The lack of enthusiasm for the Coronation

[MamoruHisaishi]

I know this is shallow but I think part of the reason why people aren't enthusiastic about Charles’ coronation is that neither he nor Camilla have movie star good looks plus they're both in their 70s. I bet if both were in their 30s or even 40s, and Charles looked like Pierce Brosnan and Camilla looked like Angelina Jolie, they would have the world fawning over them and their Coronation.

I think a lot of people, regardless of their views on monarchy had a lot of respect or affection for the queen so the jubilee was different. It was also celebrating years of service.

That doesn’t really apply to a coronation and at best a significant proportion of the population are ambivalent to the monarchy so there isn’t any particular reason to get excited.

Also the country is a whole lot more broken than it was in June last year. Very difficult to get enthralled by the whole nobody does state occasions like the U.K. when the U.K. is dying on its arse and the gap between rich and poor is growing.

Oh really? When I listen to the podcast series I get the impression that the royal family have gone to great lengths to conceal the extent and source of their wealth

Ah... that explains it. It is all so utterly bizarre. Almost as bizarre as Sunak's recent motorcade that saw him flocked by running police.

If there are bicycles and running police I’m going to be more enthusiastic. I’m never going to stop laughing at that video.

Probably best not to rely on podcasts for information and do your own research.

His insistence on the full works rather than a streamlined less expensive coronation, his expectation that we will all stop what we're doing to pledge allegiance to him.
It's all so ridiculous and so backward.

I feel that what they look like is fairly near to the bottom of a very long list of reasons why people aren't enthusiastic about it.

I doubt it.

I think it's also because of the timing of it. He's already been the King for a while, it's a bit like celebrating your birthday a few weeks later, the moment has passed and you're over it.

I like having a royal family and have bought scones and might watch some of it outdoors with a few drinks, good excuse for a social with mates.

However, I do think with the state the country’s in financially, it’s entirely understandable why people are pissed off with the cost of it.

Charles will be wearing golden robes and riding in a carriage and bedecked with jewels? Not difficult to see why that’s upsetting to those souls queuing up at food banks.

TokyoSushi I agree entirely. If we do have to have a royal family, the title should just pass quietly on as it does in other countries.

No need for a ridiculously expensive ego trip in his dressing up clothes.

I suppose that's why millions of pounds of public money was spent on portraits of him..... to keep it all alive in our minds so that we remain in the state of euphoric obedience for his coronation 🙄

Exactly. And some of us are Republicans.

I’m a Royalist and tbh even I can’t really be arsed. We have enough on our plate with our own lives. It’s tough going at the moment.

I live in a village that went mad for the jubilee but there’s virtually nothing happening here this weekend. We will watch it as DD is almost 4 and it’s something she might remember, and I’m going to do a little homemade afternoon tea as a treat but that’s it.

I have to agree with this. The Queen could have enjoyed a good 20 years of retirement, Charles could have come to the Throne in his fifties and William would also have been much younger.

I really don't see why abdication is such a huge issue for our royal family when it isn't for others. Reframe it and call it retirement. Why should it mean a repeat of the ridiculous Abdication Crisis of 1936!? That was, after all, what the Queen was alluding to when vowing that she would never abdicate.

I think that for decades now we are destined to have elderly monarchs. That is not necessarily a problem of course, but it is a very demanding role and in the last few years of her life it became quite clear that the Queen was no longer up to the physical demands of it, although she was reluctant to admit that at first.

Common sense needs to start prevailing.

He’s an awful man entirely undeserving of any of this bullshit. I despair at the people sleeping on the mall to watch this spoilt dull hypocritical prick swan around in his finery 🙄.

Some people may be that shallow but if it is all about looks, how did Alex Johnson end up PM? I think it's about this being a ridiculous, expensive, outdated concept and it is finally dawning on people that they don't live in a democracy.

I am a republican.

He is a spoilt, self absorbed, out of touch, lying, cheating arse.

And yet he will be king. An accident of birth that we are being asked to stand and swear fealty to, not just tolerate. He can bugger off.

Nothing to do with looks, it's an obscene display of inherited wealth and privilege when the country is fucked.

I'm not a Royalist but I am looking forward to it. I just love to watch it all. However, if I was in a bad place financially then I wouldn't feel any enthusiasm at all.

Absolutely. I know religion was a part of it for the Queen, but I just think it was a selfish decision because after all, it is all about serving the people. And to me, that means she should've retired in her 70s and allowed the Monarchy to slowly modernise to something more vibrant and appealing to younger generations.
No hope of that now.

It’s not on my radar whatsoever. I’m too busy with kids, working, house stuff, worrying how we’ll afford to live. You know, the normal life of a peasant. Not interested in celebrating a very old, very rich man who has nothing to offer me, pratting about in fancy dress and showing off all his jewels and gold.

I liked the Queen. She was dedicated to the country and, largely because it was a different era, she played a huge cultural role and boosted morale during some very difficult times for the UK. Despite her massive wealth and privilege I do think she saw herself as a servant of the people. IMO, we will not see her like again in the royal family. I think we’re just destined to endure a series of pompous old men.

I would have been interested if the crown had passed directly to William. It would have been an opportunity to have some life injected into the institution and I like to think he’d have dedicated himself to public life and furthering causes important to UK citizens. Wishful thinking probably.

I’m not actually sure why Charles is king anyway. How come he’s able to reign when the entire reason we’ve got this family in Buckingham Palace is because their uncle had to abdicate to marry a divorcee? I’ve never bothered to find out.

I will be watching the coronation but only for a mild fascination and that there hasn’t been one for such a long time. I wouldn’t miss it if it wasn’t on.

I am against a monarchy and feel it holds up the class system that is so damaging in this country. I have concerns about their finances and the hiding of wealth and feel they should be paying full inheritance tax just like the rest of us. There should also be full transparency with all of their and Williams and other family members including royal wills when they die.

No one should have the right to be head of state and receive state funding because of accident of birth.

The current state of finances makes it also unsavoury, the obscene amounts of money spent on it when so many public services are on their knees. I firmly believe Charles should be paying for this coronation by himself.

after saying all that and not being in favour of a monarchy I don’t thinks it’s the right time to get rid of them after the Brexit debacle the country couldn’t afford to another major change right now.

I agreed with you to begin with OP but thinking about it I think if C&C were young and gorgeous the coronation would make all the points made by pp even more stark

unearned privilege
Unimaginable, enormous, partly secret wealth amassed and kept through dubious means
A mirror to a brutally unequal society
Mockery of the values of the church
Manipulation of the law
How out of touch they are

Having a young, healthy, educated person in their prime prancing around in golden robes and colonial era jewels demanding pledges of allegiance would be even more absurd.

I am in Wales and if it weren't for the local Asda seasonal aisle you wouldn't know there was a coronation. Also we all know that Charles is already king so Saturday is just for symbolic purposes/ an ego trip depending on your views.

This is a far more polite version of what I was thinking of posting.

I find it all obscene personally.