‘Serious turn for the worse’: Major clash between King Charles and Prince William looms

Late this year, one of the Prince of Wales’ biggest days will clash spectacularly with a historic moment for the King – and it won’t be pretty.

Charles and William are headed for a showdown.

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Kings have been falling out with their sons since Alfred the Great got the pips with son Edward for borrowing his favourite chain mail to wear down to the pub.

Thus it’s lucky that current crown-honcho King Charles and his heir Prince William have not been allowed to take home any of the broadswords currently safely locked away at the Tower of London, given the growing danger they might end up snippily prodding one another with the weapons in the Clarence House sitting room.

While there may be no need for Queen Camilla to fetch the box of Frozen-themed Band-Aids just yet, the way things are looking right now, father and son look set for an unfortunate face-off.

For once, I’m pleased to report, the cause is not a younger prince hungry to climb the greasy pole of public popularity or a King ready to use his children to burnish his image, but is instead a complete coincidence.

Late on Thursday night it was announced that Charles is set to preside over his first State Opening of Parliament since he acceded and was finally allowed to sit behind his mother’s desk.

Queen Camilla and King Charles are far less popular than William and his glam wife. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Come November 7, His Majesty and his reluctantly royal lady wife Queen Camilla will take their first turn appearing at the august event.

This would, at any other time, be a dream outing for His Majesty, his chance to look all regal and the like and to get his face all over the press.

But the chances of the 74-year-old getting to enjoy his starring moment have taken a serious turn for the worse given that the State Opening has been coincidentally set down for exactly the same day that William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales will be in Singapore enjoying the global media’s clickety-click attention at this year’s Earthshot Prize.

Ask yourself, if you were a newspaper or website editor, what picture would you want to use: a photo of Charles looking dead-serious and ruddy-faced while Camilla has that slightly glazed look in her eyes like she’s trying to remember if they cracked a window in the State Coach for their Jack Russells? Or a lovely shot of the prince and princess with the latter no doubt looking her usual marvellous, sparkly self?

Crusty septuagenarians doing their jobs, or glam superstars taking a dazzling turn on the red carpet?

Exactly.

While this snafu is neither Charles nor William’s fault, simply a cruel twist of the timetabling gods, that does not change the fact that when this all plays out, it will likely be only the latest instance of William getting one over his dear old dad.

When this all plays out, it will likely be only the latest instance of William getting one over his dear old dad.

In May, His Majesty was crowned atop the 13th Cosmati Pavement inside Westminster Abbey, however, if you followed the Prince and Princess of Wales’ social media accounts, you could be forgiven for thinking the entire event was nothing more than an opportunity to showcase how damned good the Waleses looked in formal robes. King who? Queen what?

Over the coronation weekend, out came glossy video after video from their Kensington Palace outfit, slick productions starring the family like they were the Kardashians of the SWI set. Charles and Camilla, meanwhile, were reduced to blink-and-you’ll-miss-‘em guest stars in their own historic moment.

Nearly exactly the same scenario played out only a month later in June, with William choosing a milestone moment in his Pa’s reign to stage a look-at-me publicity smash and grab.

June 17 was King Charles’ first Trooping the Colour as le grand fromage, with it being the first time that a sovereign had ridden in the military ‘fest since 1986.

So, of course that was the weekend that the Prince of Wales chose to give an in-depth interview to the Times’ Roya Nikkhah in which he pledged to end homelessness and released a new shot of him surrounded by his adoring children.

Even though William’s interview was loosely hooked on his 41st birthday, which was four days later, surely he could have chosen for it to run even the following weekend. It’s not like the issue of homelessness was going to go anywhere and he might miss the boat.

It was all about the Waleses at Charles’ coronation. Picture: Neil Mockford/Getty Images

Then came another sticky moment in the tale of Charles and William, when it was revealed that the prince, now in control of the Duchy of Cornwall, would make his father pay to stay at the Welsh cottage His Majesty had previously enjoyed using.

Even worse, the King would have to move his belongings out so it could be rented to non-regal holiday-makers.

According to the Mail on Sunday, William’s hard-nosed move had left His Majesty “miffed”. (Minor wars have been started for less).

In July, it was announced that William would double the size of a bit of ancient woodland the Duchy owned, a moment that came replete with a video of the father-of-three looking like a green-fingered country squire just a bit in love with the English countryside.

Was any mention made of the King’s decades of banging the drum about conservation? Indeed not.

While none of these are potentially deadly instances, cumulatively they look like an impatient William trying to seize as much of the media oxygen and attention as possible to make himself look like the most exciting King-in-waiting since the invention of the phonograph.

And this is problematic, because one of the key things that has helped the royal family scrape its way through the Prince Andrew and Sussex convulsions has been unity. The remaining senior HRHs all pulling in the same direction and making staunch, unanimous decisions played a fundamental part in the fact that the monarchy has come out the other side, vaguely intact.

One of the key things that has helped the royal family scrape its way through the Prince Andrew and Sussex convulsions has been unity. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

The House of Windsor quite simply cannot afford another great ruction or rupture or

familial fracture point right now. Everything needs to be done to shore up the monarchy’s

resilience.

Which is why Charles and William simply cannot ever end up seriously on the outs or they may as well invite Republic UK’s head agitator Graham Smith over for a cream tea to discuss how to go about dismantling the shop.

William needs to bide his time and stop trying to overeagerly set himself up as the King-in-

the-wings and Charles needs to try and keep his ego in check when his much more popular son and daughter-in-law nick the limelight.

Kate, these days, spends much of her working time with preschoolers and that particular skill set – teaching patience and waiting one’s turn – could come in decidedly handy right about now.

A morning spent relearning how to share might not go astray at the moment. And who’s to say – if the boys are good, there might even be a large slice of jam roly-poly in it for them.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’

experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.