Prince William stepped out last night in London, for the Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner. It was a fundraiser and William is the royal patron of the charity. Tom Cruise was there. It does not look like William wore his very special velvet plane slippers, the ones he wore to the Top Gun: Maverick premiere, the same ones he had to show to all of the actors. As he was entering the venue, someone in the press pack outside asked him about the public support for the royal family in recent weeks. William’s response: “We really appreciate everyone’s kind messages. Thank you.”

As many have noted, this was a little play, acted out by the journalist and William. A little script was written and both actors performed their roles. Reminiscent of the “we’re very much not a racist family” play. While he was inside the gala, he also gave a speech. He said, in part:

“I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you, also, for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days. It means a great deal to us all. It’s fair to say the past few weeks have had a rather ‘medical’ focus. So I thought I’d come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all!”

[From The Daily Beast]

That was actually a half-decent joke? Give that scriptwriter a raise! Anyway, as I was looking through these photos, I realized one of the reasons why William hasn’t been doing events in recent weeks – it’s actually quite discombobulating to see him in a tuxedo, smiling and waving, while his father has cancer and his wife is incapacitated. I get it now – they actually worried that the optics would make William look too cavalier, too cold-hearted.

This air ambulance event was his second event of the day – hours earlier, William hosted an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle. He was swaying quite heavily and he apparently dropped one of the medals. Butterfingers! Or something else. All I have to say is that I used to drink (it’s been years) and when I drank, I swayed like this. When you’re around drinkers, you recognize that sway. This was mid-day as well – I guess they had several hours to sober him up for the air ambulance gala.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.