King’s coronation: Event of the century shapes up as a potential nightmare

Palace aides and officials have their hands full as they try to keep the focus on King Charles and Queen Camilla and avoid awkward slip ups.

How will the palace spin doctors manage royal rogues Princes Harry and Andrew at the Coronation?

And will the Duchess of Sussex try to squeeze her way into the papers with a well timed photo opportunity or social media post from sunny California, perhaps celebrating Prince Archie’s birthday?

These are the types of questions that will be concerning palace aides in the run up to one of the biggest royal events of the century, as they attempt to keep the focus on King Charles and Queen Camilla, and avoid any awkward PR slip ups.

Like at any big event, the seating plan is always a headache, especially when one of the guests – Prince Harry – has just made millions of dollars from selling out most of the people on the VIP list.

King Charles and Prince Harry in a 2020 photograph. Picture: Niklas Hallen/AFP

At the Queen’s jubilee service last June, Harry and Meghan Markle were relegated to the second row and the opposite side of the aisle from the top royals.

Since then relations have cooled even further due to the Sussexes’ bombshell Netflix series and Harry’s book Spare, which detailed the feud between Prince Harry and Prince William, painted the King as emotionally absent, Camilla as “dangerous” and Catherine, Princess of Wales as cold and unfriendly.

Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell quipped that this time Harry would be seated “10 rows back”, although that is hard to imagine.

Prince William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leave after escorting the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to Westminster Hall from Buckingham Palace for her lying in state, on September 14, 2022 in London. Picture: Emilio Morenatti – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Andrew Butler, who runs one of Australia’s top crisis management agencies, Wilkinson Butler, said the “most senior palace aides” will be working on managing the situation.

“Prince Andrew is largely obliging and a lot easier to deal with,” Mr Butler said.

“Prince Harry’s PR strategy is reasonably unsophisticated. It’s almost shotgun in its approach.

“To manage this completely you would try and get the brothers to bury the hatchet and to come to some agreement before the Coronation.

“If they can’t get to that level of agreement then absolutely you want to be quite strategic in the planning, because there will be many uncontrollable moments.

“What you can’t overcome is hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. Glances and body language cannot be managed.

“The whole world will be watching and if the cameras capture an awkward moment, it’s one for the history books and one the Press can draw on for the next 10 years.”

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Catherine, Princess of Wales stand at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lays on the catafalque at Westminster Hall on September 14, 2022, in London. Picture: Jacob King – Pool/Getty Images

The man charged with overseeing the Coronation is Edward Fitzalan Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and the Earl Marshal.

The former racing car driver has proven form, having organised Queen Elizabeth’s funeral last year.

When it comes to the warring brothers, it would be prudent for someone to have checked the camera angles, eyelines and ensure there are staggered arrival times, to avoid any sour sideways glances or furious stares.

And, whether it was an accident or not, it was convenient for some at the palace that there was no clear camera view of Meghan at the Queen’s funeral. Her face happened to be obscured behind a thick, yellow candle.

Perhaps this will happen to Andrew this time?

While organisers will have to manage the demands of disgruntled family members, the King’s aides will also be thinking about “the optics”.

The public are not in a forgiving mood and would prefer not to see Andrew there at all, and Harry in the rafters.

Prince Andrew and Prince Harry. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

According to new data for 2023 compiled by YouGov, there’s little love among the British for the motley crew right now.

Harry has a net positivity rating of -22, while Meghan, who has turned down her invitation to the biggest royal event of the century, has a net positivity rating of -27.

Meanwhile, Prince Andrew, who has been accused of sexual misconduct which he denies, is the least popular royal and has a net positivity rating of -60.

Courtiers will want to avoid a repeat of Prince Philip’s memorial service, where Andrew managed to commandeer himself into pole position, escorting the Queen down the aisle to her seat in front of the cameras.

At the time journalist and author of Finding Freedom, Omid Scobie, tweeted: “ … Prince Andrew taking on the self-appointed role of consort for the day has completely overshadowed a beautiful service”.

Harry and Meghan with children Archie and Lilibet. Picture: Alexi Lubomirski/The Times

Mr Butler said there’s nothing the courtiers can do to stop Meghan, who has social media at her fingertips, putting herself in the spotlight over the Coronation weekend.

In the last week she has unveiled a shiny new hair do in a video and made an appearance at the Lakers basketball game with Harry, their first public outing in months.

Details of private letters between her and Prince Charles around “unconscious bias” were also leaked. A representative for Meghan denied she was behind it, saying the suggestion was “false and frankly ridiculous”.

Mr Butler said Prince Charles and the palace is “playing this with a lot of grace”.

“Organisations and individuals can learn a lot from them,” Mr Butler said.

“Walking away from the argument takes away the oxygen.

“It can be challenging when your opponent is taking the complete opposite approach.”

Originally published as King’s coronation: Event of the century shapes up as a potential nightmare