Prince William knows that his little brother is getting fantastic press during the Invictus Games. William knows the conversation these days is “Prince Harry should be king.” So William made sure that people don’t forget about him during Harry’s Invictus week. Last Friday, William’s office confirmed several public appearances, one of which was today’s stop by Oxford University. William was opening a new library on campus, at Magdalen College. You might think that William had something to do with getting this library off the ground. You would be mistaken. He had no connection to the library or fundraising for the library before today.
While the event didn’t go badly, it probably didn’t produce the headlines that William and his office were expecting. Some sample headlines: “Prince William admits he was a lazy student at St Andrews” and “He may be a member of the royal family, but even the Duke of Cambridge has confessed to being a LAZY student while at university.” I’m loving the repetition of the word “lazy” when it comes to William these days, quite honestly. It’s been such a long time coming. As for why reporters were throwing around the word “lazy,” it came out of William’s chats with various students.
The Duke of Cambridge has confessed he was a lazy student while at university. William made the revelation to students and benefectors during a visit to Oxford’s Magdalen College to open a new library. Speaking about his time at St Andrews University, he said: “I can’t say I was a regular attender of libraries.”
Dayna Hamilton, a third-year engineering student at Magdalen, was among those the Duke spoke with. She said William claimed he would have gone more often if he had a library like Magdalen’s £11 million refurbished one.
“He said if this was his library he would have gone a little bit more,” she said.
The Duke toured the college’s recently renovated Longwall Library, where he spoke to students who were sitting at desks. But he was quick to realise that they were not really studying hard. Jack Barber, 21, who is reading history at Magdalen and helped raise money for the refurbishment, said William spotted that his book had been placed as a prop for the visit.
“He saw my book and it was obviously the first one I plucked off the shelf. He said ‘Enjoy your pretend studying’.”
The college’s previous library, a converted Victorian schoolhouse, was opened by William’s great-great-uncle, Prince Edward, who went on to become King Edward VIII. Edward was an alumnus of Magdalen College. William also revealed to two major benefactors at the library that he also struggled with pronunciation of the college’s name. He asked Dusty and Hilarie Huscher whether the “g” in Magdalen was silent, and they confirmed that it was pronounced “maud” rather than “mag”.
Some other accounts have William being “well received” by the students. While he didn’t make any major gaffes (his pants didn’t waft open, revealing a thong), the accounts of his visit do make him sound pretty awkward and stiff. As for the revelation that William was a lazy student… is anyone surprised? There were lots of stories about how William hated college and wanted to drop out after his first year. Perhaps he just wasn’t interested in high education, perhaps it was all over his head, or perhaps he’s just lazy.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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