--- title: Prince William Warns Against Unrealistic Beauty Standards description: Prince Williams used a cyberbullying speech to tell young girls they don't have to strive for "fakeness" when it comes to appearance. canonical: https://time.com/5140508/prince-williams-girls-body-image-online/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-08T22:37:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:28.229Z og:title: Prince Williams Warns Against Unrealistic Beauty Standards og:description: "The touched-up pictures are not real" og:url: https://time.com/5140508/prince-williams-girls-body-image-online/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc568d570ac83a448/698926cefb4eacad40895a13/prince-william-body-image-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: The Duke Of Cambridge Launch's Nationwide Veterans Programme og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince Williams Warns Against Unrealistic Beauty Standards twitter:description: "The touched-up pictures are not real" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc568d570ac83a448/698926cefb4eacad40895a13/prince-william-body-image-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince William Spoke Out Against Unrealistic Beauty Standards: 'The Touched-up Pictures Are Not Real.' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 8, 2018 10:37 PM UTC  LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 18: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge speaks with military veterans now working for the NHS as he visits Evelina London Children's Hospital to launch a nationwide programme to help veterans find work in the NHS on January 18, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas - WPA Pool/Getty Images) LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 18: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge speaks with military veterans now working for the NHS as he visits Evelina London Children's Hospital to launch a nationwide programme to help veterans find work in the NHS on January 18, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas - WPA Pool/Getty Images) WPA Pool—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 8, 2018 10:37 PM UTC [Prince William](http://time.com/5108658/prince-william-hair-reactions/) has some strong thoughts on how [social media](http://time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/) and Internet culture are [affecting young people](http://time.com/4974863/kids-smartphones-depression/) today. According to [_The Telegraph_](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/08/prince-william-professor-green-join-forces-surprise-school-assembly/), the royal made a surprise appearance at London’s Burlington Danes Academy on Thursday, where he used a speech about cyberbullying to speak out against aspiring to look like women on social media and online. “I worry for you girls,” he said. “The touched-up pictures are not real,” he said. “Don’t try to recreate them or think that’s what you’ve got to aim for. There’s a lot of fakeness online so don’t worry about that.” Besides addressing body image, Prince William also touched on the challenges of coming of age in the Internet era, stressing that mental health involves unplugging from time to time. “Don’t spend all day online. Seriously, don’t,” he said. “For your mental health, get outside, come away from the screen. By all means, be on a screen but don’t be on it all day because it will only bring you into another world. 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