After Queen Elizabeth’s passing, Charles and Camilla became the de-facto heads of the Royal Family. As a result, the new King and Queen have had many new duties and engagements to attend to.
Naturally, this transitional period will be stressful, and it hasn’t bee made easier by the fact Charles’s youngest son, Prince Harry, continues to stand at odds with his family. The Sussexes’ Netflix documentary is now out, and the final three episodes were released on Thursday.
King Charles and Camilla have had a long and joyful relationship. Even so, there are times in any relationship where emotions flare. Just last week was Charles was caught on film losing his temper with Camilla during a visit to Wrexham, Wales.
To the common eye it’s nothing out of the ordinary, and yet, according to one expert, King Charles showing frustration towards his wife could be a sign of an altogether more serious problem …
King Charles and Camilla have been preparing to take over from the late Queen Elizabeth for years. When Her Majesty was laid to rest in September, the couple assumed the pole positions within the British monarchy, along with all the duties and engagements that come with them.
King Charles & Camilla’s coronation
Camilla is now Queen Consort, but in May next year, Charles and his wife will officially be crowned King and Queen.
The UK hasn’t seen a coronation since June 2, 1953, when the coronation of Elizabeth II took place at Westminster Abbey. Next year will see the coronation of King Charles, though, and just days ago, details of the big event were revealed. Interestingly, King Charles looks set to drop an old tradition.
The official date of Charles’ coronation has been set for May 6 at Westminster Abbey. According to a press statement, King Charles’ coronation “will reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry.”
“The Coronation is a solemn religious service, together with an occasion for celebration and pageantry,” the statement read.
Earlier reports suggested it might occur on the 70th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation – or the day after, on June 3.
Yet though it’s now set to take place slightly earlier in the year, the date still holds special significance for Royal Family. Perhaps not for King Charles, but certainly for his son, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle.
May 6 will mark the 4th birthday of Harry and Meghan’s son, Archie.
“Camilla has done really everything she can”
How the couple reacted to the fact that Charles’s coronation will be on the same date has not yet been revealed. Neither has it been confirmed whether Harry and Meghan will be invited.
According to royal expert Katie Nicholl, Harry and Meghan will be in the UK to attend the coronation. She told Entertainment Tonight that King Charles and Camilla would want them there.
“Behind the scenes, Camilla has done really everything she can to try and bring this family back together, and press the importance of trying to move on from this rift, and I think she would be very pleased, as would the king for Harry and Meghan to be at the coronation,” she said.
“It remains to be seen whether or not they attend. But of course, it will be down to the Sussexes to make the ultimate decision as to whether they’re going to come over for King Charles’ coronation on May 6.”
In 1954, when the Queen was crowned, the event was huge. According to the official royal website, more than 8,000 guests attended Westminster Abbey for the coronation. In addition, an incredible 129 nations were officially represented.
As tradition dictates, the monarch was presented with many gold objects, including a robe, bracelets, and spurs.
The Queen’s crowning was a fabulous and significant event. However, King Charles is reportedly veering slightly away from tradition and doing things differently.
Will King Charles invite Harry & Meghan?
According to the Daily Mail, he will dramatically decrease the number of guests to just over 2,000. Also, certain ancient traditions – the presentation of the Orb and Scepter, for example – will be shortened to about one hour. According to the Mail, the Queen’s coronation lasted about three hours.
The new monarch is reportedly also planning to order a more relaxed dress code. For example, he will “possibly allow” lounge suits instead of peers wearing ceremonial robes.
Of course, it isn’t only King Charles who will receive a new, lofty title on the day of his coronation. Camilla will officially be made Queen Consort on the same day.
The official guest list will likely not be revealed until next year, but speculation about whether Harry and Meghan will be there is already in full throttle. Not only because of what has happened in the past, but also with Harry’s new tell-all book – due for release on January 10 – and the Sussexes’ new documentary in mind.
While the Royal Family has braced themselves for what might be revealed in Harry’s book, aptly titled Spare, Charles, Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton have already gotten a preview of what might await them.
The rift between the Royal Family and Harry & Meghan has been apparent since the latter pair left for the US.
Harry & Meghan criticize royals in documentary series
Last week, the couple released the first three episodes of their Netflix documentary series – another three episodes dropped on Thursday. The first part of the series focused on Harry and Meghan’s respective childhoods, before moving on into the early stages of their relationship. The couple the proceeded to criticize the Royal Family, but it wasn’t until second release of further episodes that more significant allegations against the Firm were made.
In the fourth episode of the Netflix series, Harry and Meghan claim that the media’s attention – with the help of rivals within the Royal Family – was more negative because Meghan was popular and famous worldwide.
Harry said that a person who marries into the Royal Family is supposed to be a “supporting act.” But in Meghan’s case, he argued that she was “doing the job better than the person who is born to do this,” which left certain people upset and feeling threatened.
“Because you’ve been led to believe that the only way your charities can succeed and the only way your reputation can be grown or improved is if you’re on the front page of those newspapers,” he said in the documentary.
“But the media are the ones who choose who to put on the front page. The first time the penny dropped for [Meghan], M and I spent the night in a room in Buckingham Palace after an event where every single member of the family, senior members of the family, had been, including the Queen. And on the front page of The Telegraph – Meghan,” he added.
King Charles criticized over “ambush” meeting
The first time Harry and Meghan were back in the UK following their exit was for Prince Philip’s funeral last spring. It was a tense period for the entire family, and after the funeral, Harry was reportedly ushered into an unscheduled meeting with his brother, William, and father, Charles. The sit-down didn’t go well at all, and Harry felt “ambushed.”
In the final episode of the Netflix documentary, Harry spoke about the visit to the UK – and touched upon said meeting.
“It was hard [going back]. Especially spending time, having chats with my brother and my father, who just, you know, were very much focused on the same misinterpretation of the whole situation,” he said.
“So neither… none of us really wanted to have to talk about it at my grandfather’s funeral, but we did.”
“And you know,” he continued. “I’ve had to make peace with the fact that we’re probably never gonna get genuine accountability or a genuine apology. You know, my wife and I, we’re moving on. We’re focused on what’s coming next.”
King Charles appears to have kept his cool following the release of the documentary series. At the time of writing, no statements have been issued by the Royal Family, though at the beginning of the series, a message appears on-screen that reads: “Members of the Royal Family declined to comment on the content within this series.”
Interestingly, an anonymous Palace source has claimed that the producers of the show had made no attempts to reach them.
King Charles loses his temper with Camilla on camera
King Charles and Camilla – alongside William and Kate – are continuing with their royal duties as normal, and soon they’ll get a well-deserved Christmas break. The family will, as tradition dictates, celebrate the holidays at the famous Sandringham Estate. It doesn’t take an expert detective to deduce that Harry and Meghan won’t be joining them there.
All that said, given two extremely hectic months, it’s perhaps not strange to assume that King Charles and Camilla might be stressed and tired. According to a body language expert, that might have been the reason as to why the public witnessed Charles losing his temper with Camilla – in plain view press cameras.
Last week, the King and Queen Consort visited the Welsh town of Wrexham. They greeted the public in the city center, and after Charles had greeted many of them, it was time to go.
Yet it seemed as though Camilla had fallen behind, perhaps preoccupied with talking with someone else further down the street. This left Charles visibly frustrated, and he was heard telling aids to go and get his wife.
“Can we try and get her back again? Please, we need to go. I was trying to wait for her, but she goes on,” King Charles said, obviously perturbed.
Speaking with the Daily Express, body language expert Judi James had some harsh things to say about Charles’s behavior.
“Ungracious and unkind”
According to her, Charles not only displayed his temper, but also a degree of disloyalty towards Camilla.
“There are no signs of good humour here, just a man pleading to his entourage to get him out of his situation and on to his next booking,” she said.
“I know people are creating empathetic links by saying this is a common theme between husbands and wives and that it makes Charles seem more human, but his wife is the new Queen and he is making a very public scene about her that lowers her status.”
Judi went on: “It might be understandable that Charles is under a lot of pressure recently, but his mother provided the perfect role model when it came to carrying on with the job without complaining or showing any signs of disloyalty to her nearest and dearest. To speak of his key supporter and fan in this way is ungracious and unkind.”
Judi went on to analyze Camilla’s body language, claiming that she “always” shows signs of nervousness and anxiety.
“Charles really should have popped back to speak to her in person rather than sounding irritated to other people, or maybe grinned fondly to register ongoing affection,” James said.
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