Here are more photos from King Charles and Camilla’s visit to Cardiff yesterday, which was completely overshadowed by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s visit to Nottingham. To make matters worse, anti-monarchy protesters were out in force in Cardiff, disrupting the royal entrance completely. It’s bad enough to be overshadowed, but to be shouted down by protesters while the non-working-royal princess is getting her hand kissed by an elderly white lady? You know Charles is raging. Remarkably for mid-October, this Cardiff outing was one of the few joint events for Charles and Camilla since July. They had an extended summer vacation, and both of them seemed to be scaling back their schedules. Speaking of, Charles apparently pulled out of a major event last weekend, and sources say he’s quietly pulled out of other events too.
London society is uneasy about King Charles’ health after he missed a major event that he had long been expected to attend, Page Six hears.
The ailing monarch, 77, has attended several affairs this year, including the Zoological Society of London’s 200th anniversary on July 9, plus official trips to Washington, DC, and Bermuda in early May.
But last weekend he was noticeably absent from the glittering festivities surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Royal Ballet School, of which he is the official patron, we’re told.
We’re told the absence jangled nerves, leading royal insiders to whisper that the king’s official calendar is quietly being cut back.
The head royal’s public appearances are routinely planned years in advance, but we’re told that some he committed to months ago are now being rearranged to allow Queen Camila, Prince William, Princess Kate and other members of the royal family to step in.
The Crown was represented at the ballet bash by Princess Margaret’s daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto, who is also the president of both the Royal Ballet School and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
The celebrations included back-to-back receptions and performances, one at the Royal Opera House on Thursday, Oct. 8, followed by a black-tie gala dinner at the White Hall Palace on Friday, Oct. 9. Attendees included former Prime Minister Sir John Major and various ballet and art world luminaries.
Buckingham Palace announced on Feb. 5, 2024, that Charles, now 77, had been diagnosed with “a form of cancer” after undergoing a procedure to treat an enlarged prostate. He is still undergoing treatment for the as-yet-unidentified form of the disease.
Not to get macabre, but this is exactly the way the palace will soft-launch a story about Charles’ health in decline. This is how it will start – “rumors” about which events Charles has quietly handed off to other people, Charles quietly scaling back on his schedule, tabloid tea-leaf-reading about his health. It would also explain the strange energy since the summer. Like, Charles never really takes that kind of time off. And that goes back to the speculation about whether the Sussexes know something we don’t about Charles’ health.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the ceremonial opening of the Senedd in Cardiff Featuring: King Charles III Where: Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2026 Credit: Rhydian Witts/Cover Images
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive to attend the ceremonial opening of the Senedd in Cardiff. Picture date: Thursday October 15, 2026. Featuring: King Charles III and Queen Camilla Where: Cardiff, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2026 Credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla interact with school children as they arrive to attend the ceremonial opening of the Senedd in Cardiff. Picture date: Thursday October 15, 2026. Featuring: King Charles III and Queen Camilla Where: Cardiff, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2026 Credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive to attend the ceremonial opening of the Senedd in Cardiff. Picture date: Thursday October 15, 2026. Featuring: King Charles III and Queen Camilla Where: Cardiff, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2026 Credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the ceremonial opening of the Senedd in Cardiff Featuring: Protesters Where: Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2026 Credit: Rhydian Witts/Cover Images
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the ceremonial opening of the Senedd in Cardiff Featuring: King Charles III Where: Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2026 Credit: Rhydian Witts/Cover Images
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- King Charles III laughs as he shares a joke with Huw Irranca-Davies MS (right), Llywydd (Presiding Officer) of the Senedd, following a visit to the Senedd in Cardiff for its ceremonial opening Featuring: King Charles III Where: Cardiff, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2026 Credit: Alistair Grant/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla leave after attending the ceremonial opening of the Senedd in Cardiff Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: Cardiff, United Kingdom When: 15 Oct 2026 Credit: Alistair Grant/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
For one thing, Charles supporting Andrew, and giving him a home and people working for him, would cause complaints/protests to say the least Charles never thinks things through, just blames the Sussexes. I hope Charles does not have high expectations of the Scooters taking on much to help.
Does Charles really have to be patron of the Royal Ballet though? He should hand it over to Kate.
God no. Kate would be the absolute worst patron for ballet.
Yes! When we complain WanK ‘don’t work’ this is exactly the scenario we mean! Kate should have taken that over years ago.
Whether she’d be good at it is a whole other question but that might have occurred, ‘learning on the job’ if she had been in that role from the start.
Hm this is kind of strange. The palace was relatively open about his health issues over the past few years.
What we aren’t seeing is the energy from William that we saw last winter – about him being ready to take the reins, etc. So who knows?
Maybe his advisors finally got through to him about how bad that looked. Or his advisors realized that for themselves as well bc it’s not like they wouldn’t have been a part of that messaging. And maybe if his health really is deteriorating, there’s no need to go there.
This comment reminded me that since the Sussexes came back we haven’t really been getting those “Charles is on death’s door and William is king in all but name” stories anymore.
As I said in a previous story about this, Chuck’s health is not as great as they are telling us and the Sussex’s are back in the UK and doing engagements for a reason. I really believe the Sussex’s are being ‘eased’ back into royal life in the UK in the lead up to something big dropping about the King and his heir. Its obvs that the Wails are NOT supporting their King and are not up to the top jobs so something has to be done about that and them.
We are seeing that start of something big being played out – time will tell what that is. At the moment the Rota rats are playing both sides as am not sure they even know whats going on – when we see them go all in to support the Sussex’s then we know whats coming.
If you are intimating that Harry will somehow become king you are way off the mark. I strongly suspect Harry and Meghan are there to protect the Birmingham Invictus Games and nothing more. If the media reports are to be believed, Harry hasn’t even spoken to his father since his return.
I agree that H&M are present in the UK for their own reasons/projects but there is also the fact that Counselors of State may be required to perform certain functions. H might have legally proscribed roles that CIII don’t actually want him to perform but he still might have to be there to formally decline them.
If H&M are back because Charles’s health is failing and they are in the UK to be “eased back into royal life” then Charles wouldn’t be briefing against them about the Nottingham visits. In fact, he would be nothing but supportive and wouldn’t have released the letter about them being private citizens. Harry being a back up for Charles would also need the cooperation of the government and he wouldn’t be fighting over security; RAVEC would just give it to him. I think H&M are back for their own reasons.
Charles’s desire for a smaller “firm” doesn’t line up with Britain’s expectations that Royals will show up at their various occasions. Not all about you, Charlie.
Time for the Windsors to reevaluate their decision to exclude the Sussex family. Looking like an estranged/deranged/fighting family is not good for their image. Charles 3 would look majestic if he did so.
But, also, down with the monarchy! Plus, get rid of Andrew. Pedophiles are bad for the monarchy!
That’s a non starter, H&M aren’t being brought back. It will be a regent situation for George if it came to William being unmanageable and Harry would not be the candidate for regent.
Folks do love a good conspiracy theory!
Why wouldn’t Harry be the candidate for regent? He’s the next person in line who is an adult.
If it came to that, he might decline, but if William were unable to rule and George was still a minor, Harry would be next in line as regent for George. Am I wrong about how this works?
As things stand now, Harry would in fact be the one who’s in line for selection as regent; to select someone different would require changing previous stipulations (Letters Patent? Act of Parliament?). This was done w/COS. Harry and Andrew are both still technically COS, but if needed the monarch isn’t required to appoint them in order. Thus, Anne and Edward were added and are available, and Harry and Andrew can be skipped without actually having to formally remove them. IIRC, there’s a House of Commons document that covers both of these situations that came out last spring, think I linked it somewhere.
One can never know what The Firm is up to. That said, Harry is still technically a counselor of state. Charles is ill and will need help with his duties and Will and Kate are useless.
I’m not saying they are being brought back into the fold. I just think if Charles asked him to do a few engagements for him, Harry would probably do it.
Although I still think the MAIN reason Harry came back is for Invictus.
Hang on, how is Princess Margaret’s daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto, representing the Crown and undertaking high-profile charity work as a non-working member of the royal family? A pretty distant one at that. Someone tell Tom ‘Psycho’ Sykes et al. Mind you, HRH Prince Michael of Kent – never a working royal – holds honorary military titles, sometimes officially represented QEII and has numerous commercial interests. Almost like it IS possible to be half-in half-out, as long as you’re not married to a biracial American.
Well, yes. That also caught my attention. Does this make Sara Chatto a half-in royal? I’m assuming she doesn’t take tax-money so that would be no. But she is representing the crown as a member of the RF. So I guess that’s okay?
I caught that too. Sarah Chatto is 30th in LOS. Why can’t Will and Kate fill Charles obligations?
Neither Lady Sarah nor Prince Michael needed to be punished, apparently…
@Beth … Princess Margaret was Queen Elizabeth’s sister. Lady Sarah Chatto is Queen Elizabeth’s niece and Charles’ first cousin. Not that distant.
The Queen called on her cousins for ceremonial duties and many royals not supported by the sovereign grant have held patronages for generations. I don’t think their situations are comparable to Harry and Meghan. They always lived outside of the bubble that was trying to control and stage manage the Sussex family.
@Beth: I think you hit the nail on the head. Any royal married to a Black American is totally OUT. No half in allowed!
This is the crux of the matter. Harry IS royal – as the son of the King, OF COURSE he’s royal – but he is being punished for marrying a biracial American. But neither the rota rats nor the Firm is going to say so out loud.
But History WILL. History will rip Chuckles to shreds.
My ‘say something nice’ of the day: that shade of red looks pretty good on Queen Sidepiece.
Problem is, Charles has no one to hand off his duties to– not Will and not Kate. Persecuting the Sussexes and putting up with the do-nothing, irresponsible Will and Kate. They really fcked up. Of course, our country is doing worse than England bc of . . . the orange fascist.
Right. Kate should have attended the Royal Ballet events if Charles had to pull out, he shouldn’t have to rely on cousins when he has a son and daughter-in-law
I think chuck is really sick and H&M are only back to protect invictis from the other brother should chuck become incapacitated. I think chuck will be the last monarch. The wails are useless and unlikable and boring. I think chuck may tell the press to start really reporting on will
Oh interesting, is Lady Sarah Chatto half-in/half-out?
He doesn’t look well in these photos.
Seems like Lady Sarah Chatto would be a good substitute, given her prior interest in ballet.
Much though I detest the woman Camilla looks awful – she looks exhausted and stressed. There is clearly a lot going on we don’t know about, and she must be terrified about what happens if she outlives Charlie which looks likely. Given Charlie removed Harry’s home gifted by his granny, whatever Charlie says now it is likely Willi will want her out . And fast.
These people are in for the shock of their lives when the terminally ill King dies. They know laziness and mediocracy looms with the dull Wails.
This reinforces my now-or-never theory of the Sussexes’ move back to England. Maybe they DO know Chuck is close to buying the farm and they figured they had to get here before William takes the reins.
I hope Charles’ death is greeted with the same joy with which he greeting Diana’s.
I, for one, will be giddy, and I assure you, I will quickly forget that lousy a-hole.
Queen Elizabeth had her first cousins doing royal duties and representing her. Princess Alexandra, Duke of Kent, Duke of Gloucester. Charles is doing the same with Lady Sarah. I assumed Charles’s slimmed down monarchy meant himself, his two sons, and their families. Charles actually only has 2 cousins. What it is boiling down to is more money for his own immediately family, as it is already turning out to be.
QuiteContrary, if that was the plan, it sucks. Bill will feel totally unreined and/or panicked. He will lash out at Harry and who will stop him?
If y’all think that Harry & Meghan would STAY in 🇬🇧 as part of the established Monarchy again…I can quick deed the Brooklyn Bridge to y’all too
I think it’s possible — but multiple catastrophic things would have to happen first. I’m assuming that it’s extremely unlikely, but I could imagine Harry serving as regent for George— something that would be very much time limited by definition. I’m not suggesting that Harry and Meghan would want this, but that I could see a sense of duty (for lack of a better word) kicking in for a handful of years.
Meghan is like Diana’s ghost coming back to poke Charles so he never knows peace or a day without raging jealousy of yet another woman who outshines him. I love that for him.