A Scots Guardsman went on Facebook and let fly a torrent of smack talk against her-soon-to-be-royal-highness Kate Middleton. As a result, he is banned from serving with several hundred fellow palace guards during the processional from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace Friday, after Middleton marries Prince William.
So what did this poor bloke, 18-year-old Cameron Reilly, say that got him in trouble?
"Her and William drove past me on Friday and all I got was a s****y wave while she looked the opposite way from me, stupid, stuck-up cow. Am I not good enough for them! Posh b****. Who really gives a f*** about her?" read the Facebook post, according to the Daily Mail UK.
It's not clear what kind of a reception the guard expected from the world's most talked about couple. He is, after all, one of those guys who wears a black bearskin hat and is supposed to remain still while tourists taunt him. Yet regardless of how much he overreacted to Middleton's alleged snub, it doesn't seem to be grounds for discipline.
Apparently his bosses decided to read everything else on his Facebook profile.
If you judge Reilly from his wall posts, he comes off as a reprehensible human being. He's not just anti-royal, which — let's face it — is forgivable this side of the Atlantic. His racism seems to be eclipsed only by his anti-semitism — at one point, while on patrol during a Jewish gathering at the Tower of London, he claims he had one person in his gun sights, adding "lmao." There seems to be a lot more offense where that came from.
"He's a big boozer and not what you'd call a thinker," an acquaintance of Reilly's is quoted in the Mail as saying. "He doesn't engage his brain before he types." Reilly either doesn't realize the extent to which the world can witness his Facebook posts, or doesn't care.
Whether he had it coming or, as his colleague suggests, his discipline is the result of a poorly timed slip-up of a naive kid, he will be hard pressed to find sympathy — and he may soon be out of a job, period. The Daily Mail mentioned that a Scots Guards spokesman is "investigating the claims."
Lessons to be learned: Don't say stupid stuff on Facebook! Also (and perhaps more importantly): Don't be a xenophobic, drunken, psychopathic jerk!
For more on the royal wedding, check out TODAY.com's Windsor Knot blog and The Royals section.