The last coronation was held 70 years ago in 1953, when huge crowds turned out to witness the formal investiture of the king’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II. This time round, there appears to be little of the same public fervour, as per reports.
A poll in mid-April indicated that nearly two-thirds of Britons were not interested in the ceremony, unlike last year when Elizabeth celebrated her record 70th year on the throne, AFP reported.
“Fewer people are buying things than for the jubilee,” a shopkeeper told AFP at his Walthamstow market stall, which offers £6 ($7.50) coronation mugs and £3 key rings. “There’s less interest for this king.”
As per the report, public familiarity with Charles could be one reason, taking the shine off his popularity after seven decades as the popular Elizabeth’s heir apparent.
The elderly king, 74, and his wife Camilla, 75, also have none of the youthful glamour of his eldest son and heir, Prince William, 40, and William’s wife, Kate,41.
And harsh financial realities, with inflation stuck stubbornly at more than 10 percent, have meant hard-pressed Britons have other priorities than coronation trinkets.
However, Charles has not even enjoyed the as much public adoration as his former wife late Princess Diana. He has battled a string of public relations headaches dating back decades, including accusations of being cold towards his enduringly popular first wife Diana.
Meanwhile, the depiction of his marital problems in the hit Netflix series “The Crown” is unlikely to have garnered Charles much sympathy several decades on from that troubled time.
He has also faced accusations of interfering in politics on various topics spanning architecture, homeopathy and climate change.
‘Why Do We Have to Pay?’
Nearby on the market, retired teacher Carole McNeil, 82, told AFP she is not “anti” the monarchy but is angry about the cost of the coronation, which is paid for by the taxpayer. “I’ll watch the ceremony, at least partly,” she says. “It costs too much… It should be a smaller ceremony.
“When you hear the amount of money they (the royal family) have. Why aren’t they paying themselves?”
Rose Veitch is a self-described republican, but unlike some is not going to be on the streets and protesting on coronation day.
“I’m not going to watch. If it’s a nice day, I’ll have a walk in the country, trying not to think about the monarchy,” she says. Others are looking forward to a long weekend of festivities, which culminates with a public holiday on May 10.
Peter Haseldine was aged five in 1953 and remembers being taken to The Mall, which leads to Buckingham Palace, to celebrate the new queen.
“What a crowd!” he said. “God save the king!” his wife, Lynne Jones, chips in. “I’m a big supporter of the monarchy. The older generation is more supportive.”
It’s Complicated
While some people are either for or against, there are others in the middle, like Louisa Keight, 25.
“I haven’t thought about it yet,” she admits. “Maybe I’ll watch but with an academic perspective. My feelings towards the monarchy are complicated.
“I don’t think they should exist but as they are here…”
For Keight, who works in public relations, the death of the queen last September was “the first step of the royal family becoming more obsolete”.But she is sure of one thing at least: the public holiday that rounds off the weekend of celebrations.
“I’m very excited about the bank holiday!”
To mark the coronation, Britons have been invited to host neighbourhood parties to foster a greater sense of community.
But even here there is ideological feuding. In one part of north London a proposal to host a coronation street party lit up the local community’s WhatsApp group. An agreement — of sorts — was finally reached with the monarchists holding their party and the “anti” brigade joining them later, the AFP report said.
Charles’ Unpopularity
Princess Diana’s story drew horror in parts of the British establishment but won her public sympathy, which was only amplified after her death in a Paris car accident in 1997.
Charles was long vilified both for the extra-marital affair, which was blamed for the breakup, and in part for the royals’ poor initial handling of Diana’s death, when they were widely criticised for appearing heartless and out of step with the public.
However, he has gradually won back some public support and begrudging acceptance that he has found happiness with Camilla, whom he married in 2005.
Charles has courted controversy for speaking out and appearing to pressure politicians privately, on various contentious public issues from health to the environment.
In a now-infamous series of letters between him and government ministers known as the “black spider” memos because of his scrawled handwriting, Charles quizzed them on an array of topics.
Made public in 2015 after a decade-long legal battle waged by The Guardian newspaper, they included the plight of the Patagonian Toothfish and his famous bugbear, modernist building schemes.
Charles’s opposition to bold new design first grabbed public attention in 1984 when he likened plans for altering the National Gallery in London to adding a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend”.
The disclosure of the “black spider” letters sparked a backlash against the then-future king and concerns he was overstepping his role.
However, in a 2018 interview marking his 70th birthday, Charles insisted he never directly meddled in party politics and understood the difference between being Prince of Wales and monarch.
More recently, Charles has become embroiled in an alleged cash-for-honours scandal.
A series of newspaper revelations claimed his close aides coordinated work to grant a royal honour and even UK citizenship to a Saudi businessman who donated large sums to restoration projects of particular interest to Charles.
Michael Fawcett, his former valet who rose through the ranks to become chief executive of his charitable foundation, resigned in 2021 following the launch of an internal investigation into the accusations.
It was the latest claim to tarnish Fawcett – and, by association, Charles.
In 2003, Fawcett resigned after being accused of bending palace rules and accepting valuable royal perks.
He was later cleared of allegations of financial misconduct over the sale of unwanted royal gifts, but an internal report found various members of Charles’s household guilty of “serious failings”.
AFP contributed to this report
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