Harry but not Meghan

[lipstickwoman]

No surprise he's coming on his own to the coronation.

You see, posts like this show all the repellant nastiness of Meghan-haters like you when you drag small children into it. But I expect nothing else from any of them; after all a new Royal biographer recently joked about one of them being dangled over the balcony at the coronation, and the RF had nothing to say about that.

And people on here are still wondering why Meghan doesn't want to come?

The biggest loser here is the press, because they have been deprived of their lucrative Meghan clicks. And the Royal Rota who have been denied hours of pontificating over her every move.

Agree. The press will be livid at this decision and they’ll make sure she pays for it in the weeks/months to come.

The same way the rest of them dare to. Has hardly the worst out of them all.

What? Who else has spent the last two years briefing against them? Starting all sorts of rumours about them?

They could have used her attendance. It will be a bunch of wrinkly, white people all over again with poc only invited as performers.

Yes, as people said at the time of Archie's birth, Britain's first black prince could have been there

A fake pregnancy bump like actors use

FFS

Oh, well looking like Kate might have to face the second most difficult day of her life. How on earth will she cope ...

I hate to have any common ground with the hateful Allison Pearson but she's onto something. When you try to be all things to all men you end up pleasing nobody.

As a monarchist, I want to be excited about the Coronation. But it’s proving a struggleA number of devout Elizabethans I know are also experiencing the first stirrings of anti-Royalist sentiment

However low this column may occasionally stoop, I can assure you I will not be calling the Coronation by the name I was sent yesterday morning. The Cozza. Eeuw!

Attempts to make the enthronement of King Charles III more “diverse” and accessible are depressing to those of us who cling to the clearly antiquated view that the Coronation should be a solemn if uplifting state occasion with Christianity at its mysterious heart.

And by mysterious I don’t mean recruiting celebs like Amanda Holden to mentor the choir. That’s not mysterious, it’s plain baffling. The Britain’s Got Talent judge should be saluted for services to Botox; Handel not so much.

At least the inclusive (sigh) choir in question, to be conducted by Gareth Malone, won’t be bumping the sublime choristers of Westminster Abbey off the order of service. Always a danger given the contemporary fear among the self-loathing woke classes (many of them the guilty posh) of anything English and overwhelmingly white that we do matchlessly well. Sadly, too often inclusive turns out to mean exclusive of the vast majority of British people.

The alternative choir, composed of singers including an all-deaf sign performance group, a traditional Welsh male voice choir, Yorkshire’s only female South Asian choir, the London Fire Brigade and a troupe of RNLI sea shanty singers will be appearing at the Coronation Concert at Windsor on the Sunday night. (Good luck blending that lot, Gareth!) I’m pleasantly surprised to see that a male-voice choir made the cut, although you can bet the search was on to find some non-binary tenors and baritones. Possibly a stretch in Caerphilly.

As a monarchist, I really want to be excited about the Coronation, but it’s proving a struggle. Perhaps it’s because we pushed the boat out, not all that long ago, for the Platinum Jubilee and because we are not quite reconciled to having lost our beloved Queen.

The curtailed route of King Charles III – Elizabeth II travelled five miles but her son will cover only 1.3 miles, taking about half an hour – is said to be a cost-cutting measure but you do wonder whether the Palace is concerned about a low turn-out.

Certainly, a number of devout Elizabethans I know, who always stood along the Mall waving Union flags for the big occasions, are experiencing the first stirrings of anti-Royalist sentiment as our new King diverges from his mother who, with unimpeachable discretion, managed to be a symbol of unity and stability for 70 years. Whether it’s unwisely tethering himself to an increasingly contentious net zero cause (never put the planet before your subjects’ right to keep warm, Sir!) or trying to switch titles from Defender of the Faith to Defender of Faiths, while inserting other religious texts into the ancient ceremony (the clue is in the word Protestant, Sir!), every other day seems to bring some fresh insult to the national sense of self.

Nor are his previously loyal subjects impressed by Charles signalling his support for research into the British monarchy’s historical links with the slave trade and the inevitable reparations demanded for the same. There is no appeasing these self-styled victims. “You offer us Kensington Palace, Your Majesty, and we’ll take Balmoral and Windsor Castle plus the Aston Martin.”

If I were the King’s adviser, I’d be alarmed by a praising piece in this week’s Left-wing New Statesman with the enthusiastic headline, “Charles is proving a political king – and we should be grateful”. The author says, “I am not a monarchist.” Ay, there’s the rub. Our monarch is a fool if he plays to those who will never love him and neglects those who long to love him.

I think they are damned if they come and damned if they dont. They need to stay relevant so need the publicity but will look hypocrytical if they attend.
What started off as such a happy story has turned into a nightmare. Personally I think Harry will be boo'd .

Finally making sensible choices!

Well, firstly given that the 2021 UK census shows that 82% of people in the UK are white, and 18% belong to a black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic group, a large number of white people at the Coronation is neither unlikely, nor I would have thought unexpected?

Secondly, given that the Prime Minister as well as several senior government ministers are members of BAME community, and Prince Charles will also be the King of various Commonwealth Realms whose representatives will be POC. Plus the invitations are said to have prioritised community leaders and those involved in charities over the government and the peerage. So it is clearly not the case that the only POC will be the performers. A individual mixed race women will not I expect make a great deal of difference to the general make up of the congregation.

🤣🤣🤣

Hilarious! The 'lovers' are too dumb to see what they've done and how vile, spiteful and frankly hypocritical they are. Those 'haters' see through their bullshit

Harry vowed not to have more than two children for environmental reasons, and he and Meghan won an award for publicly stating that was their intention . It would be really awkward for them if she got pregnant again.

She just doesn’t want to attend and that’s fine, as others have said - least controversial decision.

It's a good decision all round.

🤣🤣🤣

"Leave us in peace"! 😂How is he disturbing you? 😆

@PollyThePixie has nailed it.

I'm not a fan of H&M but it's so sad that Meghan and her children won't be there for such an important royal occasion.

If they were attending, the media circus would be on overkill re body language, outfits, who spoke to them, how ghastly Meghan was and MN would be full of threads about her, as well as all other SM outlets.

Really quite sad actually and for the first time, I actually feel sorry for Harry.

I don't know what it is that they have supposed to have done other than piss off his family. Which is a bit of a shame but they haven't done anything worse than his mother and father have done in the past.

All they have done is make a decision to leave public life and live outside the RF and the UK. What is 'vile, spiteful and frankly hypocritical' about making that decision about their future, the kind of life decision the rest of us make all the time?

I don't think Rishi himself would say that he got there with the unreserved blessing of his own party, let alone the wider public.

To be fair there are loons at both ends of the spectrum - there are a good few of us who are occupying the middle ground and having a reasonable discussion - including monarchists/republicans/those sympathetic to various individuals and those critical of the actions of various individuals.

It's very annoying to get labeled as either a lover if you defend an action reasonably, or a hater if you give reasonable criticism.

Well I’m sad that we’re not going to see her nail another outfit. I think she always looks amazing no matter what.
But she’s doing what is best for her and her kids so good for them. I don’t blame her. Enough of the hate. It’s exhausting.

Exactly, @wordler . It's a shame that happens.

Let's hope Harry manages to keep it to himself and not rinse the story for cash

Given his existing choices that's probably fair, but I very much doubt he'll be given any opportunity for a story to rinse

Clearly the focus of the day isn't about him, and in the limited time available I'd expect the family to be pleasantly polite but little more ... though it may not stop Harry creating something since apparently his memory "curates as it sees fit and there’s just as much truth in what I remember and how I remember it as there is in so-called objective facts”

Glad you know who you are, that's a start

Yes, of course, that's all the dreadful things she's done 🙄 ... nothing else eh!

It is a huge shame and a lost opportunity, that the only mixed race member of the RF is seen to be alienated and distanced from them. That is true regardless of the rights and wrongs of the situation and there is no getting away from it. Throughout the Commonwealth and internationally it cannot look good.