While all the current focus may be on whether or not Prince Harry will make it back home for the celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee this summer, a new “red line” has emerged: Harry may refuse to attend his father’s eventual coronation as king if “Queen Camilla” is anointed next to him.
It is customary for a new king and queen to be anointed and crowned in a joint ceremony, and given that Charles is known to have longed for many years for his wife to be made queen—a wish recently granted by the current monarch—it seems unlikely he would agree to a watering-down of her status by holding a separate coronation for her.
The revelation emerged in the British satirical magazine Private Eye. Although the publication is famous for its mock news articles and comedic covers, it also has a stellar reputation for investigative journalism and insider gossip.
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The report in Private Eye, which is not available in full online, said: “One red line has recently emerged, however. Harry has no intention of attending his father’s coronation if Camilla is to be anointed and crowned just a few feet from where his mother’s coffin lay in Westminster Abbey.
“[The queen] may have given her blessing to Camilla becoming queen consort, but Harry refuses to bend.”
In a written message marking the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne, the queen said: “When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service.”
