As previewed endlessly last week, King Charles made a public appearance on Easter Sunday. He hath risen! He and Queen Camilla went to the Easter service at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, and they were joined by some of the royal family, although not Prince William or Kate or their kids. You know what? I think Charles looks pretty good, all things considered. If you told me that his doctors gave him some kind of “vitamin shot” and the palace makeup artists were called in, I would believe you. But the man looks spry!
It was clear that Buckingham Palace was trying to tamp down expectations overall for this appearance, briefing that the plan was “Easter Lite.” As in, Charles was still trying to avoid crowds and that he would not host an Easter lunch for the family. So I was surprised that Charles actually went over to the well-wishers and shook hands and chatted with people – I thought this would be a much more conservatively stage-managed appearance, with Charles basically just waving at people as he went into the chapel. But no, he mingled with the crowd, and there really was a nice-sized crowd there. The palace is also telling everyone that they hope this will be the first event of a slowly increased public schedule for Charles, and that he might start doing investitures again as well.
I have a question: why are so many outlets – including British outlets – running stand-alone stories about how the Wales family didn’t go to church in Windsor? We knew they wouldn’t, they said it outright two Fridays ago and no one was expecting William and Kate to show up for Easter. Why are so many outlets underlining that??
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.