King Charles III He lives in a mansion, travels in a chauffeur-driven Bentley and is one of the richest men in Britain, but he is like many of his subjects in a very basic way: his family life is complicated – very complicated.
there second wifean awkward brother, an angry son and a daughter-in-law, all with allies who aren’t shy about whispering family secrets into the ears of friendly reporters.
The new monarch hopes to keep those tensions under control when his royal-blend family joins up to 2,800 guests for Charles’ coronation on May 6 in Westminster Abbey. Everyone except MeganDuchess of Sussex.
The way Charles navigates his family’s drama over the coming weeks and years is crucial to the king’s efforts to preserve the 1,000-year-old hereditary monarchy he now embodies. Without the respect of the public, the House of Windsor risks collaborating with pop stars, social media influencers and reality TV contestants as fodder for British tabloids, undermining the character that underpins its role in public life.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers says people should move beyond the sensational headlines and focus on what Charles has accomplished now that he’s king.
“In a sense, he kind of becomes a new man when he becomes king,” said Vickers, author of The Coronation: The Coronation of Elizabeth II.
He added, “Look at him as he is now, look at him the way he handles everything, look at his positivity and see how right he is on so many issues.” “Unfortunately, he went through those difficult times with his marriage and some other issues, but we live in a very difficult age.”
The horror show returned to haunt Charles last week, when the royal’s youngest son, Prince Harry, DrA new round of allegations dawned Tuesday around the royal family in the middle of the coronation crowd.
In written evidence of his claim of invasion of privacy against a British newspaper, Harry claimed his father prevented him from filing the lawsuit a decade earlier. The prince said Charles did not want to pile up photographed testimony about his extramarital affair with ex Camilla Parker Bowles when he was married to the late Princess Diana.
Diana was the mother of Harry and his older brother, heir to the throne, William, Prince of Wales. Camilla, now the Queen’s consort, went on to marry Charles in 2005 and will be crowned alongside her husband in Westminster Abbey.
If the past is any indication, attention will now turn to body language, seating plans and even wardrobe choices during the coronation, as royal observers look for any signs of a thaw in family tensions.
But Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, doesn’t expect Harry to have much contact with the rest of his family. Anyway, Harry won’t be in the UK for long, so there isn’t much time to fix the fence.
The things we discovered It won’t really help his cause, Little said (Tuesday). “But, you know, will there be time to discuss it all with the King and the Prince of Wales? Not likely.”
The royal series did not start with the current generation of royals. After all, Edward VIII sparked a constitutional crisis in 1936 when he abdicated the throne to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.
Charles’ grandfather, George VI, is credited with saving the monarchy with a life of low-key public service after he replaced his illustrious older brother. the Late Queen Elizabeth II He honed the family’s reputation during a 70-year reign in which she became a symbol of stability, cheering the nation’s victories and strengthening it in darker times.
But Charles grew up in a different era, under the glare of media attention as respect for the monarchy faded.
He has been a controversial figure since the public breakdown of his marriage to Diana, whom many people revered for her looks and sympathy.
Diana claimed there were “three people” in the marriage, pointing the finger at Charles’ longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles.
Camilla, who was initially denounced by Diana’s fans, worked hard to rehabilitate her image. It is expected that her ex-husband and their children will attend the coronation ceremony, and her grandchildren will serve as pages of honor.
She supports a range of causes, ranging from adult literacy to protecting victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. But even that effort raised tensions.
Harry alleged in his memoir Spear that senior royals leaked unflattering stories about him to the media in return for more favorable coverage, particularly to improve Camilla’s image.
at the time of Their marriage in 2018Harry and Meghan have been celebrated as the new faces of the monarchy. Meghan, a biracial American actress, has added a touch of Hollywood glamor to the royal family, and many observers had hoped she would help the Windsors connect with young people in an increasingly multicultural nation.
Those hopes were quickly dashed amid allegations that palace officials were insensitive to Meghan’s mental health struggles as she adjusted to royal life.
Harry and Meghan stepped away from their frontline royal duties three years ago and moved to California, where they drew frequent barbs at the Windsor home.
in 2021 Interview with Oprah Winfrey They hinted at racism in the palace, claiming that an unidentified member of the royal family had inquired about the color of their unborn son’s skin before he was born.
Harry, I The Netflix series aired last year, He said the episode was an example of unconscious bias and that the royal family needs to “learn and grow” so they can be “part of the solution, not part of the problem”.
The repeated attacks led to months of speculation about whether the couple would be invited to the coronation ceremony. The palace finally answered that question two weeks ago when it was announced Harry will come But Meghan will remain in California with their two children.
Then there’s Prince Andrew, Charles’ brother, who became a toxic time bomb within the royal family when the world learned of his friendship with convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Longtime friend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein, who was convicted of sex crimes in 2008, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on a second set of charges. Maxwell was convicted last year of helping to buy young girls for Epstein and he is He is serving a sentence of 20 years In a federal prison in Florida.
Andrew stepped down from his royal duties in 2019 after a Disastrous interview with the BBC where he tried to explain his links to Epstein and Maxwell. He was stripped of his honorary military titles and patronized as he prepared to defend a civil suit brought by a woman who said she was forced to have sex with the prince as a teenager.
Andrew denied the allegations however The suit settled last year before being tried. While the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, The Sun reports that Charles and the late Queen paid the bulk of the £7m ($8.7m) settlement.
“I think it was inevitable that when Charles became king a lot of personal things would come back to haunt him,” Little said. “I think as far as the King is concerned, he should just shrug his shoulders and take up the job at hand.”