Prince William and Kate Middleton were on the Isle of Bute on Thursday doing what is, quite literally, part of their job: meeting members of the public.

Kate seemed perfectly happy to do it. William? Less so.

Video from the September 17 walkabout shows Kate chatting with well-wishers, posing for selfies and taking her time with the people who had come out to see them. William eventually walked over, pointed at his watch and told her: “You’ve got to speed up, you’ve got to get all the way down there before you go.”  

Kate appeared to apologise to the people around her as she was encouraged to move along, before continuing to greet the next group.

William stood behind her with that very particular royal smile people deploy when they know cameras are pointed at them, while Kate continued doing the actual meet-and-greet.

People magazine screenshot headlines Prince William hurrying Kate during a walkabout, framing the moment around her tendency to linger with well-wishers.
People magazine screenshot headlines Prince William hurrying Kate during a walkabout, framing the moment around her tendency to linger with well-wishers.

And predictably, much of the coverage has decided this was hilarious. Cute, even. William was simply teasing his wife! They are so relatable! Look at their banter!

I watched the same clip and did not come away thinking, “Aww.”

Why Is William Supervising Her Instead of Greeting People?

The weirdest part is not even the watch-tapping. It is that Kate is standing there talking to people while William appears to be hovering behind her telling her how quickly to do it.

Why not stand beside her and greet them too? Their official visit was explicitly about community, volunteering and meeting local residents. The itinerary included Bute Shinty Club, a beach clean-up and the community-owned Anchor Tavern.

So if Kate is engaging enthusiastically with residents, isn’t that the assignment? Instead, William comes across like a manager reminding an employee that her allotted customer-interaction time has expired. And apparently we are meant to find that romantic. Some pro-Wales online commentators interpreted the moment as William joking because Kate enjoys lingering with well-wishers.

But plenty of other viewers saw something much less charming: a husband publicly directing his wife, pointing at his watch and telling her to move along while she was doing the job they both came there to do. I understand why, particularly because this is not the first time William has publicly hurried Kate along.

Kate Middleton wearing a silver sequined gown, appears tense in the backseat of a car beside Prince William during their arrival at the Royal Variety Performance at the Palladium Theatre in London on November 24, 2017.

Prince William gestures with his hand near Kate Middleton as the couple travel by car around the time of the 2017 Royal Variety Performance in London.

This Has Happened Before

The reason the moment landed badly with some viewers is that it is not without precedent. At Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa’s wedding in Jordan in 2023, Kate stopped to continue talking to the bride after William had finished his own conversation.

William was then caught saying “chop chop” and “keep going” while making a circular hand gesture apparently telling Kate to wrap it up. William was then caught saying “chop chop” and “keep going” while making a circular hand gesture, seemingly encouraging Kate to wrap up the conversation. That moment generated criticism at the time too.

So when William taps his watch three years later and tells Kate to speed up while she is talking to members of the public, people are naturally going to remember Jordan. One isolated interaction can mean almost anything. A repeated public habit is more noticeable.

Kate Was Actually Better at the Job Here

The ironic part is that Kate comes out of the clip looking pretty good. She seemed determined to give people who had waited to see her more than a quick royal wave.

Even People, while treating William’s intervention humorously, acknowledged that Kate has a longstanding tendency to linger during walkabouts because she spends time talking to people.

Isn’t that supposed to be the point? Royalists constantly tell us the monarchy earns its keep through these magical moments of connection with ordinary people.

Then Kate actually connects with ordinary people and her husband appears behind her pointing at his watch. I don’t know what William and Kate’s marriage is like when there are no cameras around. But I do know that if if my public role that afternoon involved meeting residents on a Scottish island, I probably would not stand behind my wife telling her to hurry up while she was meeting them. And I definitely wouldn’t expect everyone watching to call it cute.

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