Fact Check: Post Claims Prince William Has No Engagements Scheduled in 2024. Here's What We Found

Taija PerryCook
·4 min read
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Claim:

As of April 2024, Prince William has no engagements publicly scheduled for 2024.

Rating:

Rating: True
Rating: True

On April 11, 2024, X (formerly Twitter) account @UnityNewsNet claimed that William, Prince of Wales, did not have any public engagements scheduled through the end of 2024. The post received more than 280,000 views and 2,400 likes, as of this writing. "Something DEFINITELY ain't right," one of the top comments said.

We looked up the official engagement schedule in the Royal Diary — which notes that the royals' engagements are "published up to eight weeks in advance" — and can confirm that there were no engagements publicly listed for the Prince of Wales through the end of 2024, as of April 11.

(royal.uk)

William was not the only royal to have no events listed, however. King Charles; Queen Camilla; Catherine, Princess of Wales; and other royals such as the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Princess Alexandra also had no engagements listed.

It was unclear what the user who posted the tweet meant by "we were specifically told that William would be back to work after the Easter Break."

In early April, William had not been publicly seen or heard from for more three weeks, dating to before his wife, Catherine's, cancer diagnosis announcement on March 22.

In the weeks following the announcement, William took time off to "focus on his family." Sky News reported on March 5, 2024, that "Prince William is set to take almost two weeks off from royal duties again with the royal diary showing zero engagements for William until the middle of March."

On April 10, William posted on X and on April 11, he and his eldest son, Prince George, appeared in the public eye — at an Aston Villa soccer game — for the first time since the announcement of Catherine's diagnosis.

"Many will see the heirs' presence in the stands as a positive message that the family is adjusting well with the situation at home and royal-watchers will now be hoping to see the Prince of Wales out and about on engagements in the coming weeks," a CNN story read.

In sum, because there were no listed engagements for William in the remainder of 2024, we rate this claim as "True." It is unclear why there were no publicly listed engagements scheduled for William or whether engagements would be posted in the future.

We also recently reported on whether William made a "sad announcement" about Catherine, leaving fans "in tears."

Sources:

Foster, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Max. 'Prince William and George Cheer on Aston Villa in First Outing since Kate's Cancer Announcement'. CNN, 12 Apr. 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/12/uk/prince-william-george-aston-villa-intl-scli-gbr/index.html.

'Https://Twitter.Com/KensingtonRoyal/Status/1778059474554458490'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1778059474554458490. Accessed 12 Apr. 2024.

'Https://Twitter.Com/UnityNewsNet/Status/1778476010448568747'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1778476010448568747. Accessed 12 Apr. 2024.

Liles, Jordan. 'Prince William Made a "Sad Announcement" About Kate in April 2024, Leaving Fans in Tears?' Snopes, 10 Apr. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//news/2024/04/10/william-sad-announcement-kate/.

Sullivan, Reilly Sullivan 'Prince William to Take Another Week off from Royal Duties'. Skynews, 5 Mar. 2024, https://www.skynews.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity-life/prince-william-to-take-another-week-off-from-royal-duties-with-princess-anne-and-prince-edward-to-pick-up-the-slack/news-story/f91fb6a3b9ea1f0420aafb0a091dc90b.

Sykes, Tom. 'Prince William Plans Return to Duties as a "WFH" Royal'. The Daily Beast, 12 Apr. 2024. www.thedailybeast.com, https://www.thedailybeast.com/prince-william-plans-return-to-duties-as-a-wfh-royal.