King Charles has refused to give in to his son's demands when it comes to his coronation, writes Daniela Elser. Photo / Getty Images
OPINION:
King Charles has never been known as a gambler. A lover of petunias, a Jungian fanboy, an opera connoisseur and a man with some very ardent feelings about muesli, yes. But will we ever find His Majesty bent over a whist table with a good hand? Nope.
Except that new details have come out about his upcoming coronation plans and clearly the 74-year-old has busted out his most fortifying homoeopathic remedy and gotten a quick lesson in developing a backbone from Queen Camilla.
Charles has reportedly refused to blink in the trans-Atlantic showdown he is currently locked into with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and won’t be acceding to his bolter of a son’s number one demand.
It might feel like it was about seven months ago but it was only in January that Harry launched himself on to the publicity trail, hawking his memoir Spare like a man with a lot to prove and an accountant to keep sweet. (It clearly worked, with the title becoming the best-selling non-fiction book of all time.)
We all know the broad strokes of what he writes about in the book, depicting Charles as a floundering, flop of a father, Prince William a bullying, jealous brother and Kate, the Princess of Wales, as a wintry sort who would never lend Meghan, Duchess of Sussex her breadmaker or GHD. (Okay, those last two are embellishments but there is a limit to how often even I can write about the inane Bridesmaid Dress Gate.)
Asked by ITV’s Tom Bradby whether, after all of this he was planning on sending his morning suit to the dry cleaners to go to his father’s coronation, the Duke said “the ball is in their court. There’s a lot to be discussed and I really hope … they are willing to sit down and talk about it.”
Likewise, during an interview with the Telegraph’s Bryony Gordon he said he wanted to “actually sit down and have a proper conversation about this, because what I’d really like is some accountability. And an apology to my wife.”
Consider the gauntlet thrown.
Then it was suggested that Charles was seeking some sort of peace deal with the Sussexes, with the suggestion that the Archbishop of Canterbury might be tapped to try and play UN peacekeeper. (It’s not like rounding up the flock of 26 million and sourcing some holy oil from a local chemist could take that much time, right?)
But now we have fresh insight from the eminently well-sourced Tom Sykes in The Daily Beast, who reports that there will be no Windsor version of the Yalta Conference ahead of the coronation.
The simple reason? Charles is too busy.
Ooh, burn indeed.
A friend of His Majesty told Sykes: “Charles adores Harry and wants him to be there. But he has a coronation to organise. He simply won’t have the time to organise a special meeting with Harry.”
This take-it-or-leave-it approach is something of a risk for Charles, given that he would seem to dearly want his family to play nice and to all be there in their best bib and tuck on May 6th.
So too must he also know that photos of a Sussex-less royal family at the coronation would only serve as a painful reminder of just how badly fractured the royal family is, a situation that is looking more and more like a permanent, corrosive state of affairs.
The situation is looking more and more like a permanent, corrosive state of affairs.
Meanwhile, given that Harry’s desire for a family sit down has fallen on deaf ears, and his demands for an apology have been about as successful as Sarah Ferguson’s last 17 business ventures, it is understandable that he might want to use their presence as a bargaining chip.
(Wonder if there is a single person in the world still using Fergie’s Weight Watchers diet or if there is a Fergie brand juicer in existence that still works?)
This all leaves Harry and Meghan in something of a quandary.
Over at the Mirror, royal editor Russell Myers has reported that the couple are yet to decide whether they will roll up.
“Harry has been very clear and his position hasn’t wavered – he isn’t going to come if he feels the atmosphere will be as toxic as it was during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and funeral,” a source told Myers.
(A fair point given there is only so much a protective crystal and a sturdy mantra can do in the face of glowering British public.)
“He’s said he wants to reconcile with his family and it’s their call, but so far nothing has changed.”
The fact that “nothing has changed” might have something to do with the fact that, according to the Mirror, “neither the King nor Prince William have spoken directly to Harry and Meghan about their attendance at the event”.
Interestingly, this week the Daily Mail reported that the Windsors are confident that despite all the Montecito foot stomping, that the Duke and Duchess will turn up regardless.
A friend told the Mail: “Members of the family have told me that both Harry and Meghan will definitely come. They fully expect that.”
But, the reality is that it increasingly looks like Harry and Meghan have no choice but to go back and make nice, for 24 hours anyway.
Their entire professional lives are built on the stardust that comes from being a part of the royal family. Take that away and who are they? A former actress who starred in a show that in nine seasons never once picked up an award and a former army captain who worked for his grandmother until his mid-30s. (Fun fact: Suits was nominated for a gong by the Russian National Movie Awards in 2015. Maybe old Vladimir liked to squeeze in an episode or two between his homicidal, expansionist planning sessions?)
The Duke and Duchess are only in demand because they are key players in a King Lear-esque dynastic bust-up – not because of their so-so CVs.
Which is to say, the Sussexes can’t afford to waste the opportunity to be a part of one of the most-watched global events of all time, especially knowing that they will, by their very presence, steal some of the show.
But what will happen if and when the couple set foot inside Westminster Abbey is another matter entirely.
That same friend also told the Mail: “They should realise that there is only one subject that many members of the royal family will be willing to discuss … and that’s the weather.”
In April 2021 after the funeral of Prince Philip, Charles, William and Harry met on the grounds of Frogmore House for a fraught private meeting in the wake of the Sussexes’s Oprah interview. We know this, of course, because “Harold”, as it turns out “Willy” calls him, dutifully recounted it for his loyal readers, with no apparent compunction about sharing a deeply personal conversation with the world.
So too were photos that appeared to be taken of the Duke and Duchess and their family inside royal properties including Frogmore Cottage and Buckingham Palace included in their imaginatively named docuseries, Harry & Meghan.
There is an unpredictable, potentially dangerous element in all of this for the King. The last time that a monarch found they could or would not make the time for a face-to-face with Harry and Meghan was in early 2020. On January 6 they landed back in London, were told a meeting with Queen Elizabeth wasn’t possible and within 48 hours had set off the depth charge that was Megixt.
As we approach the 10-week mark until the coronation, is that a risk Charles will take?
Luckily he has that lifelong passion for homoeopathy to fall back on. His Majesty is going to need every tincture, herbal essence and squeezed-out-of-a-seedpod extract to get him through the next little while.
Who knows, maybe he could offer some of these remedies for Harry and Meghan to try on the big day? Conversation after conversation about the weather is a nerve-jangling prospect indeed.
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