Sad King Charles will have a budget coronation, wont invite the Sussexes on the balcony

For years – decades – there has been a detailed plan in place for what happens when Queen Elizabeth II passes. The plan is called Operation London Bridge, and it’s not merely a detailed schedule for her funeral. Operation London Bridge is also a set schedule for what then-King Charles will do in the hours, days and weeks following his mother’s death. Months after Liz passes, Charles will be crowned in what will be a lavish coronation. But just how lavish? For as long as Operation London Bridge has been tweaked, Charles has been tweaking his coronation plans. His coronation plans are called Operation Golden Orb, and the Mail on Sunday had a surprising amount of information about them. Some highlights:

Operation Golden Orb shows that the coronation will be fast & cheap: A source said that it would be ‘shorter, sooner, smaller, less expensive and more representative of different community groups and faiths’. The Coronation will happen within a year of Charles’s accession and its acknowledgement of the religious and cultural diversity of modern Britain will mark a significant departure from the Queen’s Coronation on June 2, 1953, which reflected the nation and empire of the time.

Camilla will be crowned beside her husband: The last time a Queen Consort was crowned was in 1937 when the Queen’s mother, Elizabeth, sat alongside King George VI.

A new insignia: This newspaper also understands that Charles wishes to use a new design on the official insignia which appears on postboxes and police officers’ uniforms – choosing the simpler Tudor Crown to replace the current St Edward’s design.

A lean guest list: Guests will be limited to a maximum of 2,000, and the service will be ‘far shorter because you have to consider Charles’s age’, a source said. There will be far fewer protectorates who will expect to be invited. In 1953 the Queen of Tonga refused to put the cover up on her carriage despite the pouring rain and delighted the crowds by beaming and waving regardless. But Tonga is no longer a British protectorate, becoming fully independent in 1970. And Barbados recently dropped the Queen as head of state.

An Anglican service, with a multi-faith energy: At one time it was reported that Charles wanted to be known as ‘Defender of Faith’ to reflect Britain’s multicultural society, but a source close to the Prince said: ‘Charles will definitely be Defender of THE Faith. There’s been debate over that, but that’s certain. ‘Charles was considered progressive 50 years ago when he spoke about inter-faith dialogue and that will certainly be part of the ceremony. He thinks of the UK as a community comprising different communities and you should expect all those communities represented.’

No Harry & Meghan on the balcony: A source said: ‘It will be a slimmed-down Monarchy on display throughout. I wouldn’t be surprised to see just Charles and Camilla, Kate and William and their children on the Buckingham Palace balcony afterwards.’

Charles doesn’t want people to know that he’s plotting: A Clarence House spokesman said last night: ‘The detailed planning for a Coronation begins at the point of accession. So there are no plans of this nature at this stage.’ But a source said: ‘There are binders and binders of paperwork on the accession and Coronation all stacked up and each has various appendixes. It’s very complex. The Golden Orb committee used to meet twice a year but now they’re meeting much more frequently, sometimes once a month. Compared to the last Coronation, there will be a lot less fuss.

[From The Mail]

There’s a lot of emphasis throughout about how Charles wants the “slimmed down monarchy” to be on display immediately, which I assume means that he will not want his siblings to take part in the coronation in any way. I doubt Prince Andrew will even be invited, and the Wessexes will probably get the nosebleed seats in Westminster. Charles might allow the Princess Royal to have a place of honor at the coronation, one would assume. But yeah… basically, it sounds like Charles has recently tweaked Operation Golden Orb so that the Sussexes will be purposefully snubbed. Which… I don’t know, plans can change. I would assume that Charles would actually be quite interested in presenting himself as a peacemaker king, bringing back the prodigal son with his mixed-race wife and children.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, WENN.

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