A royal date with destiny shows what Prince Harry has lost
Prince Harry’s isolation at the coronation amply illustrates his link to the heart of royal power is further removed than the 8800km to Montecito.
That was quite a magnificent crowning, wasn’t it? A humbled King Charles III and his Queen, appearing nervous, while the next generation, heir Prince William and his wife Princess Catherine, were glorious and glamorous, out-sparkling wayward royals relegated to Westminster Abbey’s row three.
The past year has been a mesmerising time for British pageantry and history: Queen Elizabeth’s extravagant platinum jubilee celebrations in June last year, the two weeks of mourning of her death last September – remember the strikingly sombre funeral cortege from Balmoral to Windsor? – followed by utmost flamboyance and military fanfare at the new King’s coronation.
Last Saturday, cries of Vivat Rex Carolus! and Vivat Regina Camilla! resounded across the soaring Westminster Abbey as Charles became the 40th monarch to be crowned there since William the Conqueror, but for nearly all it was a novel experience of the deepest symbolism of monarchy. It could be many years before we see the likes of such mystique and ceremonial splendour again.
The King and Queen arrived outside the abbey for the coronation seemingly five minutes early, and it appears it was not the result of anxiety but a combination of factors. One of the Wales’ children wasn’t quite ready, causing a small delay in their departure, while the Diamond Jubilee coach taking the King and Queen might have proceeded at a slighter faster pace than what had been planned for. Still the trouper of the day had to be Camilla, 75, for it turns out she had hurt her back a week ago and the two carriage rides, especially the suspension-less Gold State Coach, were agony.
That, coupled with some proactive arrests of republic protesters (but no subsequent charges) and the steady rain, which Charles had presciently hailed as “a blessing” in a nod to the unsettled weather at the coronations of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his grandfather King George VI, were the hiccups of a memorable day.
Theologians, though, point to a more significant issue – the religious fudge of the coronation allowing for the King to acknowledge all faiths coming up against the required vow to represent the Protestant faith.
As Queen Elizabeth’s chaplain, Gavin Ashenden, noted in The Sunday Times: “The fiction of inclusivity evaporated in the face of Protestant and political exclusivity. The King’s enthusiasm for treating all religions as if they were equal collided with the anti-Catholic impetus of the history that brought him and his ancestors to the throne.”
Still, for royal watchers, “what now for Prince Harry?” is front of mind, for his isolation at the coronation amply illustrates his link to the heart of royal power is further removed than the 8800km from Buckingham Palace to Montecito, California.
As the petulant cast-aside, he arrived at Westminster Abbey last Saturday between the only royals who will talk to him: the York daughters, princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, and their husbands, but was muttering during the service about being “fed up” and “sad”. He shunned an invitation to the post-coronation royal buffet, which could have been a chance to mend some relationships, and zipped back to tuck the kids into bed and then undertake babysitting duties while wife Meghan pointedly showed her “freedom’’ on a hiking trip with her pals.
But the couple’s ever-grasping links to royal life – and, by association, the biggest money offers – are drying up as Brand Sussex becomes associated with toxicity, jealousy and betrayal. It appears that while the King is making overtures to keep the Sussexes on side, including giving their children Archie and Lilibet royal titles, when William ascends the throne it will be a very different approach.
And as if to underline a point, on Wednesday William made Jason Knauf, the former royal aide who first alerted the palace to concerns he had about Meghan’s alleged bullying of staff – an allegation she denies – a lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order.
It didn’t take a body language expert to analyse that Harry was uncomfortable when Charles arrived down the central aisle of the abbey, as Harry turned his head awkwardly and immediately to speak to Beatrice’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, just as William and Catherine followed behind.
Harry would have been annoyed to see his brother wearing the military ceremonial dress of the Welsh Guards, and the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle sash, alongside the Most Noble Order of the Garter – the oldest order of chivalry, dating from the 14th century – while he had to wear a morning suit with his military medals and sit behind the feathered cap of his aunt, Princess Anne. It was a stark example of the different paths the two brothers have chosen.
Much was read into Harry’s choice of attire being from a French designer group, Dior, and a possible commercial tie-up when the day was about promoting Britishness and sharp Savile Row tailoring.
We now know what to wear to a coronation when the invitation from the palace rules out the medieval rituals of tiaras, coronets and robes. (One guest struggled with her plastic garbage bag solution to save her hat when exiting the abbey in increasingly heavy rain).
Having few cues from the previous coronation in 1953, there was a remarkable uniformity of style. Australian flag bearer Sam Kerr was snappy in her black suit and embroidered crisp white shirt, while European royals agreed that a block colour, impossibly high heels in a light colour and matching statement hats were in order. Julie Bishop, Australia’s former foreign minister and executive of the Prince’s Trust in Australia, had taken her cues from My Fair Lady.
And of course for the royals it was diamonds and ancient robes and mantles. In my position outside the west door of the abbey I photographed Charles inside the Gold State Coach passing by and the 66-facet Second Star of Africa diamond with its 317 carats on the middle of the Imperial State Crown shone so bright it was as if a headtorch had been turned on.
It was interesting that Prince Andrew was allowed to wear the Order of the Garter, which outranks even the Victorian Order and indicates that behind palace doors there could have been a tantrum or two to get his way.
The surprise star of the show was a former prime ministerial contender Penny Mordaunt, who as Lord President of the Council drew on her skills as a one-time magician’s assistant to conjure up biceps to hold aloft the Sword of Offering for an hour.
All the while the fun was in the backyard of Windsor Castle on Sunday as 20,000 people enjoyed an eclectic coronation concert and drone and light display that made clear the priority was Charles.
It is early days, but William’s concert speech spoke only about “Pa” and the entire evening focused on Charles’s skills as a fighter pilot, environmentalist and leader, and virtually nothing on Camilla. A clip of her looking down to adjust her wrist lights during a Lionel Richie number went viral, however.
And to mark the point about Charles’s reign being about service, the royals were heavily involved in the Big Help Out during the public holiday on Monday, when people were encouraged to volunteer in their local communities.
Little Prince Louis, 5, was the star, of course, determinedly filling his own wheelbarrow of sand to push at the scout hall in Slough and then impress with pride not one but three different coloured handprints on the commemorative mural. British newspapers excitedly blogged about Prince George, 9, being behind the controls of a digger. Catherine, naturally, was beaming.
Released from the shackles of comparison to Meghan, she was the beauty wearing the impressive mantle of the Royal Victorian Order at the coronation, donning Princess Diana’s pearl and diamond earrings and Queen Elizabeth’s favourite three-strand necklace, the George VI Festoon. Then at the scout do she was the proud mother, in jeans, holding hands with Charlotte.
In the past year Catherine has blossomed as William has gravitated closer and closer to the King and now is involved in many of the major royal family decisions.
The future of the monarchy, in the hands of the next generation, appears solid.
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