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It’s officially been a year since King Charles III’s coronation captured the attention of the entire world. It’s also been a challenging 12 months for the royal family, but royal author Robert Hardman is looking back on that big day through a fresh lens in his new book, The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy.
May 6, 2023, was a day that was supposed to go off without a hitch — rehearsals had taken place and the timing for everyone’s arrival was set to a specific minute. The royal family had to be in place before King Charles made his grand entrance — except things didn’t go as planned that day. Prince William and Kate Middleton were running late and threw the entire schedule off on live TV as millions watched the uncomfortable scene unfold.
“Unbeknown to them, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their two younger children are running a minute and a half late. The Waleses are supposed to be there eight minutes ahead of the King and Queen. Yet they will now arrive after them,” Hardman wrote in his book, via People. While guests inside the venue had no clue that there was an issue, the TV cameras captured “the awkward scene” for viewers at home. “It is an added layer of stress that the couple really do not want or need on a day like this,” the author wrote. It didn’t help that internet lip readers claimed that Sky News captured the king saying, “We can never be on time…There’s always something…This is boring,” per Hardman’s book.
Besides trying to corral their two young children, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, William and Kate’s social media coronation video may have been to blame. According to Hardman’s sources, the decision to film their preparations ahead of Charles’ coronation added “precious seconds” to the schedule, and then all hell broke loose. “It is unusual for the two most important arrivals at such a significant event, and over such a well-trodden route, to be so unpunctual. The result is some frantic rewriting of the running order,” he added. In the end, there was no time for the Waleses and their two younger children to enter ahead of the King and Queen” and they wound up entering into the abbey last.
Kate and William were criticized for their cinematic video of the coronation because it was “[Charles] and Queen Camilla’s moment.” The Daily Mail described the clip as a “look-at-me” moment that she compared to the “Netflix-style narcissism” of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Even though the Waleses were likely giving hints of a new monarchy once their reign began, it sounds like King Charles didn’t appreciate them stepping on his toes for a position he waited a lifetime for.
Before you go, click here to see all the best pictures from King Charles III’s coronation.
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