Here are some photos of King Charles and consort Camilla at a Buckingham Palace garden party on Tuesday. Charles and Camilla were supported by the Gloucesters, and it doesn’t look like any other working royals or royal-adjacents came out for the garden party. You know Prince Edward and Sophie are tired at being called in to beef up the garden-party ranks! Camilla repeated an Anna Valentine coat and she dusted off the Queen Mother’s Cartier palm brooch, an absolutely massive diamond “paisley.”
Meanwhile, Charles and Camilla will be out and about in London today for the state opening of Parliament. Charles is due to give the King’s Speech, and I would guess that there will be healthy anti-monarchy protests outside of Buckingham Palace and Parliament. Unfortunately, Charles and the monarchy are not the only unpopular ones in this equation – Keir Starmer is mired in controversy and his prime ministership is hanging on by a thread. Apparently, Starmer’s approval ratings are so low, there were some palace concerns about whether the King’s Speech should be delayed or canceled outright.
Buckingham Palace privately asked whether King Charles III should proceed as planned with the ceremonial state opening of parliament on Wednesday, as Keir Starmer faces a mounting leadership crisis that threatens to force him out of office.
According to people familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to speak freely, the king’s team made clear in conversation with Starmer’s officials the importance of protecting the monarch from any impression that he is being used for political ends.
“The Palace view is ‘we do not want to be any part of this conversation — do not bring us into it,’” said one of the people familiar with the matter.
This week, Starmer and his allies have pointed to Wednesday’s scheduled parliamentary ceremony as a key reason to let him keep his job despite crushing losses in local elections last week — and have dangled the promise of ambitious reforms, including the full nationalization of British Steel, in the coming address.
Parliament is currently between sessions, and must be formally opened to consider state business. The centerpiece of the opening ceremony is the king’s speech, which the monarch delivers to lawmakers from the gilded throne in the House of Lords. In this address, which is largely written by the prime minister’s team, the king sets out the government’s legislative plans for months ahead. But there is no certainty that those plans will survive amid a growing revolt against Starmer’s leadership from furious Labour MPs who blame him for their party’s dismal polling and disastrous election results last week.
According to the people familiar with the matter, in one recent discussion Charles’s senior aide asked top government officials including Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo whether the king should go ahead with Wednesday’s ceremony.
The Palace was told that it was constitutionally correct for the king to open parliament on Wednesday as planned, the people said. Unless parliament is formally convened again, MPs and members of the House of Lords cannot meet there to debate priorities, question ministers or pass new laws.
But in the discussions with the Palace, which also included Starmer’s office, there was a general acknowledgement that this year’s ceremony would be an awkward moment for the king.
“It is very embarrassing for the king that his government is such a shambles that he has to read out something that may or may not still be the government’s program by the end of the week,” according to the same person quoted above.
The Palace made clear that the king would fulfill his constitutional duties as required but that it should be for the politicians to handle the political crisis and the monarch should not be involved. The state opening marks the formal start to the new parliamentary session. It is full of pageantry, including soldiers on horseback, trumpet fanfares, and a horse-drawn carriage taking the king from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster.
It reminds me of Charles’ first days as king in 2022, and when Liz Truss had her first audience with the new king, the first words out his mouth were “oh dear.” Truss barely held on for a month after that. Like, Charles’ relationships with his prime ministers have not been similar to his mother’s relationships with her PMs. Truss, Rishi Sunak and now Starmer… what a motley crew. What’s sad is that Charles actually gets along pretty well with Starmer. But yeah, the knives are really out for poor Keir and it’s got to hurt that palace officials were like “Starmer is politically radioactive, we don’t want any part of this!” Still, you know Charles enjoys any opportunity to wear all of the state jewels, so at least that’s one thing to look forward to. I hope Republic has a big protest scheduled!
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
