Prince William is facing backlash for remarking that a war in Europe is "very alien to see" given British people are "more used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia".
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid a visit to a Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London this week to meet with volunteers, with Kate Middleton offering trays of homemade brownies and granola bars.
But while her sweet gesture has been praised by many, it was William's "ignorant" comment that set tongues wagging on Twitter as thousands expressed their outrage over the perceived "white coloniser ideology".
A number of people have pointed out that two major world wars were fought in Europe.
Prince William has even lived through conflict on the continent in his lifetime — including the Kosovo War from 1998 to 1999, and the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014.
Another pointed out that his mother, Princess Diana, visited war-torn Bosnia after conflict waged between the joint force of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former republic of Yugoslavia, and Croatia and Serbia, from 1992 to 1995.
Prince William’s own mother visited Bosnia in 1997, shortly before her death. Are you telling me he wasn’t aware of the war and genocide that was raging on at that time? pic.twitter.com/ZLIJlP9cxm
— MD (@MarkleDuchess) March 9, 2022
Unsurprised to see backlash against Prince William's ignorant remark (reported by @PA). Europe has seen some of the bloodiest conflict in the past two centuries—Balkans, Yugoslavia, Germany and Kosovo to name a few. But sure, let's normalise war and death in Africa and Asia. pic.twitter.com/49xYzFOyBK
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) March 9, 2022
Prince William: Africans & Asians are used to all that war. Europeans don’t do that.
— Veronica McDonald🗣 (@Purify_toast17) March 9, 2022
History teachers across the world: pic.twitter.com/2U06jtMZ83
“War doesn’t happen in Europe” is an EXTREMELY, WILDLY AHISTORICAL thing to say about a continent that is on its Third World War in less than a century
— We Can Build A Better World 🕊 (@BreeNewsome) March 9, 2022
His comment comes after US CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata was similarly skewered for making the same comparison, calling Ukraine "relatively civilised" and unlike countries in the Middle East.
"This isn't a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades," D'Agata said on air.
"This is a relatively civilised, relatively European — I have to choose those words carefully too — city, one where you wouldn't expect that or hope that it's going to happen."
Prince William very moved by war on "European soil"
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) March 9, 2022
Conflict in Africa and Asia v normalised, apparently. pic.twitter.com/R0KmVFx4Hi
This is typical white supremacist colonizer ideology. This is such a wildly ahistorical take & they just keep saying it for no reason except to signal some false civilizational superiority of the majority-white nations https://t.co/KF9l68e3Jn
— We Can Build A Better World 🕊 (@BreeNewsome) March 9, 2022
D'Agata later apologised, saying, "I spoke in a way I regret, and for that I'm sorry."
William and Kate expressed their "solidarity" with the people of Ukraine soon after Vladimir Putin launched his attack, saying in a tweet "we stand with the President and all of Ukraine's people as they bravely fight for that future".
President Zelenskyy responded thanking them for their support.
"Olena and I are grateful to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge that at this crucial time, when Ukraine is courageously opposing Russia's invasion, they stand by our country and support our brave citizens," he said.
"Good will triumph."
Tanks first rolled over Ukraine's borders on February 24 after Putin ordered his long-feared invasion.
He declared that the neighbouring nation "belongs to Russia" as he followed through on promises to seize territory given up by the country in the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine has been in resistance ever since, with thousands of petrified families making desperate dashes to the Polish border, many terrified they will never see their relatives again.
At least two million people have already fled their homes to escape the conflict, with four million expected to be displaced as the Russian invasion continues.