Whoopsies, Prince William Mixed Up China And Japan During An Official Appearance
The Mirror says that in London today, Prince William hit up Japan House, a cultural center celebrating all things Japan. Prince William, joined by Japanese deputy prime minister Taro Aso, toured the facility, watching a copper-beating demonstration, and tasting sake and salmon sashimi. Booze samples? You know Prince Harry was totally pissed his name wasn’t pulled for that job. Japan House seems all about exploring and understanding the culture, and William was of course very respectful. It wasn’t like he was leaving exhibits asking: “Cool, but when do we get to the Pocky and Pokemon part of the tour?” Which makes this next part just that much more awkward.
William sat down to practice using chopsticks with some school children who were present at Japan House. Some of the kids were just learning, and William made with this cringey bit of small talk:
“Have you guys had much Chinese food? Sorry, Japanese food.”
Prince William was in great form at the opening of @japanhouseldn – charming & engaging. But even a royal diplomat can make the odd bloop. Such as asking local schoolchildren at the event to highlight Japanese culture if they had eaten much Chinese food! He quickly recovered tho! pic.twitter.com/72swlvNbk0
— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) September 13, 2018
He obviously knew he screwed up, because that pivot to Japanese food happened almost immediately. On a scale of one to ten, that slip-up ranks a whole lot lower than if William had asked: “Have you guys had much Chinese food? Well…have you? My favorite is pad thai” or asking how much they love that Alison Gold song. And it’s nowhere near as embarrassing as what could have possibly been said if William’s grandpa Prince Philip was still making Royal appearances. Something tells me it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Prince Philip would have tried to recover from his Chinese/Japanese mistake by reciting a certain rhyme.
Pic: Wenn.com