The Royal Family must tell the public the truth behind Prince William’s ‘unprecedented and inexplicable’ withdrawal from a major engagement.

Speaking on The Reaction, their YouTube talk show, the Daily Mail’s Andrew Pierce and Sarah Vine implored the Royals to fully explain the Prince of Wales’s absence from a memorial service for his godfather at Windsor Castle yesterday.

Both now fear the public are increasingly worried about the health of King Charles and the Princess of Wales.

They asked the question: ‘Why can’t the Royals tell us the truth about Kate and William?’

William was supposed to accompany Queen Camilla to St George’s Chapel to give a reading in memory of the late King Constantine II of Greece, who died last year.

But just three quarters of an hour before the beginning, he pulled out of the event for unexplained ‘personal reasons’, sparking a fresh wave of speculation over the full reason.

The Royal Family must tell the public the truth behind Prince William ‘s ‘unprecedented and inexplicable’ withdrawal from a major engagement, Sarah Vine and Andrew Pierce told The Reaction

The Prince of Wales was last seen attending the Bafta Film Awards 2024 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. He pulled out of the memorial of King Constantine of Greece at the last minute

Ms Vine and Mr Pierce have said the time has come for the Royal Family to end the speculation – and explain why William needed to leave.

Kate’s abdominal surgery and the King’s cancer diagnosis earlier this month both mean they cannot perform public duties – dramatically reducing the number of active Royals.

Photographs from the service which emerged yesterday revealed a watered-down Royal Family with the controversial figure of Prince Andrew pictured smiling at the service.

The memorial for Constantine II was an important event for William, who was close to the exiled monarch, and is understood to have telephoned the Greek royal family to apologise for his leaving.

But the terse statement issued to the press and public from Kensington Palace saying he left for ‘personal reasons’ has only fired up online speculation.

‘The thing is, this was not just him turning up for something. He was an integral part of the service. He was meant to be doing a reading.’ Ms Vine said.

‘It just makes you think it is really something quite serious for him to do that. That is the issue.’

Ms Vine called on the Royal Family not to leave a ‘vacuum which then gets filled with speculation and conspiracy theory which is what is happening at the moment.

Ms Vine and Mr Pierce have said the time has come for the Royal Family to end the speculation – and explain why William needed to leave 

Queen Camilla was instead the most senior member of the Royal Family in attendance – with Prince Andrew also enjoying a prominent role

Prince Andrew leads members of the Royal Family including the Tindalls to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle today

Guests attend a thanksgiving service for the life of King Constantine at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle this morning

Queen Camilla departs the thanksgiving service for King Constantine at St George’s Chapel in Windsor today

‘In this day and age, you cannot just not say anything. You have to give an explanation. William not showing up like that to something that he was such an integral part of is I am afraid something they need to explain.

‘I think both journalists and also to an extent the public are quite worried because the signals coming from the Palace both about the King and about the Princess and Prince of Wales are not great.

‘If it was just the King or just William and Kate it might be less, but it is because it is them both and they are such pillars of the Royal Family this is where the problem is. This is why people want to know, they just want to know a bit more.’

Mr Pierce added: ‘It was exactly 45 minutes before the event at Windsor Castle, that Kensington Palace stubbornly refused to tell us anymore, other than it was a ‘personal matter’.

‘This was the exiled King of Greece, a very, very dear friend of late Queen and Prince Philip’s, he was Prince Philip’s sailing partner-very important in Royal circles.

Zara and Mike Tindall and the Princess Royal attend the service at Windsor Castle today as they walk to St George’s Chapel

Prince Andrew; Sarah, Duchess of York; and Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence at St George’s Chapel in Windsor today 

(left to right) Princess Alexandra the Honourable Lady Ogilvy, Marina Ogilvy, Prince Andrew, the Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Gloucester at Windsor Castle today

Princess Michael of Kent (left) and Prince Michael of Kent attend the service today

‘I did the Royal beat for years on The Times, years on the Telegraph. It is unprecedented for such a senior member of the Royal Family to withdraw with such short notice.

‘The Order of Service printed, the Royals already on their way to castle, the exiled Greek Royal family already on their way.

‘He had to tell them 45 minutes before and because he is de-facto King, it was even more important, he was there, which makes it even more inexplicable that he pulled out at such short notice.

‘It is just extraordinary that William was not there. He was very fond of his godfather, the exiled King of Greece.

‘The other thing it then meant is awful Prince Andrew took control and that is a really bad optic. He just sort of bustled to the front with Sarah Ferguson, loitered with intent outside the door to the chapel, introducing people. He almost took over.

‘Some are now saying he just does not have the same ethic of the Queen and his father ‘The show must go on.’ I do not agree with that’.

The Reaction can be watched and subscribed to on the Mail’s YouTube channel: YouTube.com/DailyMail. Episodes come out every Wednesday.