Meghan and Prince Harry meet members of the public at Windsor Castle. Photo / AP
OPINION
The Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, May 6 is bound to be very different in character from his mother’s in June 1953. Elizabeth II was young (just 27) and blessed with a shy, fawn-like beauty allied to a high moral seriousness that enchanted the British people. She was an emblem of the post-war hope for a better future. By contrast, our new King is the oldest person to accede to the throne. Although hale and fit, Charles will be 74 when the crown is placed on his head. He commands affection and respect for his long service to the nation and his patently good heart. But this is not a figure who readily makes monarchical magic or connects with a new generation. That role will fall to his heir and his wife: the Prince and Princess of Wales.
A great deal is riding on William, Catherine and their three adorable children; more, perhaps, than the Palace would care to acknowledge. They will be hugely important to the success of the big day. Whether Prince Louis will be allowed into Westminster Abbey to provide his unique take on events remains to be seen. (The four-year-old Charles did attend his mother’s Coronation, but he was a notably more solemn child than his ebullient grandson and was never, as far as we know, seen thumbing his nose as little Louis did during the Platinum Jubilee parade.)
So, just imagine how the Waleses must be feeling. William inspired by his grandmother’s steadfast example. Kate providing emotional intelligence and high glamour – witness her firecracker appearance in a red trouser suit on Monday night. Both are clearly doing their level best to help steer the Windsor ship through uncharted, post-Elizabethan waters. Yet, now, they face the already daunting prospect of the Coronation being turned into a nerve-racking and embarrassing ordeal by the presence of Prince Harry and his wife.
The King has reportedly asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to broker some kind of peace deal that would enable the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to be present at the ceremony. This initiative arises from the dubious belief that the Sussexes’ absence would cause a greater distraction than their presence. (The Duke of Windsor – formerly the King – wasn’t invited to his niece’s Coronation and it passed off extremely well).
We are told Justin Welby may be authorised to offer sweeteners – a prominent position in the Abbey (at the Queen’s funeral, Meghan and Harry were relegated to the cheap seats in the second row; some of us wouldn’t have let them in at all), an informal assurance that Harry can keep his titles as an inducement to attend.
And what then? What if the petulant pair from Montecito are persuaded by the Archbishop to park their commercialised contempt for the Royal family for a day? What if they do deign to turn up to witness that most solemn religious ceremony whereby our sovereign is publicly anointed under a transparent canopy? Or “new Netflix content” as it will shortly be known, once Meghan has called her agent.
It is a deeply uncomfortable prospect. Relations between the royal brothers are currently so bad they make Cain and Abel look like Groucho and Harpo.
In his memoir Spare, “Harold” hurled insults at his elder brother, disclosing details of sibling spats which should have remained private. If Harry sits in a pew at the Abbey, just a few places along from William, how many minds will stray to the account of “Willy” grabbing his brother by the collar and knocking him to the floor? Why should the Prince of Wales, who has every right to be furious, be forced to put on a good front for the sake of a fondly weak father and a disloyal, obnoxious sibling?
And what of the insults in the book to “unfriendly” Kate and Camilla, who “sacrificed me on her personal PR altar”, according to Harry. The Queen Consort is too much of a brick to throw a spanner in the works, but she would be well within her rights to tell Charles, “OK, darling, you go ahead and invite Harry to your Coronation, but I’ll be washing my hair.”
Look, any parent can appreciate the King’s desire to have his younger son present on the most important day of his life. But the Coronation is a state occasion, not a family outing. Charles should be more worried about the feelings of the British people than he appears to be. Most of us think that the Sussexes have behaved appallingly. The damage they have dealt to the UK’s reputation in the US with their now oddly-muted accusations of “racism” is incalculable. Selling your own grandmother is supposed to be an example of unthinkable ruthlessness, not a business proposition, but Harry did it anyway.
On no account do we want to see him and Madam made welcome on a landmark date in our country’s history. The idea is repellent. I’d certainly be among the thousands booing them if they had the nerve to show up. (Members of Team Meghan would beg to differ, but here’s the catch; they are the least likely to be monarchists).
For a sense of the excruciating awkwardness that awaits if the Sussexes do attend the Coronation, cast your minds back to Harry and Meghan’s final appearance as working Royals at a Commonwealth Day service in March 2020. It wasn’t quite Murder in the Cathedral, but the extended clan was looking daggers at them. The then Cambridges could hardly bring themselves to acknowledge the Sussexes. Sophie Wessex pretended to be incredibly interested in the Order of Service, bless her. Meghan did her “I’m so glowing and compassionate, me” routine with a receiving line of enraptured clergymen when she noticed Prince William come in and hastily scuttled along. No love lost there. And that was before she told Oprah that Kate made her cry. Things are a hundred times more acrimonious now.
Is that really what our King wants at his Coronation? I bet it’s not what a smarting Prince and Princess of Wales want. (William is said, with justification, to be concerned his brother will pull some “stunt”.) It’s certainly not what the British people want. In fact, there is a real worry that we will think a lot less of our new monarch should he be seen to capitulate to an ungrateful couple who have insulted both our country and the institution Charles now embodies.
By all means invite Harry and Meghan to a private celebration, but don’t allow them to turn a solemn occasion into a tawdry family drama. Sacred anointing with holy oil or a bar of daytime soap? The King must choose, and choose wisely.
Prince Harry sent email invitations to Buckingham Palace last month.