On Sunday 20 August, the English women’s football team – a.k.a. The Lionesses – faced off against Spain in the World Cup final. Sadly, they lost 1-0. The game drew attention for one unfortunate reason, however, as people noticed certain others didn’t attend – namely ‘prince’ William, ‘king’ Charles, and the PM. It’s just one more reason why people are demanding we #AbolishTheMonarchy:
Prince William, President of the FA, isn't travelling to support the Lionesses in the World Cup Final.
Queen Letizia of Spain is going with her 16 yr old daughter.
NOTE
British Royal Family is the MOST EXPENSIVE in Europe ⏬️ (2021)
Spain the cheapest.ALSO NOTE
British… pic.twitter.com/zULG7b8Djh— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) August 20, 2023
They’re staying home, they’re staying home, they’re staying…
If you’re unfamiliar with women’s football, it’s like men’s football, only the players don’t stop every 40 seconds to pretend they’re injured. If anything, these women have gone too far and are pretending not to be injured:
Good to see football still taking head injuries seriously. Peak of elite women's football – a world cup 3rd place game – and a player stays on the pitch despite a clear head injury! When will they learn?! 🤦🏻♂️
— Matt Edwards (@mattedwards05) August 19, 2023
So, England fans marched to watch the game at Sydney Harbour:
Sydney Harbour! 😍 pic.twitter.com/B5sSYTf10s
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) August 20, 2023
Prince William let the squad know he couldn’t be there in person – presumably because he couldn’t get time off work from the job he’s never had:
Prince William has said "sorry we can't be there in person" as he wished the Lionesses good luck ahead of the Women's World Cup final today.
Imagine telling the men's squad "so go out there tomorrow and really enjoy yourselves!" 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️ pic.twitter.com/A3oT47Bd2J
— The London Economic (@LondonEconomic) August 20, 2023
Rishi Sunak also couldn’t be there – presumably because he couldn’t get time off work from the job he was never voted in to do:
My message to the @Lionesses 🏴 pic.twitter.com/vJfchNiuEr
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) August 19, 2023
It’s unclear what would happen if Sunak spent a day doing something other than failing to run the country (just not that unclear given he went to Disneyland earlier this month).
Unwelcome but expected
To be fair, the absolute last people I’d want attending an event are the royals or the Tories. People have rightly pointed out a discrepancy, however:
Sorry, let me see if I understand this: England is in its first World Cup Final in nearly six decades, and neither King Charles nor Prince William nor any member of the British Royal Family nor Prime Minister Sunak are attending, and we're supposed to believe this isn't sexism?
— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) August 18, 2023
Bearing in mind his only job as a prince is to turn up free to big events. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy the royals aren't going.But it is staggering that the actual President of the FA isn't there to watch England in a World Cup Final.#WWC2023 #PrinceWilliam #AbolishTheMonarchy https://t.co/Up9ibb0oul
— Ed B (@EdBYes) August 19, 2023
King Charles, Prince William and Rishi Sunak will not be attending the Women's World Cup final.
If this were the Men they would pay thousands to see it.
The misogyny comes from the top.
RT if these people are a disgrace and the lionesses deserve better.
— BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) August 17, 2023
This last tweet gets something wrong – namely that these men would “pay thousands” to see anything. In reality, they’d get free tickets and we’d pay for their armed escort.
People had other criticisms too:
#AbolishTheMonarchy "4M of their children live in poverty, half a million of them are homeless, 2.5M of them rely on foodbanks to feed themselves, their elderly die in winter because they cant afford heating… & the stupid bastards are giving me a 45% pay rise" pic.twitter.com/LvjagfJb44
— tyrel wallace (@TyrelWallace) August 19, 2023
One of the final nails in the coffin of the monarchy was the queen giving millions of pounds of hoarded cash to 'Prince' Andrew, so he could avoid going to court and face a victim of an abuse ring#AbolishTheMonarchy
https://t.co/nVxqZsSREO— Will Black 🍓🍄🚀 (@WillBlackWriter) August 19, 2023
Some have pointed out that we shouldn’t be encouraging these people to take more private plane trips:
#WorkshyWilly like this picture it say’s it all, the founder of Earthshot banging on about how all of us must play our part in tackling the #ClimateCrisis, it must be hard work flying around watching football games or tennis at Wimbledon.#AbolishTheMonarchy pic.twitter.com/NJuVtt6dHJ
— What Is In A Name (@ant_9209) August 19, 2023
One person had a solution which should keep everyone happy – everyone except our “workshy” royals:
People are saying that Prince William should go to the football.
Why not send someone who really likes football, but can't afford the expense?Why not abolish the monarchy, and demand William goes down the jobcentre, instead?
— Jon Harding (@_i0n) August 19, 2023
The uncommon wealth
King Charles does at least have an excuse for not wanting to visit Australia:
https://twitter.com/detectclips/status/1689810372331552768?s=20
Should he be allowed to avoid such challenges, though? I’m a traditionalist, personally, in that I think anyone wants to call themselves the monarch should have to physically prove their superiority in physical combat. We’d let that go on for an afternoon until all the dickheads had slain each other, and then the rest of us would get on with running a proper, grown up country.
A more civilised form of physical combat is football, and we congratulate the Lionesses on their amazing run in the World Cup. Even though they were runners-up, the fact that they earned their place there shows they’re superior to the king and the PM.
Featured image via Andy Gott – Flick (cropped to 770 x 403)
