What appeared to be a normal Wednesday at a Wetherspoons pub in Birmingham, U.K., ended up being quite the royal event on January 15. According to a post on X, formerly Twitter, Prince William made a surprise appearance at the franchised watering hole after speaking at a College of Paramedics conference. Apparently, the Prince was buying time while catching a train and decided to rub elbows with the locals and yap about sports. This is yet another move from William and his wife, Kate Middleton, indicating they are slowly backing away from the intense demands of their royal duties, regardless of what it might do to their reputations.
Up the Villa… Prince William stopped off to have a pint and chat football with Aston Villa fans in surprise visit on a Wetherspoons pub in Birmingham after speaking at a College of Paramedics conference – while waiting for a train home… pic.twitter.com/mu3vJ7wXQq
— Matt Wilkinson (@MattSunRoyal) January 15, 2025
Seeing William smile while the adoring public snapped selfies with him was a nice break from tradition, but also might be a sign that he is not stepping away from the ongoing feud between himself and his brother, Prince Harry. In fact, it seems that William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales are still going toe-to-toe with Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, when it comes to keeping up appearances — even as these appearances continue to shift. Harry and Meghan have been out mingling with the public and offering up their home and some good hugs during the wildfire devastation taking place in Los Angeles (per the BBC). Now it seems that William feels the need to prove he, too, is a man of the people. However, this isn’t the first time the two couples have attempted to one-up each other in 2025.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are competing with Harry and Meghan
In what appears to be an old-fashioned competition between brothers, every time Prince Harry or Meghan Markle makes a post on social media or appears in public, Prince William and Kate Middleton have to as well. When Meghan returned to Instagram with a new, laid-back look (with the help of Harry filming her skipping on the sand), William immediately shot back with a post dedicated to Kate, which also highlights a new, more relaxed look on the Princess of Wales. This tit-for-tat behavior reeks of schoolyard competition, but is also incredibly entertaining.
Meghan was set to return to the small screen with the Netflix debut of her lifestyle show ‘With Love, Meghan,” however, with the devastation caused by the LA fires, she has pushed back the date to March, 2025. This announcement came around the same time Kate declared her cancer was successfully in remission. It seems that Kate and William might have won this round, having the luxury of good news to rally behind.
The jury is still out on whether or not Kate and Meghan can mend their feud any time soon. It will be interesting to see what sort of response William and Kate will have when Meghan’s show finally gets on the air. We will have our popcorn ready and waiting to watch the fireworks.
