfectly capable of travelling abroad for their preferred projects but not particularly interested in representing Britain overseas?
And this is Russell Myers we’re talking about. The same royal journalist who has spent years criticising Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, for pursuing financial independence and commercial ventures, you know, actual work that allows them to earn their own money. He’s questioned their business arrangements and reported plenty of unflattering palace narratives about their departure. Yet here he is, finally asking whether William and Kate, who enjoy the financial privileges of royal life, are doing enough to justify them. Oh, the irony.
Myers acknowledged that William’s Earthshot Prize produces worthwhile results, but he also revealed something far more interesting: government sources are reportedly frustrated by the lack of engagement with the Foreign Office over overseas visits.
Yet this is not a royal tour in the traditional sense and sources in government tell me there is growing frustration of a lack of engagement with the Foreign Office build a programme around Britain’s relationship with our partners abroad, which the heir to the throne would usually be considered a great asset.
— Russell Myers, Royal Editor, Daily Mirror
Oh, really? So it isn’t just people online wondering why William and Kate could do more. Even government sources are reportedly frustrated about the lack of overseas diplomatic engagements.
And they’re not wrong to ask questions. Since stepping back from royal duties in 2020, Harry and Meghan have continued travelling internationally for their charitable work.
They attended the Invictus Games in the Netherlands in 2022, visited Germany in 2022 and 2023, travelled to Canada in 2024 and 2025, and undertook major visits to Nigeria and Colombia in 2024.
And they haven’t exactly slowed down in 2026. They’ve visited Jordan for humanitarian work with the World Health Organization, Australia for charitable and community engagements, and Belgium, where Harry addressed the European Parliament on children’s online safety.
That’s before we even get to Harry’s solo engagements. He visited Japan and Singapore in 2023, Lesotho and South Africa in 2024, and Angola in 2025 to support landmine clearance.
And let’s not overlook Ukraine. Harry travelled to Lviv in April 2025 to visit wounded soldiers and civilians receiving rehabilitation. He returned in September, this time to Kyiv, to support Ukrainian veterans through the Invictus Games Foundation.
All of this without receiving British Sovereign Grant funding for their independent engagements, although host organisations and governments have sometimes covered expenses.
Embed from Getty ImagesWilliam and Kate Can Travel Abroad, So Why Aren’t They Doing More Official Royal Tours?
Now, to be fair, William has undertaken overseas duties. He visited Estonia in March 2025 and Saudi Arabia in February 2026. Kate also made a two-day working visit to Italy in May 2026, focusing on early childhood education. William has travelled for Earthshot, too, including South Africa in 2024 and Brazil in 2025.
But here’s the difference: William and Kate haven’t undertaken a major traditional overseas royal tour together since their controversial 2022 Caribbean trip, which attracted protests and criticism over colonialism and slavery. And unlike Harry and Meghan, they remain senior working royals with official duties and the resources of the monarchy behind them.
So the question isn’t whether William can travel. Clearly, he can. It’s why the future king and queen aren’t doing more overseas representation together. And here’s something worth noting: Kate has never undertaken an official royal tour of Africa in her 15 years as a working royal, despite the Commonwealth having 21 African member countries. Fifteen years, 21 countries and not one official tour. That’s quite something for a future queen.
If Harry and Meghan can organise international engagements independently, surely it’s reasonable to ask what the Palace is doing with all its resources.
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William is heading to Mumbai next week for his Earthshot Prize, although Myers doesn’t confirm whether Kate will join him. And nobody is suggesting that environmental innovation isn’t important. But Earthshot is his personal initiative, not a traditional diplomatic tour arranged around Britain’s relationships with other countries.
Do not forget that William managed to travel to Istanbul in May to watch Aston Villa play football. Apparently, getting on a plane isn’t the problem when the occasion interests him.
Meanwhile, King Charles is approaching his 78th birthday and continues undertaking the international duties expected of a monarch.
But difficult diplomatic conversations are part of royal life. William and Kate enjoy the privileges of their positions, and representing Britain abroad comes with those responsibilities.
The monarchy cannot keep promoting William and Kate as its future while expecting an ageing King Charles to handle so much of the international work.
And perhaps the most interesting part of this story is that the criticism is now coming from royal journalists who have spent years defending the Waleses.
So what’s changed? Have even the royal press finally grown tired of making excuses for William and Kate?
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King Charles being deployed as ‘secret weapon’ by the government for ‘politically charged situations’ – The Mirror
On Saturday Russell Myers previous article for The Mirror lauded the King’s dedication to foreign networking: Senior Buckingham Palace aides have described King Charles III as a “great secret weapon” for the UK government, noting a clear pattern of deploying him into “politically charged situations” to exercise soft diplomatic power. Speaking at the conclusion of a nine-day tour of the Caribbean in November 2026, aides emphasised that the monarch actively relishes the difficult aspects of statecraft despite his ongoing cancer treatment and approaching 78th birthday.
e senior aide [pointedly concluded They said: “The King is not just King for the easy parts of the job, but the tough parts of the job, too.
“In fact, that’s probably the part of the job that he relishes most….where there have been some complex political issues at play, that is what he lives and breathes for.” The sovereign is typically apolitical throughout their reign, due to their constitutional role.
The comparison between Prince William and King Charles III during their respective tenures as Prince of Wales highlights a major debate among royal commentators, historians, and the public. Critics frequently point out that Charles managed the Duchy of Cornwall for over five decades while consistently completing 500 or more official engagements a year, leading many to argue that William’s workload is comparatively light.
Whether William should—or could—combine both to the same degree involves looking at how both men approached the estate and the changing expectations of the monarchy.
The Case That William Should Do More
Why Defenders Say the Comparison Is Different
Ultimately, the debate comes down to what the public wants from the heir to the throne: the traditional, high-visibility model of constant ceremonial presence championed by Charles and Princess Anne, or William’s more selective, project-driven approach.
It is not just a question of which monarchy, but whether the UK can still afford to have a monarchy amidst all these crises.
There are also direct questions for the couple. In Estonia, the collapse of the coalition led to a shift to the right. Saudi Arabia has an authoritarian system of government without democracy and with an absolute monarchy. Italy has a right-wing populist government.
Why don’t they visit democratic European countries? Not even those with liberal monarchies? Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Spain. Or Portugal, France, Germany?
Don’t they receive any invitations?
The answer to the question of why Billy and Kathy don’t do more is always the same: because they’re lazy, greedy, and selfish.
They have no interest in carrying even what is laughably referred to as a “workload” by royal standards. They have no sense of duty to their subjects.