BRITAIN HAS NOW had almost eight months to get used to the idea of King Charles but this weekend’s coronation will literally trumpet his accession to anyone around the world who may have missed the royal memo.
King Charles III will be crowned alongside his wife Camilla on Saturday, exactly 240 days after he officially became the British monarch upon the death of his mother.
The gap between accession and coronation may feel long but it’s perhaps nothing to Charles, who had been next-in-line to the throne for almost 74 years – the longest wait in British history.
But while the British public have been coming to terms with Charles the King, the British media has also been trying to adapt to the changing dynamic.
This is of course the same Charles whose private late night telephone calls with Camilla, including the infamous tampon reference, were published widely in 1993.
Back then Charles was ‘fair game’ but now the British media is in the curious position of attempting to appear respectful to the king after paying little respect to privacy over previous decades.
Overall, the coverage King Charles has received has been broadly in line with the deferential tone afforded his mother, but there are indications that certain sections of the media are not quite as convinced.
Much of this is to do with Charles’ own priorities, which have in the past been seen as innovative and progressive. Nowadays, however, progressive priorities are viewed with suspicion among British commentators, to say the least.
Earlier this month, it was confirmed that King Charles had given his support to research being undertaken at Manchester University into the historical links between the British monarchy and the transatlantic slave trade.
Buckingham Palace said Charles takes the issue “profoundly seriously” and confirmed that the palace would help the academic project by offering access to its own archives.
The palace statement was issued in response to The Guardian, which had published documents from 1689 linking the then King William III to the slave-trading Royal African Company.
The article was consistent with the approach of The Guardian, which in recent years has balanced reporting on royal comings-and-goings with investigations into the money of the monarchy. The Sunday Times has done similar, leading the way in reporting of the so-called ‘cash for honours’ scandal.
But rather than the revelations themselves, it was King Charles’ response to slave trade research that generated the greatest reaction.
In tacitly acknowledging that there were questions to be answered, he crossed a line that some in the British press thought was sacrosanct.
In their reporting of the story, some elements of the British media walked the tightrope of criticising the research whilst defending King Charles for supporting.
In its front page, the Daily Mail screamed the royals could be “hit by new payout demands over slavery links”.
The Mail argued that “self-appointed moral arbiters” would use the research to advance their case for reparations, a result it described as “a can of worms”.
MAIL: Royals hit by new payout demands over slavery links #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/A7buMeYaLK
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 6, 2023
But while it criticised the slavery research over a number of articles, the Mail said King Charles was still right to approve it, arguing that in doing so he “preempted any attacks” against him.
Other writers were not so forgiving of the monarch, with one Telegraph columnist reaching for the ‘W word’ and claiming that Charles “is becoming so woke he may end up abolishing himself”.
Last week’s news that Sinn Féin’s first minister in-waiting Michelle O’Neill has been invited and will attend the coronation caused more consternation among some elements of the British press.
Thursday's @DailyMailUK #MailFrontPages pic.twitter.com/tLo6VIB9tk
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) April 26, 2023
The Daily Mail suggested that O’Neill’s attendance would “put you off your coronation quiche”, describing O’Neill as being from a “prominent IRA family”.
It described O’Neill as being given as “prized seat” at the service, a reference to the general unease among the press that too few people are being invited to the coronation.
A specific charge against King Charles was that “only 20 peers” from the House of Lords have been invited to the coronation and that they will not be allowed to wear their coronation robes.
“The King agreed to sweep away more than 500 years of tradition by banning them (the robes) from his own ceremony,” the Telegraph reported last week.
King Charles is becoming so woke he is in danger of abolishing himself https://t.co/w619KBvErI
— Petronella Wyatt (@PetronellaWyatt) April 11, 2023
King Charles is also reportedly doing away with other traditional elements from the coronation, with suggestions that Jewish and Muslim leaders will also be part of the service.
The Mail on Sunday questioned the decision, arguing that the coronation was being “diluted in the name of diversity”.
The attempts to plot his own course were particularly obvious in the invitations sent by Buckingham Palace, which notably used the term “Queen Camilla” for the first time in an official capacity.
As the spouse of the monarch, Camilla has been largely referred to by the media as Queen Consort since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but the removal of the qualifier by the palace was seen as somewhat pointed.
In a message marking her jubilee last year, the late queen had said it was her “sincere wish that Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service”.
That particular phrasing has held among most media in reference to Camilla since King Charles’ accession, but some outlets have already started simply calling her ‘Queen’, a convention that will perhaps be more widespread after this weekend.
Speaking to The Journal, media consultant and former Sky News reporter Enda Brady says the wider public may take longer to come on board, however:
This has been the plan the whole time, Queen Camilla, and they’re both being crowned together, the coronation is the two of them. So it’s been a steady kind of campaign of publicity and acceptance in the media that Camilla is now referred to as the Queen, but you go out onto the street and stop any person of any walk of life or any social class in Britain and say to them, ‘who’s the queen’, they’ll go ‘Queen Elizabeth’.
Brady adds that the spectre of his mother looms large over everything King Charles does, adding that any attempts he makes to change things may be hampered by his long wait to become king.
“He’s trying his best to move to being a modern monarchy but I think the frustration for Charles must be the same as anyone who becomes Pope, that they’ve waited their whole life for a job and he’s now pushing into his 80s nearly.”
But will this stop people watching or following the coronation this weekend?
I would say most people are looking forward to it because, whether you’re a royalist or not, they’re getting a big bank holiday weekend for free and it’s an opportunity to socialise.
“I think people will watch it on TV because it’s history but deep down, he’s not his mother, he’s not as popular as his mother and he’s never going to be his mother. I think people have struggled with him because he doesn’t have great people skills, he doesn’t come across brilliantly. He’s tried his absolute best, but he’s not his ma.”
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