The Duke and Duchess of Sussex received a hostile welcome from a handful of protesters as they arrived at the One Young World 2022 summit in Manchester, England, on Monday.
A standing ovation, cheers and a chorus of applause greeted the pair inside, but the hostility outside was reported in headlines across the globe.
The incident is the latest in a long line of cases of anti-royal sentiment in 2022, which has also seen William booed twice during soccer matches.
Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Car-Crash Tour
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hit problems on their Caribbean tour in March 2022 before their plane even touched the ground in Belize, their first destination.
A stop on the royal couple’s trip had to be canceled after local protests over where they intended to land their helicopter for a visit to a cacao farm in Indian Creek.
Further protests calling for slavery reparations and an apology for colonialism were held outside the British High Commission in Kingston, on the day of their arrival in Jamaica.
The hostility served as a backdrop as the tour unravelled when several PR missteps. Then came a suggestion from Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness that the country would like to remove Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.
Prince William Booed at FA Cup Final
The Duke of Cambridge was heckled as he attended the final of the FA Cup, a major event in England’s sporting calendar, which he attended as president of governing body the Football Association.
The soccer match, at London’s Wembley Stadium, on May 14 saw Chelsea play Liverpool, a club with a history of anti-establishment feeling.
Experts at the time said the booing was tied to this general sentiment rather than any personal animosity towards William.
Richard Madeley, a host on the ITV show Good Morning Britain, said on air at the time: “I think, in many ways, it’s quite a healthy disrespect for the establishment.
“Yes, when it comes out like that, it looks a bit ugly, but it’s part and parcel of Liverpool and the way that proud city is. And the way it isn’t cowed, and it won’t be beaten down.”
Harry and Meghan Both Cheered and Booed at Jubilee
Prince Harry and Meghan returned to Britain to help celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne and attended a church service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on June 3.
The couple were cheered on their way in, but on their exit, some boos were heard among the applause as the cathedral bells rang.
Prince William Booed in U.K. Pub
The Duke of Cambridge was booed in an English pub after an appearance to see England beat Germany 2-1 in the final of the UEFA Women’s European Championship on Sunday, July 31.
Josh Davies was in The Albion pub, in Sheffield, and posted footage of the moment on Twitter.
He told Newsweek: “My feeling was that it was a general anti-establishment mood—people had come together to support the women’s team at a time where we’re all struggling with our bills, and it felt like an aristocrat was coming on TV to take our moment away from us.
“It would have been the same if it was [outgoing Prime Minister] Boris Johnson or [then leadership candidate] Rishi Sunak.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Booed at One Young World
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex got a standing ovation inside the One Young World summit in Manchester, England, but a handful of protesters outside booed their arrival.
Supporters also passed them handwritten notes, and some even apologized for the noisy dissent outside. However, none of that stopped a series of negative stories about the protest.
Meghan told the summit: “And, just as a side bar, earlier this afternoon we sat down with a few of you delegates, and it was incredibly inspiring; the resounding themes that came up about representation, about inclusion, about access and about trying to shift the global perspective for all of us as a global community to one of curiosity over criticism.”
A YouGov poll conducted among 1,600 adults in May showed that 33 percent of young people said they wish to keep the constitutional make-up, a sharp fall from 10 years ago, when 59 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were in favour of monarchy.
