Over the weekend, Charlie Kirk’s memorial service took place, but there was silence from royals like Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Why didn’t they speak out about his death? And why weren’t they in attendance at his memorial service?

Charlie Kirk memorial service

On September 21, a memorial service for Charlie Kirk took place in Arizona. American right-wing activist and influencer Kirk was assassinated on September 10 during a debate with college students at Utah Valley University.

The memorial service took place at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Over 90,000 people attended.

Amongst the enormous crowd who came out to pay their respects included several high-ranking government figures. The President of the US, Donald Trump, attended too. Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, 36, also attended. The mother of two gave a speech at the service in which she emotionally forgave Kirk’s killer.

With Kirk’s death and memorial service being such a big talking point, some people may have wondered why the royal family didn’t say anything about it. However, there is a simple reason as to why they may have kept their silence.

The royal family is politically neutral (in public at least) and therefore never speak about politics or get involved in it.

Due to how politically charged Turning Point USA co-founder Kirk’s death has become in the past few weeks, a message from the royals about his death could be seen as them picking a side, so to speak, which could have led to backlash and potentially even overshadowed his passing.

Why can’t the royals go to certain funerals?

However, not all the royals are politically neutral. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were outspoken in their desire for Americans to “vote against hate speech” during the 2020 US election. This was seen as the couple placing their allegiances with Joe Biden and the Democratic party, though they never publicly came out and said that this was the case.

During his days as Prince of Wales, the king found himself in hot water after he was accused of “meddling” in politics. The now 76-year-old, who was very outspoken with his views on the environment, often wrote letters to government ministers, according to reports. There was concern at the time that this pattern of behaviour would continue when he became king.

But how come the royals can attend state funerals of politicians and other public figures, you may ask. After all, the late Queen Elizabeth II went to the funeral of Margaret Thatcher in 2013. And Prince Edward went to US president Jimmy Carter’s funeral earlier this year.

Royals attend state funerals to represent the UK and the crown. It does not mean that they are showing any political allegiance by attending and paying their respects.

As Charlie Kirk’s memorial service wasn’t a state funeral, there was no reason for members of the royal family to attend.

Fake photos circulate

However, a false story has done the rounds on Facebook over the past couple of days claiming that Prince William and Kate Middleton did attend the memorial service.

According to the story, Kate and William’s appearance came as a surprise to those in attendance.

The story continued, claiming Kate and William walked together hand-in-hand, carrying a bouquet of white lilies.

However, it didn’t happen.

Prince William and Kate did not attend Kirk’s memorial service. Despite some pretty convincing photos of them laying flowers at the event, these are AI-generated (as is the story itself, more than likely).