Prince William met with students leading the ‘Am I Manly Enough’ campaign

Prince William had an event today, but it wasn’t attending the Anzac service this morning, which is probably something that should have been on his schedule. I’m forgetting about the fakakta school run though, of course. That’s why he couldn’t attend the Anzac service. In any case, William popped over to Birmingham today. He did a walkabout and said hello to students and then he met with kids at St. Michael’s Church of England High School in Sandwell.

The photos from this event are fascinating, because out of context, it’s just an egg-looking prince sitting in front of signs asking “Am I Manly Enough?” That is the point of it, in context. William was visiting a student-led campaign focused on defanging toxic masculinity in teenage boys. From People:

The school came on the royal’s radar after 12-year-old Freddie Hadley wrote a letter to Prince William and Princess Kate, 42, that was shared on social media for World Mental Health Day in Oct. 2023. Freddie invited the couple to their school group’s #AmIManlyEnough campaign launch, writing, “Through our work, we discovered that suicide is the biggest killer in young males, and this won’t change until people start the conversation.”

Prince William got to see firsthand the work of the Matrix Project, which Freddie highlighted in his letter for bringing boys aged 11 to 14 together for weekly meetings that develop ideas and projects to tackle mental health challenges. The royal joined a session with some of the boys and was told how the group launched the #AmIManlyEnough campaign last year to encourage males to communicate more about their feelings and tackle the stigma of mental health.

William also met representatives of Student Voice to hear about their projects set up at the school to promote positive mental health and joined a workshop with students discussing issues related to well-being, including designing their own calm kits and their dream well-being hub.

“What a beautiful opportunity for our youngsters to shine a spotlight on everything we do in school,” headteacher Christina Handy-Rivett tells PEOPLE. “And to have His Royal Highness, who pioneers and supports mental health, it was such a special moment.”

[From People]

The campaign itself is wonderful and it’s amazing that these kids are leading it. I’m sure they loved the fact that William highlighted the campaign and that he traveled to their school and heard about their work. Now, the bad stuff: William is actually a terrible representative for advocacy work around destigmatizing men’s mental health and decentralizing toxic masculinity. William and his allies have spent years raging about Prince Harry having too much therapy. William leads with rage, with violence, with anger and toxicity. Well, I hope he listened and learned today.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.