King Charles to focus on fractured royal family
King Charles III, only hours after farewelling his mother, will spend the next week of official mourning wondering how to keep his family together.
King Charles III, devastated at the death of his mother the Queen, and only hours after farewelling her in a joint private burial with his father, Prince Philip, will spend the next week of official mourning wondering how to keep his family together.
The 11-day gruelling schedule of pomp, ceremony, protocol, greeting commoners to royals and world leaders to staff will now give way to a reflective time for King Charles, who may go to his beloved country escape Highgrove House. And there he will make some big decisions that could reverberate for the rest of his reign.
He has made no secret of defenestrating his brother Prince Andrew, who despite fierce protests won’t be back as a working royal. But what of his son Prince Harry, who fled back to Montecito, California, immediately the private burial had concluded? The ceasing of hostilities for the Queen’s funeral hasn’t meant tensions between the different personalities has disappeared.
The carefully thought-out seating plan at the state funeral at Westminster Abbey, where Harry and his wife, Meghan, were directly behind the King and Queen Consort, ensuring prime television exposure, was no accident. Protocol-wise, they should have been sitting beside Princess Charlotte in the spot taken by Peter Phillips.
The King wants the California couple to support his monarchy, not trash it.
Certainly the funeral up-ended norms, with US President Joe Biden seated in the 14th row of the abbey, far behind other Western leaders such as Canada’s Justin Trudeau and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
Throughout it all, Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, were on their best behaviour as they soaked in the pomp and grandeur of their great-grandmother’s funeral. They performed a bow and curtsy to the coffin and managed to get through the long day without incident.
George wore a suit and black tie while Charlotte sported a hat with a black ribbon and a distinctive diamond brooch in the shape of a horse shoe given to her by the Queen.
During the service, the National Grid reported a two-gigawatt power drop, said to be equal to 200 million light bulbs being turned off, as Brits stopped everyday activities to watch the service.
Along the road from Wellington Arch to Windsor, a group of farmers had lined up their tractors in a row as tribute; by the time the Queen’s hearse had reached the Long Walk at Windsor, it was strewn with single roses and carnations on its roof and bonnet.
Emma, the Queen’s pony, stood to the side as the hearse drove at walking pace up the Long Walk accompanied by the Queen’s guards.
Once it reached the castle, the hearse was greeted not only by the Queen’s family but also by her two remaining corgis, Sandy and Muick.
The final committal service in St George’s chapel was arguably the most moving of the day, ending with the imperial state crown, orb and sceptre being removed from the coffin in a formal acknowledgment her reign was over.
King Charles then placed the Queen’s company camp colour in his final act for his mother, while the Lord Chamberlain broke his Wand of Office in two.
King Charles’s seemed to be fighting back tears as the national anthem was played for the Queen one last time. Then her coffin was lowered slowly as a piper played a lament, marching away.
Afterwards, the small ceremony for the family, away from the eyes of the world, was a chance for them to say a final goodbye to their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
The Queen was finally laid to rest with Philip in the small King George VI Memorial Chapel in a private and quiet ceremony attended by close family and friends that was not broadcast.
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