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King Charles will “do the right thing” and place his son, Prince Harry, “in a prominent place” at his coronation, the king’s friends believe, despite Harry’s latest barrage against his family, whom he accused in public hearing this week of colluding with British newspapers. and hide information about phone hacking from you.
In a witness statement, Harry said: “The Institution (the Monarchy) certainly withheld information from me for a long time about NGN (News Group Newspapers, publishers of He Sun and already disappeared World News) phone hacking and that has only become clear in recent years as I have pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation.”
He also accused the Palace of “conditioning” him into accepting that he could not oppose mistreatment by the media. Harry added: “The Institution made it clear that we didn’t need to know anything about the phone hacking and made it clear to me that the Royal Family did not sit in the witness box because that could open a can of worms.”
However, the royals appear to be taking the latest volleys in stride.
“Nothing that happens between now and then will change the design of the seats,” a friend of the king told The Daily Beast. “Charles has always said that he loves his two children. He wants you both there. Harry and Meghan are invited and will be seated prominently.”
Harry and Meghan have yet to RSVP for the May 6 ceremony. However, if they do show up at Westminster Abbey, most observers believe the seating arrangement will favor William, as heir to the throne, with the best place next to his father and Camilla (when the king and the queen are seated with the congregation). , since they will be for part of the procedure). He will be accompanied by his wife, Kate, and their three children, who will take all the seats to the right of the aisle (assuming they are 14 deep as they did at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral) and will carefully keep the King and the four first in line of succession together visually.
To the left of the hallway, expect to see her sister, Princess Anne, who was at her mother’s bedside with Charles when she passed away in September last year, and her husband, Sir Tim Laurence. Edward and his wife Sophie, newly promoted to Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, seem like a sure bet. This leaves three spots open, assuming they are not given to the children of Edward (Louise and James) or Anne (Zara and Peter).
Those three spaces could be filled by Harry, Meghan and Andrew. There seems to be wide agreement in royal circles that Edward, who is not complaining, may have to take the hit of sitting next to Andrew, which means that by moving away from the aisle, he could have Harry, Meghan, Anne, Sir Tim, Sophie, Edward and Andrew. .
Andrew’s inclusion in this pivotal event seems to be what the public has been softening up to since he escorted his mother to her seat at her late husband’s memorial. She would cement a Charles the Magnanimous narrative.
Britain’s Prince Harry outside the High Court in London, March 30, 2023.
Toby Melville/Reuters
Putting Harry front and center would certainly be a striking visual counter to the central complaint Harry made in his book. Replacement that he and his wife were not treated with respect by the family. It would be nice if Charles was not seen to be looking down on his second son, who is fifth in line to the throne, a position he will hold until William has grandchildren, which could easily be more than 20 years away given his eldest son, Jorge, is only 9 years old.
Trying to banish Harry, Meghan and Andrew behind a pillar a few rows back would only make Charles look extremely mean and credit every word Harry has written.
But if Charles puts Harry and Meghan in the front row, it won’t be just for PR reasons. Another friend, who said he believed the seating arrangements had yet to be finalized, told The Daily Beast: “Charles has a strong sense of tradition, and tradition dictates that Harry should be in the front row. I’m sure he’ll do the right thing. Despite everything that has happened, he is his son ”.
Talking to the friends of the king and queen, this is the message they want to convey over and over again; Charles loves Harry; he is his son and of course he is wanted at the coronation. Even Harry’s most ardent supporters do not dispute these fundamental claims; in fact, Harry’s book was surprisingly tender with his embattled father. There is no malice and little duplicity in the “Pa” of Replacementrather his failures as a parent seem to stem from a very human weakness.
Replacement it certainly dented the mystique of the monarchy, but it failed conspicuously, unlike Diana’s book with Andrew Morton, to shake the institution to its foundations. The guiding principle of the Palace in relation to Replacement seems to be more and more, “Book, what book?”
Of course, there is still the possibility that Harry and Meghan will ruin Operation Golden Orb, as the coronation is called, by declining the invitation, which they have acknowledged receiving but declined to confirm if they will accept. It would be foolish to dismiss him, given his ability to surprise, his demands for an apology or a summit as a condition of attending, and his invective of his family in Netflix movies, his book and again in court this week.
But if Harry goes, sitting center stage with a family he loathes, he would probably be very relatable to the millions of viewers, who at Thanksgiving and Christmas are probably in a very similar place.
