Monday, May 6th, was the one-year anniversary of King Charles’s coronation. It was a subdued affair – there were various articles about the coronation and the state of Charles’s health, and it’s clear that the shenanigans of the day are still being rewritten. Like, no one bothered to mention how Prince Harry’s quick appearance and even faster exit captured a lot of the coronation coverage domestically and internationally. Nor was there much focus on how badly Prince William and Kate f–ked up that morning. They arrived very late to Westminster Abbey, they made the king and queen wait in their carriage, and Charles was on camera, looking absolutely furious because his heir was screwing up his big day. Even worse, we soon found out why the Waleses were so late – it was because they were shooting a video for their social media, and sources claimed that the children were to “blame” for the lateness too. That was the extremely stupid reason why they f–ked up the coronation procession. Interestingly enough, People Magazine pulled an excerpt from Robert Hardman’s recent book about this moment:
Kate Middleton and Prince William were late to King Charles’ coronation on May 6, 2023, complicating logistics before history was written. In his book The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, royal biographer Robert Hardman writes that King Charles and Queen Camilla inadvertently arrived early for their crowning at Westminster Abbey. The royal couple reportedly got there before pages like Prince George — and there was another snag in the schedule.
“Unbeknown to them, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their two younger children are running a minute and a half late. The Waleses are supposed to be there eight minutes ahead of the King and Queen. Yet they will now arrive after them,” Hardman writes in The Making of a King, published on Thursday.
“Although the congregation inside the abbey don’t know it, there is an awkward scene unfolding outside as the King and Queen are in their coach. It is an added layer of stress that the couple really do not want or need on a day like this,” he writes. Recapping a lipreader’s translation of what King Charles said footage caught on a Sky News camera, Hardman writes that the monarch said, ” ’We can never be on time…There’s always something…This is boring.’ ”
“As with his irksome pen in the days after his mother’s death, it’s a snapshot of a man under extreme pressure in the full gaze of the world’s media,” the biographer writes in The Making of a King.
The author adds that sources have different conclusions on the root of the snafu. Some say that Prince William and Princess Kate’s decision to make a coronation video added “precious seconds” to their schedule while staff for William and Kate speculate that because the King reached the abbey early, the Wales’ car got caught behind his cavalcade when it should have been ahead.
“It is unusual for the two most important arrivals at such a significant event, and over such a well-trodden route, to be so unpunctual. The result is some frantic rewriting of the running order,” Hardman writes of the entrance Prince and Princess of Wales made with Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. “There isn’t time for the Waleses and their two younger children to enter ahead of the King and Queen. They must now follow behind and bring up the rear.”
It really is fascinating to think about how it actually unfolded, as Charles realized that his heir was too incompetent and lazy to even make it to the Abbey on time for the CORONATION. This wasn’t some random memorial or a Commonwealth Day service or something like that. This was his father’s coronation and William was too busy filming a fan-cam for his own social media. It’s insane. Another reminder: Charles basically forced William to take a place on the coronation committee and William didn’t do jacksh-t, and the whole thing was organized by other people while William blew it off.
Charles looks like he’s pissed off? I know he’s probably practicing his speech but still pic.twitter.com/oZx06uotVD
— celebitchy (@celebitchy) May 6, 2023
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.