The dust is starting to somewhat settle. The official mourning period for Queen Elizabeth ended on Monday night, which means that engagements are beginning to be added back to the calendar – some are related to the new normal and some are traditional commitments. I don’t generally cover one-off engagements anymore; however, I do want to chime in on The Prince and Princess of Wales’s visit to Wales yesterday and take a moment to zoom in on this couple and family in light of this month’s rather seismic events.
Continue reading “The Waleses in Wales”Category: Royal News
The Funeral of Elizabeth II (Sept. 16-19)
Yesterday saw the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, followed by a committal service of her coffin to St George’s Chapel at Windsor. In the evening, after the public events, Queen Elizabeth was privately laid to the rest alongside her parents, George VI and The Queen Mother, her husband, The Duke of Edinburgh, and her late sister, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.
The Brits do their ceremonies very well, so, unsurprisingly, yesterday was executed flawlessly. I’m going to break up information into sections, and then backtrack a bit to cover the vigils that occurred over the weekend.
Continue reading “The Funeral of Elizabeth II (Sept. 16-19)”UK Engagements, Odds & Ends
Today is a “day of rest” for Charles III and Queen Camilla after a whirlwind six days overseeing the accession and the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral procession. After yesterday’s service, the King retired to Highgrove in Gloucestershire, while the Queen went to the estate in Wiltshire she’s owned since prior to her marriage into the Royal Family.
Continue reading “UK Engagements, Odds & Ends”Elizabeth II’s Funeral Procession (Sept. 11-14)
I’m going to use this post to cover Queen Elizabeth’s funeral procession over the next six days, beginning with the events of Sunday and ending with the lying-in over this coming weekend. I will cover her funeral on Monday, September 19 in a separate post, as well as any odds and ends that crop up in the meantime.
Continue reading “Elizabeth II’s Funeral Procession (Sept. 11-14)”Where in the World (er, England) are the Royals Living?
Ok, so this is going to be one of those speculative posts where I *could* just wait a few days or weeks for the actual answer, but instead I’m going to write a few hundred words wondering, in this case, what’s going to happen to the traditional royal residences in the reign of Charles III. A few years back I wrote a post on whether or not Charles would take over Buckingham Palace from Queen Elizabeth based on the fact that there were a few news stories out at the time that reported he was considering keeping Clarence House as his home and converting Buckingham Palace only into office space and, of course, using the State Rooms for official functions. Unfortunately I can’t find it anywhere, and the issue seems to have evolved since.
So, let’s get into it, starting with what everyone’s current arrangements are.
Continue reading “Where in the World (er, England) are the Royals Living?”Operation Unicorn
The plan for Queen Elizabeth’s death has famously been known as “London Bridge,” however the specific contingency plan for what happens if she died in Scotland is known as Operation Unicorn. As such, Operation Unicorn is well underway. While King Charles takes on the business of sovereign in London, details of which you can read here, his mother will embark on her last journey this weekend.
Continue reading “Operation Unicorn”The Accession of Charles III (Sept. 8-10)
The day isn’t over yet, but as we move into what are essentially logistics, I want to leave the previous post as is – a short capsule of a few tension-laden hours. King Charles is expected to make a statement shortly, as is Prime Minister Truss. At 6:30 PM GMT, as the official statement announcing the Queen Elizabeth’s death was released, the Union flags were lowered to half-mast.
Within minutes of the announcement, William and Kate’s social media accounts were updated to read “The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge.” The Clarence House accounts, belonging to Charles & Camilla, still read – as of me writing this – “The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.” The official accounts for The Royal Family are now theirs. It’s unclear whether they will archive, etc. Frankly, I don’t really care about that right now. Even more, I would have preferred that the Kensington Palace team waited a beat longer. The security of the accession doesn’t rest on social media. Perhaps I will feel differently tomorrow.
As background, Charles’s elevation to king is automatic. As such, so too is William’s elevation to Duke of Cornwall, as the monarch’s eldest son. In order for William to become Prince of Wales, he will have to be formally invested as such. That *usually* comes after the coronation, but it bears repeating that after a 70-year reign, there is no such thing as usual anymore. Or, more accurately, “usual” is a less stringent guidepost than it would once have been.
Needless to say, amidst the sadness, this is all going to be fascinating to watch.
Continue reading “The Accession of Charles III (Sept. 8-10)”The Death of Elizabeth II
Buckingham Palace announced this morning that Queen Elizabeth II is under medical supervision at Balmoral, her Scottish estate near in the Highlands. This news was soon followed by a statement from (new) Prime Minister Liz Truss and confirmation that all four of the Queen’s children were traveling to her bedside, or were already at Balmoral (in the case of The Princess Royal), as well as The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle interrupted an energy debate in the House of Commons to inform the MPs about the state of the Queen’s health. Since then, numerous MPs and the Archbishop of Canterbury have released statements offering thoughts and prayers.
Continue reading “The Death of Elizabeth II”Meghan in The Cut
Hi, everyone. August was a busy month of travel, but I’m back now. Today I want to dive into The Cut’s cover story on The Duchess of Sussex, but I know that I still owe recap posts on the rest of Revenge (which I’m going to intertwine with The Palace Papers since they start to cover similar ground) and we’re overdue a round-up post on the rest of the British Royal Family (the Berkshire move, Balmoral, etc.). I’ll knock that stuff out as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, let’s turn to The Cut article.
Continue reading “Meghan in The Cut”These Ridiculous Bridesmaids Dresses
Back on November 26, 2018, The Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey wrote an article that in the lead-up to the Sussexes’ wedding, The Duchess of Sussex made The Duchess of Cambridge cry. The incident was described as having taken place at a dress-fitting for the bridesmaids, but the why or how was not included. All that was noted at the time was that Kate was particularly “emotional” because she had only given birth to Prince Louis a couple weeks before.
Continue reading “These Ridiculous Bridesmaids Dresses”