News & Opinion

Wow, Prince George’s third birthday turned out to be pretty rough.

First came ‘Ice-Cream Gate’, in which Prince George shared some ice cream with family pet Lupo, leading to tweets for the young prince to be thrown in jail “for irresponsible animal cruelty”—and, from a British animal cruelty charity, a warning that ice cream for dogs should be made from pet-friendly ingredients.

Next, the little chap—who turned 3 on Friday—was trolled on Facebook, as reported by the Sun, by a senior employee at the British Council, which receives almost $210 million of public money a year to promote British language and culture around the world.

Under a picture taken of Prince George, Angela Gibbins, head of global estates at the British Council, wrote, “White privilege. That cheeky grin is the innate knowledge he’s royal, rich, advantaged and will never know *any* difficulties or hardships in life. Let’s find photos of 3yo Syrian children and see if they look alike, eh?”

Gibbins made her comment under a picture of Prince George, used on a stamp to commemorate the Queen’s 90th birthday, that someone else had posted with the statement: “I know he’s only two years old, but Prince George already looks like a fucking dickhead.”

Gibbins was criticized on Facebook for attacking Prince George. To one critic, she wrote: “I have a multi-faceted political opinion. That’s not hate, and I hate no human being on this planet as an individual.

“But I do disagree with the system that creates privilege of any sort. And I have a dedication to calling that out for what it is.”

To another critic, Gibbins wrote, “I’m sound in my socialist, atheist and republican opinions. I don’t believe the royal family have any place in a modern democracy, least of all when they live on public money. That’s privilege and it needs to end.”

Gibbins describes herself on her Twitter account thus: “Director of property globally for the British Council. Personal capacity tweets only here: socialist politics, human rights, allotments, E17.” (E17 is the postcode for Walthamstow, a borough in East London.)

A spokesperson for the British Council told The Daily Beast that Gibbins would now face a disciplinary procedure, “looking into what actually happened.” The spokesperson acknowledged that Gibbins was expressing her views in a private capacity, but the British Council took her words “very seriously.” The spokesperson could not say whether Gibbins would keep her job or not.

In an official press statement, the British Council, which promotes Britain in over 100 countries and whose patron is the Queen, said: “The British Council expects the highest standards of our staff and in accordance with our code of conduct we have started disciplinary procedures with the individual concerned. This comment was made on a private social media account. It has absolutely no connection to the British Council and does not represent our views and values.”