Yesterday, I gave the Prince and Princess of Wales the benefit of the doubt, honestly. William and Kate visited the Hayes Muslim Center yesterday and the goal of their visit was to highlight the amazing fundraising work the center has done to raise and direct much-needed money to Turkey and Syria’s earthquake relief. Now, William and Kate show up empty-handed to refugee centers and foodbanks all the time, but I thought… maybe with something like earthquake relief, they’ll actually make a donation through the Royal Foundation? But no – I cannot find one thing about the Waleses donating anything from their foundation or their personal funds or the Duchy of Cornwall or anything.

It’s even more notable because King Charles actually made a point of donating to earthquake relief and publicizing the donation too. The king donated back in February, within something like 48 hours following the earthquake. Charles and Camilla donated to the UK Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and they were publicly thanked for their “generous donation.” Now, William and Kate do a lot of work with and around DEC, and by that I mean, they show up to DEC “events” about once a year. It looks like Will and Kate were also highlighting DEC’s emergency relief fund during this visit, as nearly all of the coverage highlighted DEC’s work alongside the Hayes Muslim Center’s fundraising.

So long story short, while William and Kate’s visit *did* platform the efforts of the Muslim community in London to raise money for disaster relief, the royal couple also did not make an effort to do anything other than show up and make origami cranes. Next time, make and publicize a donation from the Royal Foundation. It’s that simple.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.