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Prince William crawled out the bottle today to attend his first event of the week, his first since his visit to the British Red Cross headquarters on the 20th, and his first since mysteriously pulling out of his godfather’s memorial service on Tuesday. William did not offer any explanations at today’s event for his last-minute cancellation at the memorial service, but he did try to “get political,” because that turned out great for him last week. Today’s event was a visit to the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, and William recited a statement which was probably written by his new private secretary.

The Prince of Wales today made his first public appearance since pulling out of the memorial service for his godfather, the late King Constantine II of Greece. Prince William visited the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in central London to take part in discussions about the rise in anti-Semitism in Britain. He met with two Holocaust survivors, Manfred Goldberg and Renee Salt, as well as young people who have taken part in the Holocaust Educational Trust’s flagship ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project.

William told attendees: ‘Prejudice has no place in society. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I want you all to know you can talk about it and your experiences. Both Catherine and I are extremely concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism that you guys have talked about this morning and I’m just so sorry if any of you have had to experience that. It has no place… that’s why I’m here today to reassure you all that people do care and people do listen and we can’t let that go.’

The engagement was originally planned to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day last month and the Princess of Wales was also due to attend.

[From The Daily Mail]

I’ve always sort of given Kate credit for one thing, which is that she’s at her best when she’s around seniors. She would have been okay at this kind of event, and she has done some work with Holocaust survivors in the past. William has not and you can tell. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I want you all to know you can talk about it and your experiences.” Super-natural! “As I’ve said many times before, I’m bored with antisemitism and that’s what is really important, but do tell me about your Holocaust experiences.”

I wonder if this event will quiet the growing chatter about William. The Mail’s commentators have been growing increasingly peeved – they are even blaming Kensington Palace’s squirreliness for the rampant conspiracies being floated online.

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