King Charles extending a coronation invitation to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is a move one expert says goes along with Charles’ past track record. According to the expert, he has made strides before to build bridges when there’s been royal family feuds.
King Charles has a track record of ‘trying to build bridges,’ expert says
During an interview with Royally Us, royal historian Gareth Russell weighed in on why King Charles “extended the olive branch” with a coronation invitation to Harry and Meghan.
Russell said it wasn’t a surprising move, given Charles’ past track record.
“This has been a sort of recurring theme in his life, actually. I didn’t know this until I worked last year on the biography of his grandmother, the queen mother,” Russell said. “And I found out that in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Charles was still pretty young, he was one of the only members of the royal family who was prepared to go over to Paris to visit his great-uncle, Edward VIII, and Wallis Simpson.”
The royal expert continued, “He said to the queen mother and to the queen, ‘I think that we should be trying to build bridges between this side of the family. [He thought] his uncle and his aunt should be brought back into the fold a bit.”
Russell added, “So there is a past track record of Charles doing things like this and, in that sense, it tracks as consistent with what we know of him as a person.”
Charles’ invitation makes for a good PR move, too
According to Russell, Charles’ invitation is also a solid PR move. “I also think you catch more with honey than vinegar, to quote the old proverb,” he said.
Russell continued, “I think if one side, rightly or wrongly, is perceived as being the side that complains and has had a real run of publicity, of interviews that are stating the same thing in slightly different words each time, then a very sensible PR move is for you to say nothing.”
He added, “And when you do say something, say something positive. So I think it’s probably a mixture of personality and pragmatism that has prompted him to do that.”
According to Russell, some “will see it that the palace looks slightly more detached from this drama than the Sussexes do. That palace is giving the impression that their goal is to get on with the slimming down of the monarchy, get the coronation done. Whereas the Sussexes look much more focused on the personal aspect of things.”
Camilla Parker Bowles’ move may have created a role for Prince Harry at the coronation, expert says
While Russell said he doesn’t know what role Meghan and Harry will have in the coronation, he did offer some insight into how Camilla Parker Bowles may have opened the door for the Sussexes to be included.
“I can tell you a stunner has definitely been thrown in the works by a quite touching and popular decision that Queen Camilla has made,” he explained. “Unlike previous queens consort who were crowned, the canopy over them at the moment of consecration was held by four duchesses.”
Russell continued, “She has said she doesn’t want four duchesses — she wants her four grandchildren to carry the canopy over her, which is a lovely gesture. She’s very close to her grandchildren but what that does is it upsets the argument that, since Harry is not a working royal, there’s no place for him in the ceremony.”
He added, “Obviously, Queen Camilla’s four grandchildren are not only not working royals — they’ve never been working royals. So if a space can be found for them, the palace is going to be very hard-pressed to explain why no role could be found for Prince Harry.”
