Prince William Has an Surprising Answer for Critics Who Question His Privileged Royal Life

Prince William is not immune to the criticism that the royal family has faced since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. The anti-monarchy group, Republic, led by Graham Smith, has become more vocal about their opposition to the palace and the Prince of Wales hears them loudly and clearly. 

In a new two-part documentary on ITV beginning Wednesday, Oct. 30, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, the royal family member has a message for the people pushing back on the royal family’s existence. “I think if I answered every critic, I’d be here all day. But you know, criticism drives you forward,” he said in the interview, per The Guardian. “I think it’s right to question but I think, ultimately, we are pushing forward to deliver change and hope and optimism into a world that frankly has had very little of it for a long time. I hope I can bring something that’s not been done before.”

The “change” William is hoping to deliver is about addressing the homeless situation in the U.K. with his program, Homewards. The documentary follows the first year of the initiative to build 24 homes in Nansledan. “I’m not sitting here saying I’m going to solve the entire world’s homelessness problems. But I am going to show people how to prevent homelessness,” he added in the documentary. 

The Prince of Wales announced the program in June 2023 with a Sunday Times headline declaring, “I want to end homelessness in Britain.” He told the outlet, “We can do it. It’s not insurmountable, this challenge. If anyone does become homeless [we can say], ‘OK, here’s the way back, here’s the pathway.’ We can visualize that, and we can show people that there is a way to do it.”

Smith sent out a press release just after William’s announcement to push back on the issues they felt he was ignoring. “William is cynically wading into a politically contentious issue — in doing so he is distracting attention from the real problem,” the Republic leader said in the statement. “This is clearly not a serious project. It lacks funding, it lacks clarity, and it rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue. If William wants to help tackle homelessness, he should surrender his publicly funded income and directly challenge the government. Anything else is just performative concern.”

That’s what makes William’s response in the documentary so significant. He knows that people like Smith are watching his everyone financial move since he’s in charge of the Duchy of Cornwall — and Smith is watching him right back. “It’s good to hear my criticisms of William’s homelessness project were raised in the documentary,” Smith tweeted out on X on Oct. 26. “William of course dismissed all criticism out of hand and can’t bring himself to accept that his own position and abuse of public money is unjust and immoral. #AbolishTheMonarchy”

Smith is going to be a thorn in William’s side as the Prince of Wales and eventually as the King of England.

Before you go, click here to see the 100 best photos of the royal family from the past 20 years.