Queen Elizabeth death: Daniela Elser - King Charles' uphill battle as monarch after major snub

OPINION:

Whoever would have thought it? Three days in the reign of King Charles III and the man who has waited more than 50 years to get the top job is … doing bloody well.

A week ago you could probably have bet a very large sum of money on betting that the first days of King Charles and Queen Camilla would be met with a certain collective "meh".

Instead, when the 73-year-old arrived at Buckingham Palace on Friday, UK time, for the first time since acceding, his car pulled up at the gates and the couple got out to greet the crowds where they received a much warmer reception they could have hoped. (Charles got kissed. Twice.)

Later the same day he delivered his first public address as King, a masterful nine-minute speech that was genuinely affecting and which showcased a man the world thought we knew in truly a new light.

For his staffers and courtiers, this moment in history was going much better than anyone could have anticipated with Charles' Accession Council being televised for the first time ever. History books watch out!

That is, things were going so spiffingly well until …

Less than 24 hours later when a black Audi pulled up near the gates of Windsor Castle's Long Walk and deposited a quartet of HRHs in funereal black. What followed over the next 40 minutes managed to blow Charles out of the water, media-wise.

King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort leave Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster. Photo / AP

The foursome were, of course, William and Kate, the new Prince and Princess of Wales and Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex – and there were no raised voices, death stares or any flying gerbera arrangements chucked at one another out of years-long pent up irritation.

They viewed the floral tributes left for the men's grandmother and worked the crowds like the pros they are.

When the newspapers landed beside Charles the next day as he enjoyed his usual seasonal fruits and seeds for breakfast (really), it's not hard to imagine him choking on a pepita at the sight that greeted him.

Not him having been officially proclaimed King in an ancient ceremony that predates British parliament but rather nearly all of the country's biggest newspapers led with the same story: The Wales and Sussex outing.

Summary of Sunday's front pages (11/09/2022) #TomorrowsPapersToday #FrontPages #SundaysPapers #Headlines pic.twitter.com/jjOwsRCgX2

— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) September 10, 2022

Imagine, on your first day of officially being King, being forced off the front page. That's gotta sting.

What this situation really tells us is what an uphill battle Charles now has as he starts his reign. He might have had decades to plan for this moment, to decide exactly how he wants to rule (homoeopathy sessions during his weekly audience with the PM?) but has he taken into account that his greatest challenge might not be stopping Camilla smoking out the palace windows but having to compete with the living, breathing soap opera that his family has become?

Let's be real here: The world, the press, hell, everyone with a pulse and a decent Wi-Fi connection is thoroughly hooked on the seemingly never-ending drama that has enveloped the royal family since the wedding of Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018.

In the four years since they said "I do" there have been alleged tiara fights and tears, bullying claims, money rows, an on-the-verge-of-tears TV interview, lawsuits, another on-the-verge-of-tears TV interview, more lawsuits, racism claims, and allegations of an inhumane disregard for mental health concerns.

King Charles III, left, and Camilla, the Queen Consort, look at floral tributes outside Buckingham Palace. Photo / AP

In fact, looking at that list, it reads more like plot ideas for a particularly outrageous telenovela and not the goings-on inside a family that is meant to stand for duty and to command a certain respect. ('Meant to' of course … please note, I have not once mentioned Tampongate.)

The whole thing has been the biggest fraternal falling out since Prince Henry (later Henry I) may or may not have arranged for his brother William II to have an unfortunate accident while out hunting in the 11th century.

What hope will Charles really have – once the UK moves on from its grief, when the acres of flowers have been retrieved and organically composted, when Camilla has finally accepted she can't keep her Benson and Hedges tucked under a throne cushion – to be the star of the show?

While we are in the grip of a period of feverish global interest in the monarchy, combined with curiosity about how Charles will do in this new job, will that be enough to generally keep the focus on the new King and Queen?

Or, is it simply naive to think they could ever really triumph in the fight for media oxygen or the world's interest when they are going up against the Sussexes and Wales?

This state of affairs will only become more acute with the publication of Harry's memoir, supposedly out in the coming months, and the publication of the Duke and Duchess' debut Netflix offering which is either an "at home" docuseries or a documentary about their "love story" (both sound like excruciating viewing) and which executives are reportedly hoping to release before Christmas.

Based on past form, is there even a micron of a question that in some way, shape or form, the House of Windsor will come in for a fresh drubbing?

Prince William, Prince of Wales, Kate, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex wave to members of the public at Windsor Castle. Photo / AP

There is also the question of, with Her Majesty's passing, might the Duke and Duchess decide to really unleash, no longer having to hold anything back out of respect for Her Majesty?

The bottom line is that Charles now faces not only having to charm the pants off the UK public and to cement himself as sovereign in the public consciousness, but the nearly insurmountable job of trying to get his house in some sort of order.

The signs of any sort of real, lasting progress being made between the Sussexes and the royal family are nearly non-existent.

The Wales and the Sussexes might have arrived at the Long Walk together in the same car, and then managed to maintain the most basic level of politeness, but this outing only came to pass after "the camps required extended negotiations behind the scenes beforehand, delaying their arrival for the walkabout by 45 minutes", the Times has reported.

So too the events leading up to the announcement of the death of the Queen with Harry flying separately to the rest of the family and the palace putting out the official statement while he was still in the air also bode badly.

Remember, we've been here before. It was only just under 18 months ago that another death, that of his grandfather Prince Philip, had brought Harry back to the UK and set in motion a flurry of speculation about rifts being healed. That clearly did not come to pass. ("The problem is," a source has told the Daily Mail's Richard Kay, "that they have barely spoken for two years and there is both anger and grief about it all on both sides.")

Poor Charles. His whole life he has come second: Second to his mother, then later second to his wife Diana, Princess of Wales, and now second to his sons and their wives. At least he will always come first with Camilla, so long as her dogs are out of the room.

• Daniela Elser is a royal expert and a writer with more than 15 years' experience working with a number of Australia's leading media titles.