King Charles and Queen Camilla have returned to work after their glorious coronation weekend. The couple was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, before getting to watch the coronation concert at Windsor on Sunday. Yet while King Charles has numerous duties to get stuck into, there have been concerns voiced over his health.
The coronation was an expertly organized event including thousands of servicemen and women, volunteers, and formal proceedings planned down to the minute. As per reports, the royals had been to the Abbey prior to the ceremony to rehearse, though, as is usually the case, there’s almost always something that isn’t going to go exactly to plan.
When King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at Westminster in their golden carriage on Saturday, they were forced to wait for a few minutes. Now, a lipreader has apparently revealed what King Charles told his wife while they sat in the carriage.
Suffice it to say that he wasn’t happy…
The coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla was – despite the rather lousy weather – a huge success. Thousands of people lined the streets of London to celebrate the king, while Brits even got a day off work on Monday.
King Charles’ coronation
The coronation was watched by an average of 18 million viewers. In total, a staggering 32.5 million viewers tuned to the BBC’s coverage.
While many agree that a coronation is a historical, no-expenses-spared event to be celebrated, others argue that the monarchy itself no longer warrants its place in modern society.
British media outlets speculated that the coronation cost around $120 million all told, though neither Downing Street nor Buckingham Palace has confirmed the exact cost.
So, what do the public really think of the coronation being so expensive? According to a recent YouGov survey, more than 50% agreed that the royals should fund the coronation themselves. That number was hardly helped after a recent investigation by The Guardian newspaper placed King Charles’s fortune at a staggering £1.8 billion (around $2.2 billion).
The total sum for the coronation was said to be double that of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953. One main increase was the costs attributed to heightened security.
As a result, security at the coronation was extremely tight. The streets along the route from Buckingham Palace were packed with people, and over the weekend, many other events were held to celebrate Charles’s ascension to the throne.
The Metropolitan Police and British military carefully planned the coronation weekend to ensure the safety of all involved. There were a reported record 11,500 police working the event as part of the most extensive security operation in British history.
King Charles’ big day didn’t go as planned – he had to wait outside of the Abbey
King Charles was, of course, heavily involved in planning the coronation. He, Camilla, and other senior Royal Family members, including Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Prince George – who served as his grandfather’s Page of Honor – attended several rehearsals beforehand to ensure everything was done correctly and everyone knew exactly what to do.
“Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, and Prince Louis of Wales, arrive at the Great West Door and are conducted to their seats in the Lantern. All remain seated. Their Majesties The King and The Queen arrive at the West Gate. A fanfare is sounded. All stand,” the official planned order of service issued by Buckingham Palace read.
However, things didn’t go quite as planned on the big day.
King Charles and Queen Camilla left Buckingham Palace in the legendary Gold State Coach, used at every coronation since King William IV’s coronation in 1831. It was constructed in 1762 and was used for the first time by King George III to travel to the State Opening of Parliament the same year. The coach was drawn by eight horses on the coronation day – and weighs a whopping four tons.
Compared to Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, the route Charles and Camilla took to Westminster Abeby was far shorter. Once they arrived, though, the couple had to remain in the carriage for a time.
King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived five minutes early to the Abbey, and had to wait for Prince William and Kate Middleton, alongside their two children, Prince Charlotte and Prince Louis.
The Prince and Prince of Wales arrived at the Abbey after Charles and Camilla. The plan had been for them to arrive before and be in their positions as the monarch and his wife entered the historical church.
Lip reader reveals King Charles’ words to Queen Camilla in the carriage
According to royal biographer Omid Scobie, the delay concerned William and Kate’s children.
“The room for error was nil. And thankfully, due to the weeks of rehearsals that the royals took part in ahead of the coronation, the day went ahead smoothly,” Scobie wrote in Harper’s Bazaar.
“In fact, apart from Prince William and Princess Kate joining the procession late (children were to blame, a source tells me), and Camilla’s ladies in attendance – sister Annabel Elliot, and queen’s companion the Marchioness of Lansdowne – accidentally creating an unfortunate wedgie moment out of her silk Bruce Oldfield dress on the way into the Abbey, very few hitches took place.”
Television cameras caught the king and queen awkwardly waiting in their carriage for five minutes. And now, several lip readers have taken a closer look at what Charles might have said during the wait.
According to lip reader Jeremy Freeman, Charles grumbled: “We can never be on time. There’s always something… this is boring.”
Another lip reader, Jacqui Press, also studied footage of the king in his carriage procession and told Mail Online she thought Charles said: “I’m worried about time, I mean it’s been longer this time and, well, erm, I mean look! I know.”
On Sunday, the day after the ceremony, a big coronation concert was held at Windsor.
Prince William’s moving coronation speech to his father
Artists like Take That – without Robbie Williams – Lionel Richie and Katy Perry performed. A “coronation choir,” a diverse group of community choirs and amateur singers from across the UK, including refugee choirs, NHS choirs, LGBTQ+ singing groups, and deaf signing choirs, were also part of the lineup.
Ten thousand people, drawn from a ticket ballot, were in the audience, including volunteers from charities affiliated with King Charles and Queen Camilla and, of course, the royals themselves.
Prince William gave a speech in front of a big crowd, praising his father, who he called “Pa.” He also paid tribute to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who he said would be a “proud mum” watching her son’s coronation.
Moreover, William couldn’t help but throw a dad joke into his speech.
“I want to say a few words about my father and why I believe this weekend is so important. But don’t worry, unlike Lionel, I won’t go on all night long,” the future king joked, in a nod to performer Lionel Richie and his hit All Night Long.
Prince William continued: “My father’s first words on entering Westminster Abbey yesterday were a pledge of service. It was a pledge to continue to serve. Because for over 50 years, in every corner of the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world, he has dedicated himself to serve others, both current and future generations, and those whose memory must not be neglected.”
He added: “Take the natural world. He warned us of the risks to our planet’s health long before it was an everyday issue. Or the Prince’s Trust. It has supported over a million young people, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, to realize their ambitions.
King Charles “exhausted” after coronation weekend – takes some time off
“And, perhaps most importantly of all, my father has always understood that people of all faiths, all backgrounds, and all communities, deserve to be celebrated and supported. Pa, we are all so proud of you.”
While the coronation weekend was huge for King Charles, it certainly appears to have taken its toll. After all the preparations – planned while Charles still performed his duties to the crown – the monarch seems to require a short break.
According to royal expert and author Katie Nicholl, the hectic schedule has left King Charles “exhausted.”
“I spoke to someone close to the king this morning. I said, ‘How is he feeling because he did a pre-party, pre-concert party, and then after-party and did that skit for American Idol, you know, brilliant.’ The source said, ‘exhausted but knackered,'” Katie Nicholl shared with GB News.
She added: “I’m not surprised, they need a good rest now because it has been a pretty epic weekend for them. Saturday was the day that he’s waited his entire life for, you imagine the emotional energy that goes into a day like that, but I think overall it has been a great success.”
Now that the hectic week has passed, King Charles and Queen Camilla have earned some well-deserved time off.
The couple will travel to Sandringham to rest and miss this week’s Royal Windsor Horse Show. The event was cherished by Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II – aside from last year, when she fell sick, the late monarch never missed the Horse Show.
Set for a long trip to Samoa in 2024
The fact that King Charles has decided to retreat to Sandringham instead of attending the Royal Windsor Horse Show marks the “post-coronation regime change,” royal expert Ephraim Hardcastle wrote in the Daily Mail.
Charles and Camilla will stay at Sandringham House, their private Norfolk residence, for the rest of the week.
Yet though they might take some time off, Charles and Camilla’s royal household has already begun scheduling the rest of spring’s events, including visits all over the UK. In the fall, the king and queen are set to revisit France, a trip that was initially planned for March but canceled due to the many protests in the country.
Moreover, a long journey to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa – about 10,000 miles away – is expected to take place in 2024.
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