Prince William slammed by Studio Ten host Angela Bishop: ‘A disgrace’

Studio 10’s Angela Bishop has hit out at the usually-popular royal amid heavy backlash over his decision to skip the women’s World Cup final.

Studio 10 host Angela Bishop has slammed Prince William for not attending the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney, labelling his decision “a disgrace”.

The Prince of Wales — who is the president of the Football Association — has been roundly criticised for not making the trip to Sydney to watch England take on Spain on Sunday, and instead issuing a short video message of support alongside his 8-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte.

In the clip, shared on the royals’ official social media page, William apologised for not being there in person.

On Monday, Bishop joined the chorus of voices around the world uniting in rare criticism of the future King, pointing out on Ten’s morning program that he is the “father of a daughter, the grandson of the Queen”.

“I think it’s a disgrace,” she said during a cross with royal correspondent Gavin Grey.

“This was a moment not to make a video with his daughter but to get her on a plane with him, come out here and celebrate their team – their national team in the women’s World Cup.

“To not be flexible enough to do that, to say, ‘it’s not in the diary’, to say, ‘it’s interrupting their summer holidays’ – none of those excuses cut the mustard.

“He’s going to pay for this.”

Angela Bishop joined the chorus of voices criticising the royal FA President Picture: Ten.

She labelled his decision “a disgrace”. Picture: Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace via Getty Images

While Grey appeared to agree with the criticism, he highlighted the likely factors that led to William’s controversial decision.

“It would have been a long way to go for a relatively short length of time, that perhaps would have upset his environmental friends and damaged his environmental credentials – he is, after all, in charge of the Earthshot environmental prize,” he pointed out.

“Another thing is that within the Commonwealth, when there is a new King or Queen, they should visit the country before other members of the Royal Family. Charles has not been down to Australia yet … (William’s) visit would have perhaps upset that.”

Grey added that the royals’ tendency to “take August off” as their annual holiday could have also played a role.

“Dare I say it, he just wanted to be at home with his family.”

Prince William and Princess Charlotte issued a video message to the UK women's football team, apologising for not being there in person.

The backlash targeting William began after the Lionesses beat Australia 3-1 in the semi-finals last week to book their first-ever World Cup final.

Adding insult to injury for many was the fact that members of the Spanish royal family were present for the historic game, including Queen Letizia and her teenage daughter, Infanta Sofia.

During the Studio 10 segment, Grey also defended William against accusations that he would have prioritised attending a men’s World Cup final.

“It’s not because Prince William thinks that the Lionesses are in some way inferior, or is not taking them seriously,” he told the hosts.

“I think that happened is the people who look after his diary would have had the men’s World Cup final pencilled in for weeks, months in advance – maybe even a full year. I don’t think that happened for the women’s World Cup.

“I think they underestimated perhaps how popular it was going to be – they might have even underestimated the team and underestimated just the sheer groundswell of support that they got.

“Either way, people have been very quick to criticise Prince William – it will sting and hurt.”

During Sunday night’s nail-biting final, the Lionesses went down to Spain 1-nil.