Hopefully Charles has many healthy years ahead but……

[GameForTwo]

When Charles dies, will the number of people willing to pay their respects as he lies in state be as high? Will he have similar funeral arrangements as the late Queen? Or will arrangements be reduced in keeping with Charles’ pledge to slim down the RF and public costs?

Do you think that given Charles’ reign will be significantly shorter than his mothers, that the public will appreciate such large/expensive arrangements so soon after the passing of Her Majesty.

Haven't RTFT yet but to address this point:

Or will arrangements be reduced in keeping with Charles’ pledge to slim down the RF and public costs?

C3 as PoW let it be known he intended to slim down the monarchy. He never said anything about slimmed down costs and all the current indications are that even with a forcibly slimmed down 'work'force he not only intends to maintain his grip on income, he's happy to benefit from increases.

QE2’s funeral was a moment in time, her reign was historic and spanned many decades. I would be surprised to see something on quite the same scale

I wouldn't be surprised at all given the amount spaffed on unnecessaries at C's coronation.

I hope we get a day off.

I didn't join the queue for the last funeral, but I did watch part of it. I might do so again. But I think people will be surprised at the numbers who turn out.

While all the time trammelled by a HoS who was allergic to meaningful change to the institution he was working in, and trapped it in the Grace Brothers era.

Yes! Agree! And ditto Wills when it comes to the next Coronation! Have a look at what is happening around the country first before reaching for the gaudy gold coach!

Especially when many European monarchs make do with a church service and a simple handshake wearing ordinary suits in order to be crowned. It’s still very dignified. No need for such costly and excess flummery.

Having terminal cancer is NOT being in excellent health.

Has it been announced that it is terminal?

I didn't think so.

Does it matter? It’s been described as treatable but not curable. Either way, he’s not in the best of health.

Yes it does matter. My DH has a cancer that he is living with that isn't terminal.

Many people die WITH cancer, not OF cancer.

Having nursed my Mum through a horrible cancer she died of, it matters a lot actually.

I don't see the funeral being the same size and having the same import and
impact. QE2 was a global brand with wide recognition. Due to the Queen's longevity, there were few people in the UK who would remember time other than when QE2 was not Queen or a presence in the royal family

I suspect that fewer people will want to queue up but then he hasn’t been king for as long (and most of us didn’t “do anything” when the queen died anyway. There will not be a shock element because people are aware that he’s unwell. But do remember they have families who will care, completely aside from the public. A “basic” state funeral will happen but i suspect stripped back a bit

I’m very sorry to hear of your personal experience. Of course the distinction matters, but not in the context of this thread.

There's a large number of people who enjoy a state occasion - whatever it is. They like coming together in a crowd with likeminded people, they like the idea that 'normal service' is suspended.

So I think there will be queues of people paying their respects, but possibly not as many as there were for Queen Elizabeth II because Charles's reign won't be anywhere near as long, even if he lives to a greater age than his mother, and he doesn't command the same widespread respect, including amongst some non-royalists, as Elizabeth did.

The funeral will be a state occasion - so guided by how the government wants it to be done.

The coronation was pared down in many ways compared to the coronation in 1953, and there were reports that the King wanted it to be reduced further but the government disagreed. They wanted the global spectacle.

The ceremony was about an hour shorter and there were 6000 fewer guests than on the previous occasion: fewer members of the aristocracy, no peers' spouses, only a small number of seats allocated to members of the House of Lords. In their place were people who had been awarded the British Empire Medal for community service. The quote at the time was 'meritocracy not aristocracy'. The other places were taken up by officials/dignitaries.

It's worth remembering also that some of the countries who have very simple ceremonies don't have monarchies with a thousand years of history.

There were fewer guests because at QE2s coronation, there was wooden tiered seating built to house the thousands
Obviously a safety issue nowadays. The Abbey was filled to capacity for Charles obviously without dangerous seating

I imagine the funeral will be a state occasion but it doesn’t have to be. I imagine if KC3 stipulated that he would prefer the cost of a state funeral to be diverted to saving a bit of ancient woodland for the nation, and a modest ceremony was held there instead, then I doubt many would object,

The entire ceremony for the investiture for Charles as the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1968 was made up from scratch! So it is possible for the equivalent of new “traditions” to be invented!

As for KC3’s Coronation, I would certainly hope that things had changed during a seventy year reign! And of course it was appropriate that it reflected one thousand years of history. But did it also encompass who we are today and the reality of where we are headed; particularly with the current vast divisions between rich and poor? The monarchy is an institution which is meant to represent and serve the people after all, and not the other way around.

Is your name Camilla?

He’s skinned sod all down. He didn’t need a £72 million coronation. He got rid of his brother - which his mother didn’t have the guts to do - but I am sure it delighted him and he didn’t do it for the benefit of his ‘subjects’. Same shit, different monarch. Just get rid of these parasites.

I love a state occasion, I’d be sorry to see them “dumbed down”. If I had my way all the peers would be in full ermine regalia and weighed down by the family jewels. I appreciate this might rack up the security bills somewhat.

I imagine the funeral will be a state occasion but it doesn’t have to be.

It would be unusual for the funeral of any head of state not to be a state occasion, and include diplomatic representation from other countries.

Quoting myself to add that this is obviously for coronations, not funerals!

How is it unfair, he took the throne as an elderly man, not a twenty something like the late Queen.
I expect it'll be the whole shebang but think this is a huge waste of public money.

It's very unfair that his health is not robust.

I can't see how fairness comes into it. Most people in their mid-seventies are likely to have some kind of health issue.

Do we think Charles is now lying awake worrying ( as the Head of the Church of England btw) about his future? Or does he not really believe in Christ's words?

'It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.'

Or do billionaires have a free pass?

I like Charles but i don't think he will be here much longer. It will be a winter state funeral i fear.