Prince William facing 'wake-up call' as royal attends Pope Francis funeral in place of King Charles: 'This is a huge deal'

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re delivered the homily, speaking about Pope Francis' life and service to God. He praised the pontiff as someone who "touched the minds and hearts of people" who was "attentive to the signs of the times".

The cardinal added: "Despite his frailty and suffering towards the end, Pope Francis chose to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life."

Discussing Prince William's attendance on GB News, Royal Historian Alexander Larman highlighted that although it appeared "unusual" for King Charles to not attend the funeral, it is in line with "royal tradition".

Larman explained: "Despite the very close relationship that the King had with the late Pope, it is for tradition that the ruler doesn't attend, and that the first in line does.

"Charles had a close friendship with the late Pope and in fact saw him on his wedding anniversary earlier this month, so a lot of people, I think, would be wishing that Charles had been able to break the protocol and attend today."

Highlighting a further factor as to why royal fans may question William's attendance at the funeral, Larman claimed that the Prince of Wales has expressed "no interest" in religion.

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Larman told GB News: "What's interesting about William's presence is that there's been a lot of discussion about whether Prince William is at all interested in religion, because he's never given any kind of public interview or statement about religious faith. And we know that his father is very interested in religion.

"And I'm sure that the King himself wishes that he'd been there to honour his friend and to honour this important figure."

Suggesting the move provides a "wake-up call" to William, Larman added that it may spur the future King to engage more with religion on a public scale.

Larman claimed: "Obviously, he is baptised in the Church of England, he is somebody who is an Anglican, not a Catholic, but nonetheless, he has never shown any interest in religion. He has never shown any kind of expression of faith or anything like that.

"And most people who know him say he doesn't have any particular religious faith, so this might be something of a wake-up call that might actually be an opportunity for him to think, 'I see how important religion is to people, I see that this is not just an expression of leisure activity which has this huge, important value', which is more than just symbolic."

Noting the significance of Prince William's attendance on the world stage, Larman concluded by declaring that his presence will be "closely observed", and will put the future King among the "world's statesmen".

Larman said: "William, who clearly is being groomed as the future king, has been put in these positions where he is seen amongst other leading world statesmen, so I think this is the first time really outside of something like a royal wedding or a coronation or a funeral, he has been seen at a religious event.

"And as you can see from the pictures, this is a huge deal. This is an absolutely massive seismic day for so many people, and obviously, William's presence is going to be very closely observed."