Prince William Cracks Jokes About Spreading The Coronavirus

Prince William has been caught up in some unpleasant situations in the past year, including a rumored feud with his brother, Prince Harry, Megxit fallout and a cheating scandal. Now, William, the Duke of Cambridge and second in line to the British throne, has made headlines for joking about the deadly coronavirus.

While visiting Ireland with his wife, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, on Mar. 3, 2020, the pair attended a reception in Dublin where they met with emergency workers, including a paramedic named Joe Mooney. According to CNN, while the prince was speaking with Mooney, he told the man: "I bet everyone's like 'I've got coronavirus, I'm dying,' and you're like 'no, you've just got a cough.'" He continued by questioning the seriousness of the situation, adding, "It does seem quite dramatic about coronavirus at the moment. Is it being a little hyped up, do you think, by the media?"

While it might have been bad enough that the royal seemed to be making light of the health crisis, he didn't stop there. William then made what was apparently meant to be a joke, saying, "By the way, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are spreading coronavirus, sorry. We're keeping an eye on that, so do tell us if we need to stop." Frankly, from the public's reaction, what William should have done was stop before making the comments.

Needless to say, Prince William's coronavirus comments didn't go over well. Many took to Twitter to call out the Duke of Cambridge's "tasteless joke."

"People who died from coronavirus apparently are jokes to Prince William," one person wrote, adding, "So royal." Another tweeted: "#coldfish prince William thinks it's funny with over 3000 people dead? ... That's your future King...*SIGH*." Yet another social media user pointed out that "[t]he elite can joke, but the virus will not stop at their palaces gates...." That's a fact that the royals are likely (or should be) aware of considering CNN notes that "a total of 16,659 people have been tested for the coronavirus in the UK, of whom 85 have been confirmed as positive."

While the royals haven't responded to the criticism or offered an apology regarding William's comments, let's just hope that he realizes that, in the future, he should probably be more sympathetic of situations that have resulted in people losing their loved ones.