Many European monarchs came into London this weekend, as Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral is basically the biggest international event in decades. QEII was related to many European monarchs as well, including Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, a distant cousin. Queen Margrethe was invited to the funeral, as was Crown Prince Frederik. Apparently, the invitation initially included Frederik’s wife, Crown Princess Mary. Buckingham Palace dis-invited CP Mary last week?
On Friday, Danish BT reports that Crown Princess Mary (50) is no longer invited to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral after all. The royal house confirms this to the newspaper. In the past, the royal house has assumed that Mary was among the royals who were to participate in the queen’s funeral.
[A letter was sent, uninviting CP Mary]: There has been a regrettable error in the invitation from the British Foreign Ministry’s protocol. It is thus only the queen and the crown prince who from the Danish side will participate in Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral on Monday. This is stated by the Palace’s communications department.
Se og Hør’s royal house expert Caroline Vagle explains what could be the reason for the sudden cancellation, saying: “There are of course many people who want to participate in this funeral, but there is by no means room for everyone who wants to. I have understood it to mean that only one person from each country (head of state) has been invited, as well as an accompanying person,” says Vagle.
I know that there’s a space issue at Westminster Abbey, but I doubt that QEII would want other European royal families snubbed in this way. It’s deeply insulting to CP Mary and, frankly, it’s deeply insulting to Prince Frederik and Queen Margrethe. Someone said to me that all of these Funeral Shambles make the Jubbly Shambles look like small potatoes. It’s true.
I kind of wonder if the Windsors didn’t want an attractive, hard-working, brunette, interesting crown princess around because it would have stolen Kate’s thunder.
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- North America Rights Only – Copenhagen, Denmark -20220223- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is welcomed by Queen Margrethe II and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark during an audience at Christian IX’s Palace on day two of a two-day working visit with The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. -PICTURED: Crown Princess Mary and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: Owen Humphreys/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- North America Rights Only – Copenhagen, Denmark -20220223- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark walk across the courtyard at Amalienborg, the home of the Danish royal family on day two of a two-day working visit with The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. -PICTURED: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Crown Princess Mary -PHOTO by: Doug Peters/EMPICS/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- North America Rights Only – Copenhagen, Denmark -20220223- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark walk across the courtyard at Amalienborg, the home of the Danish royal family on day two of a two-day working visit with The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. -PICTURED: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Crown Princess Mary -PHOTO by: Doug Peters/EMPICS/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- The Princess Mary during the visit of the Danish installations and companies at the Museum of Science and Technology at the Fuorisalone 2021 ,Milan, ITALY-07-09-2021,Image: 630965979, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Claudia Greco / AGF Foto / Avalon
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- The Princess Mary during the visit of the Danish installations and companies at the Museum of Science and Technology at the Fuorisalone 2021 ,Milan, ITALY-07-09-2021,Image: 630965990, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Claudia Greco / AGF Foto / Avalon
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Crown Princess Mary of Denmark at the Copenhagen University in Copenhagen. The Crown Princess opens a new knowledge center, which will wear the name Crown Princess Mary Center – solving problems through research and partnerships, on the occasion of the Crown Princess’s 50th birthday. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark BACKGRID USA 2 FEBRUARY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Crown Princess Mary of Denmark at the Copenhagen University in Copenhagen. The Crown Princess opens a new knowledge center, which will wear the name Crown Princess Mary Center – solving problems through research and partnerships, on the occasion of the Crown Princess’s 50th birthday. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark BACKGRID USA 2 FEBRUARY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- North America Rights Only – Copenhagen, Denmark -20220223- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark walk across the courtyard at Amalienborg, the home of the Danish royal family on day two of a two-day working visit with The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. -PICTURED: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Crown Princess Mary -PHOTO by: Owen Humphreys/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- North America Rights Only – Copenhagen, Denmark -20220223- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is welcomed by Queen Margrethe II and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark during an audience at Christian IX’s Palace on day two of a two-day working visit with The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. -PICTURED: Queen Margrethe II, Crown Princess Mary and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: Owen Humphreys/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
Weird, because Princess Beatrix, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were all invited from the Netherlands. Beatrix is the former Queen who abdicated, but that still makes 3.
Also, how tacky is it to invite someone and then uninvite them?
I wouldn’t even do that for a gathering at home if I found out I didn’t have enough space. I’d rather stand in the kitchen for the whole evening than uninvite someone.
I find it shocking how they are gleefuly letting it be known when someone has beed disinvited. So Tacky!!!
Yeah!
I’m by no means an expert or even averagely knowledgable on etiquette, but if I think back to when I was in primary school, it would have been a drama with tears if someone had uninvited someone to a birthday party (never happened in my class though). It’s such a basic, basic etiquette rule to not uninvite people that you don’t need to be royal, posh or even an adult to know or realize that.
Because you know CP Mary would be classy enough to treat it like no big deal. Hell, she may have even been vague enough to take the blame as a misunderstanding on HER end.
How very interesting, that the one who should be disinvited of all the foreign royals, is the one woman KKKate spent the early years of her marriage cosplaying.
She copied her recently at a football match.
It is almost like they LOVE doing it! I think “snubbed” is the favored word and I can’t believe people don’t just say you can have all three seats back!
Indeed. It is less tacky to make a little more space, even if the Count of Bladiblabla has a little less space to seat his bottom, than to uninvite someone.
Makes it worse that she represents another country in my opinion.
Very tacky. But that’s Chuckles, Willie and Khate for you.
@ Seaflower, that may be true but KC3 is in his ‘70’s and he has zero excuse for the shambles that he has created.
KC3, along with the demands of Incandescent and his petty, vile wife have been making their own demands but his refusal to deny their demands is inexcusable.
I don’t know if anyone here has been through a loss but I went through one last year and I can assure you that your brain doesn’t work. I also doubt that Charles had anything to do with this and it was a foreign office screw up. None of the other crown princes or princesses were invited so not inviting Mary makes sense.
Yes, it is tacky of the British royal family and their staff. Some people have jumped on here to excuse all their ridiculous behavior and this is no exception. All it takes is the staff verifying the number of people who can comfortably be seated at the venue before sending out invitations, and then making a list. Then you compare both numbers, making sure that your list doesn’t exceed the venue number. Simple. To those saying that it makes sense to not invite CP Mary. That’s true. But that’s not what happened here. They did initially invite her, then they disinvited her. That’s totally different. They made a mistake, the corrected it in the most callous way, and then they they made sure everyone knew about it and referred to it as a “snub” to her (when CP Mary did nothing wrong). The BRF and their staff are absolute idiots.
Three was an exception though from what I understood – and Princess Beatrix and Queen Elizabeth were close friends.
So were Margrethe and QEII. She’d stay at BP every December when she went on her annual holiday shopping trip to London. Means there’s no excuse for not letting three attend from Denmark. They could have said Beatrix and W-A from Netherlands, Margrethe and Fred from Denmark. But that’s not what they did. QEII was close with Constantine (Tino) and Anne-Marie as they lived in London for many years, which is why she was there too.
Daisy looked devastated when she and Fred visited the Queen’s coffin lying in state yesterday. They were close – they’d use their nicknames with each other.
Ha!!! And yet, all the Middletonedeafs attended no? SMDH😲😲Wacko Chucko is such a foolish man!!! Wow!!!😲😲
If there is an excuse, it’s probably that Beatrix used to be a reigning monarch and head of state, which trumps being an heir’s wife.
Still, absolutely no good reason to uninvite her or making a mess of it.
QEII and Margrethe’s friendship is why I am surprised that they didn’t just suck up their mistake and let Mary attend. This is such a bad look.
A guest +1 wasn’t the norm for royalty and important figures. There were plenty of groups of 3 and 4 invited. For example, Justin Trudeau and his wife attended with Sandra Oh as a Canadian Delegate and guest of Trudeau! Guest +1 was mostly for those lower down the chain.
Snubbing Mary was a deliberate choice.
If they ran out of room and needed to cut people at the last minute, it could easily have been someone without a public profile and publicist.
Something happened.
Was Kate scared her ‘Widowed Beekeeper’ look would be overshadowed? Is Mary Team Meghan? Oh to be a bee on the wall.
They spent 20 years planning this funeral and it is still a hot mess.
Doubly stupid thing to do as
A) Mary is Australian. Another country where the queen is head of state, but with a large number of people wanting it to become a republic.
B) of Scottish blood/parentage. Scotland’s another country with the queen as head of state and a lot wanting a republic.
C). Prince Philip was of danish descent/a member of the danish royal family. They could have said they invited extra danish royals because they’re family. Presumably that was why the Scandinavian royals were on the front row. (The Swedish, Norwegian, danish royals families are all related to each other).
Excellent international diplomacy on display giving the seat of a future queen to Carol f**king Middleton.
All this talk about protocol, class, propriety and breeding for a family that has none. How are they supposed to represent the pinnacle of society?
It’s a diplomatic embarrassment that the future queen was snubbed due to lack of space but they found space for the white trash middletons. 👌 well done.
Call me crazy but wouldn’t it have been better to take the L and live with the ‘mistake’? Unless it’s some kind of odd, last gasp powerplay?
Yes, don’t tell me that it wouldn’t be possible to cram in one extra person once they realized she was mistakenly invited. They totally could have, and yet they disinvited her anyway, which leads me to believe there’s a reason they don’t want her (specifically) there.
It’s also extremely difficult to try and determine the blatant dis-invite as Crown Princess Mary was very accommodating to KHates visit recently, to which she wasted everyone’s time.
How can you justify the actions of disinviting someone with such close family ties UNLESS is was a blatant snub?? You can’t. They all look petty and infantile with how they handled their communications with Crown Mary. There is no excuse for their actions, mistake or not. There was plenty of room to accommodate Crown Princess Mary.
I agree with Kaisers take in this. It was disrespectful to QEII to not have all of Denmarks royal members. This wasn’t an issue with seating as the Meddletons weren’t necessary to have at the funeral. They are only tied by marriage not by relations nor a tight bond.
Right? Yes there’s a space issue, but one more person wouldn’t matter, especially vs the embarrassment and tackiness of uninviting someone.
Plus there were LOTS of people who didn’t need to be there. I mean, Bear Grylls was there FFS.
Just wtf with these people. Crazy how tacky and unprepared these clowns are
Kate wishes she could be like Mary. Utterly classless move by the British monarchy. I’m glad #rosehanbury is trending on twitter.
Why is #RoseHanbury trending at this particular time?
Because of her *association* with William, and how Khate tried to ice her out, which backfired spectacularly. Also she looked lovely, understated and subtle, unlike a certain jealous, non-aristo who consistently shows up at funerals looking like she’s cos-playing Alexis Carrington.
Because of William’s affair. There is even a parody account of Rose on Twitter. People were roasting them.
in that third photo they look like they’re all going to different parties.
Lol, you’re so right.
Oh my gawd……it is blatantly obvious now that you pointed it out!!
Wow. Such diplomacy.
Where?????? I don’t see it…..
I’m more impressed with the fact that Mary looks great beside Kate – who is stick thin and should be able to wear ANYTHING. a standard model’s frame. But NOPE, Mary looks great and fashionable while Kate looks drab – as always.
Poor Crown Jewels, poor designers and poor hair dressers. They have their work cut out for them.
And Mary is 10 years older BTW. Can’t fake class.
Kate is wearing an old lady coat, whereas Mary looks like a modern professional woman. Gee, I wonder why they didn’t want her at the funeral?
Utterly shambolic. This entire debacle.
Incredibly rude to begin with even if no one knew about it, and then to leak this to the press? What is wrong with these people. Should just have let her come and made up some excuse, as others pointed up, there are three Dutch royals there so what gives?
Salties being their typical, petty, snitching salty selves and taking the chance to happily pie slap anybody they can it seems.
It is like they never even considered PR management is real. It shows exactly how out of touch and unnecessary the monarchy is. They don’t even know they have the wrong team working for them.
Why isn’t the British or international press constantly referring to the cost of this bloated mess (like the cost of refurbishing a shack that H&M will never own) and how much is the tax payer burden? I know they are mad that the NYT went into specifics about their personal wealth, but how can British people afford the monarchy?
And there were four Spanish Royals… Someone previously stated that abdicated Royals plus spouse and current monarchs plus spouse were invited, and this makes sense looking at who came. However, if it’s true Mary had been invited and the invitation rescinded, that just looks tacky! Of course, the BRF might assume that the Danish are being low class by leaking the information as opposed to stewing in silence. If Mary were uninvited to make room for someone else last minute, and that information gets out, that will be very interesting.
And they effed up there! For YEARS Felipe has been avoiding being photographed with his father so of course the FO sat them next to each other smdh
Yeah I think there was an official statement from Spain saying the exiled king would not be going, yet he & his wife showed up anyway. That looks good.
@ ML, then maybe they should not have rescinded the invitation perhaps??
This all looks bad on KC3 as he is apparently giving into the whims of his DIL. I don’t hold out hope that he is going to rope her in and force her to work.
In the next few years, we will hear the constant repeated puffing up Princess of Wailing coming “into her own”.
@ Chaine , it’s Princess of Wailing 101 of Pettiness and Spite. She couldn’t keep Meghan from coming but she could keep CP Mary from attending.
@ BeanieBean, well, his appearance is certainly suspicious. Apparently they made room for him but not CP Mary??
I really don’t know why these people are so trashy, you can’t uninvite a crown princess. I think Kaiser is correct, the crown princess makes Kate jealous. She is beautiful, stylish and smart.
It’s wrong what kate and William did to those small children.Especially after what William himself had to go through as a child Willy and Kate don’t give a f as long as it makes them look good.
Lol Kate has zero power or influence over who is and isn’t invited.
They couldn’t disinvite the barbaric Saudi prince (who never should’ve been invited to begin with and apparently ended up not attending anyway) and move a few people around to accommodate her? Really? Insulting. QEII, who seemed to genuinely enjoy her connections with other European royals, would be so embarrassed. They owe a public apology to the Danish royal family.
He wasn’t in attendance
Miranda just said that he ended up not attending anyway.
For something that has supposedly been rehearsed it certainly seems to be a mess. And I guess I’m just petty if my husband and I were invited to something that had been YEARS in the making and then at the last minute he was disinvited because of “space” we would just skip the whole deal. Here’s 2 extra spaces.
In the Canadian coverage it was said our PM, governor General and several former PMs would be in attendance. That’s way more than 2 reps from Canada …
The Commonwealth nations got more reps I think
How did this make it to the press? Was it a UK leak or a Danish leak? I ask because if the latter, then it seems to me that the Danish royals were ticked at the snub and wanted it to be known that the Brits messed up like this.
Because they DID mess up….this is a bad look. Whether Mary “should” have been invited or not, just take the loss here if you made a mistake. And how the hell do you make a mistake like that?!?!?
Can you imagine how horrified Elizabeth would be? Uninviting a crown princess.
@Merricat, she’s undoubtedly already spinning in her grave. She would be positively mortified about this. It never would have happened on her watch.
Because the Danish royal family’s homepage originally reported that Mary would be attending, a public explanation was needed when it turned out she couldn’t go. I don’t think it has anything to do with leaking due to feeling snubbed.
The Danes had apparently understood the invitation to mean that Margrethe could bring a guest (Frederik) and that this guest could bring another guest (Mary). The British foreign ministry said the mistake occurred because of the large volume of invitations being sent out. I wonder if there was a typo and it was addressed to Margrethe “and guests” rather than singular “guest.”
Okay so that makes sense. It had to be announced she wasn’t going since it was announced she was. Still……sheesh.
The devil is in the details. Clearly, the ceremonies were perfection; however, the handling of the human elements has been a sad state of affairs.
I get they think M&H are “beneath them” so can fuck around with “protocol” whoever they like so the RR can gleefully count the “snubs”, but imagine being so classless to mess with other Royals who are equal or senior to most of the British royals. Embarrassing.
The funeral details have been established (and, I’m sure, routinely reviewed) for YEARS. Wouldn’t those details have included the number of seats available, and the number of foreign dignitaries to include in the headcount? It’s kind of shocking to me that there would be such last-minute confusion and missteps over things like this.
Yeah, this is an appallingly rude thing to do, when we all know these details have been rehearsed for years. It’s Westminster Abbey, you have known exactly how big it is since the 16th century.
Well, when an institution is riddled with nepotism, you end up with a lot of incompetent people doing jobs they’re not qualified for, and that leads to a lot of missteps.
From what I’ve been reading the last full update of the funeral plan was in 2017, the year before the Queen of Denmarks’ husband died. Prince Henriks’ death would naturally change the invite protocol, but the Denmark invites were issued as they would have been were the spouse of the reigning monarch still alive.
Obviously the BRF has been way too in denial, cause once a monarch hits 75 or 80 the funeral invite checklist should probably be updated at least every other year, not once every five.
https://twitter.com/RobbyMRG/status/1571276950454272001
He has the right idea 😀
If they had snubbed someone who represents my country, I’d be at least somewhat annoyed, and I’m not that much of a monarchist or patriot.
I wonder if Danish people are angry about this.
Thank you for the link! I really loved seeing all of the hand holding!! What a snub!!
My pet theory is that President Biden and Doctor Biden did it on purpose to support their countrywoman 😉
@Flowerlake, I love this theory! thanks for the twitter link. I see “kkkate” is trending over there!
Many thanks @ Flowerlake for the link!!! It’s fabulous!!! They are getting a good dose of FAFO with Meghan, along with their pettiness with punishing Harry.
i wonder if this is revenge from the staff that they are trying to make redundant? this whole thing is just messy
Since Kate couldn’t ban Meghan from the proceedings, she took it out on another impressive brunette from a foreign land.
My understanding is that the Foreign Office is in charge of invitations and logistics related to dignitaries. The ineptitude there is enough to explain all these mishaps.
It’s definitely someone with an agenda revealing these embarrassing mistakes to the public and making it appear like there have been purposeful snubs. The royals are petty but I highly doubt any of them have the time to be going over the hundreds of names with everything that’s going on. Their minions are scrambling around and making their incompetence known.
All this maybe be true, but someone is settling scores and it is not the aides. There is a recognition that even in the best laid plans, there is room for error.
But was this indeed, an unintentional mistake, if so, why the leak?
The blatant disinvited CP Mary was no unforeseen “accident” by the Foreign Office. This was purely an act in which those in power decided upon themselves to change the clearly spelled out wishes of QEII with regards to her funeral.
Why would a Sheik be invited but not the CP Mary?? They are clearly using her funeral all to their own benefit. Why else wouldn’t someone who can easily “donate” millions of pounds to KC3’s charities when CP Mary cannot??
Emperor Naruhito’s wife, Empress Masako, didn’t attend, so room could have been made for Crown Princess Mary. Queen Anne Marie of Greece was also there with three of her children.
Masako was present at the funeral. She just wasn’t at the reception last night
The Greece’s were there as personal friends/family not to represent Greece.
Dane here. This was definitely a massive fuck up from the Foreign Office. The Danish Royal Family announced that the Queen, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary would all travel to the funeral together. Then it was announced that actually Mary would not attend because there had been a mix up with the invitations and only two people per country would attend. This was most definitely reported in the Danish papers as a fuck up from the Foreign Office. The Danish Royal Family would never have announced that Mary was going if she hadn’t officially been invited. Tbh it makes me irate that Carole is there, but not Mary.
Sorry @Spaghetten, I didn’t see your post before writing mine below. Thanks for the clarification!
Princess Mary seems a very graceful and hardworking person.
If anything good came out of it, it’s that her good qualities are now becoming better known.
@ Spaghetten, I am sorry that your CP Mary was disinvited. It was clearly not an issue with the Foreign Office but purely an act taken by KC3 and his infantile P&P of Wailing. CP Mary was extremely gracious in hosting KHate but this blatant snub is unacceptable.
You are fortunate to have a royal family of immense grace, fortitude as well as a reputation that earns them respect worldwide.
I agree that the Meddletons have no right nor significance to QEII, or her funeral.
When the DRF hosted Kate, Kate was about 30 min late to the lunch with QMII. But the members of the BRF aren’t known for their good manners.
Yeah really tacky indeed. But par for the course based on what we’ve seen so far.
I mean Sarah Ferguson was there. If there really was no other option and the presence of one (1) single more VIP would somehow bring the whole house of cards down, I know who’d get the boot before the f-king Crown Princess of Denmark
(it’d be Andrew)
Sarah Ferguson was a close member of Liz Windsor’s personal family, the mother of two of her grandchildren, and one of Liz’s personal friends no matter what. QEII never turned against Fergie and always welcomed her. Philip hated her but QEII didn’t. They spent time together at Windsor secretly/quietly for decades, because Fergie was/is still living at Royal Lodge. Every Christmas, Wood Farm at Sandringham was made available to Fergie so she could spend Christmas with the girls. She wasn’t allowed at the main house, but she was there for the whole Christmas season every year (until Philip moved in to Wood Farm a few years ago).
My point was that at a public funeral for a public figure where dignitaries from around the world are invited to mourn the loss of a head of state, they can probably find room for a Crown Princess, if they really wanted to. Not that Sarah Ferguson specifically was somehow taking up space that could’ve gone to the Danes.
But while we’re on the subject of Sarah Ferguson’s role in the royal family’s public life: she shouldn’t have one. Her private friendship with QEII has no bearing on what should or should not happen at a state funeral.
Just as we saw with the shambolic W&K ‘semi-private royal wedding’ or whatever excuse, the Windsors are not treating this as a state event. They’re treating it as a family event and a state event and an attack the Sussexes event and score points against each other (Charles and William) event. There don’t seem to be rules or protocols being followed here, the goal posts keep moving. WTF are the Midds doing at any of this? If they wanted another seat for Charles’s 320th best friend, that would be enough to dump CP Mary from the list if they felt like it.
@notasugarhere: you are so right.
But it’s not true that only two people per country could go, there are clear examples where that’s not the case. I mean, they invited Juan Carlos which caused a huge headache for his son who keeps trying to pretend he has nothing to do with his father’s shady deals.
So long planing for this and they fucked it up in so many ways. They deserve nothing less.
Charles and that whole crew need better management and new comms department. A damn mess.
No, KC3 should cease using the funeral of his mother to circumvent his own benefits and those of his vile, petty son and his equally petty wife. CP Mary should have taken precedence over the Meddletons, the Sheik as well as those who did not have a long standing relationship as well as those that are related to her.
The well stated directions from QEII regarding her funeral were thrown out the window.
My Danish is poor, but I think this leaked from the Danish side. It’s being reported as a major mistake all over the place there, but I can’t find any English language websites reporting this?
The Danish RF accepted the invitation as worded, which inferred that the Crown Princess was invited. It was announced the 3 would be attending and it was placed on their official calendar. It was the British Foreign Office that then said oops, we screwed up the invitation, she’s not included after all. At that point, the DRF had to remove the entry from the calendar which of course was noticed by the Danish press. It was not a leak. Also, the British Foreign Office had to issue a formal apology to the DRF for the error. IF the British Foreign Office had just taken the loss, used proper etiquette and let the original invitation stand as made, no one would have ever actually known. It is bad etiquette to do what the British FO did.
Fergie and Ma & Pa Middleton are there. So, it’s clearly not an issue of space. Four Spanish royals are there, so there’s no two per country limit. Those clowns at BP, KP & CH are beyond incompetent.
Sandra Oh was there!
and Bear Grylls.
Sandra Oh?? 🧐
I love her, but what on earth is the connection here?
Sandra Oh was there as a representative of Canada, and Bear Grylls was their because of the Scouts
Pretty sure the Danes assumed she was included when she was not. None of the other crown Prince/sses were there (Haakon, Victoria). Fred was invited to accompany his mother as she is a widow. But it’s embarrassing for the danish courtiers so they are trying to spread the blame.
The Greeks were there mugging of course, but we know they are personal friends and there is the link via Philip.
Queen Margarethe is cousins and personal friends with Queen Elizabeth so I don’t see why she couldn’t bring her daughter in law and future Queen Consort.
The BRF has always looked down on the other monarchies. They consistently send the Wessexes to other European gatherings. When was the last time Charles traveled to Denmark, Sweden, or Norway?
The Windsors sent Edward/Sophie because they were the highest-ranking couple when most CP couples were marrying. Charles, Anne, Andrew were all divorced. The CP couples (or young monarch couples) consider the Wessexes friends now, the ones *they personally request* attend their events. The Luxes even demanded Edward/Sophie attend their heir’s royal wedding when the Windsors tried to send Bill and Keen. The only wedding Charles attended (solo in 2001) was Haakon/Mette-Marit, because he wanted to support an heir marrying the woman of his choice. Ironic but true. He and Albert stood around looking awkward together.
Charles also attended the Willem-Alexander/Maxima wedding. He accompanied Queen Noor of Jordan then, as her husband had passed.
What a weird pairing. I wonder if he was there as her +1 while Edward/Sophie were sent as the official BRF guests? Because they were there too.
@notasugarhere
I still stand by my original comment that the BRF look down on the other royals. They behave as if they are the most important royals on Earth and it’s been about 20 years since he attended a major event of another European royal family.
They didn’t even send a member of the BRF to the funeral of Queen Fabiola of Belgium.
I’m not saying they don’t feel that way, merely that Ed/Sophie were the available ones for those first weddings. Now they’re friends with all those royal couples, so they are deliberately invited and others are not allowed (ie. Luxes refusing to let W&K at their royal wedding because they wanted Ed and Sophie). They don’t want Charles, they want Edward and Sophie, so E&S are invited personally to weddings, anniversary parties, etc. Sophie is esp close with Charlene, and Edward is friends with Joachim of Denmark (I think they’re godfathers to one of each other’s children).
ArtHistorian, iirc that day everyone else was busy except Kate. We were told no one was available, they were booked, and then Kate was papped out shopping the afternoon of the funeral.
@Jess, I totally agree with you about the British royals looking down on other royal families. The first time I heard the term “bicycle Royals” was decades ago and it was said that was what Queen Elizabeth rather disdainfully called the continental royals (most notably, the Dutch). Implying that they were very common and beneath the British royals.
And I’m sure some of them are actually in line for the British throne, too! I know Victoria and her siblings are. They’re something like 290, but they’re in line. Unless there were fewer than 290 guests, there’s no excuse NOT to invite them. This whole handling of the queen’s death has been a huuuuuge embarrassment for Britain.
The Danish RF didn’t assume anything; Mary was officially invited. The Foreign Office sent an official apology to the Danish RF via the Danish Embassy.
Again, incorrect. The British Foreign Office who were in charge of the invitations, screwed up ther invitations and used wording that inferred CP Mary was invited. The DRF nor their court assumed anything. They accepted the invitation as worded. Once the Foreign Office realized their screw up instead of adhering to etiquette they “unaccepted” Mary’s acceptance. At that time, the DRF HAD to remove the entry from the calendar of events. The British FO had to issue a formal apology for their screw up. This is NOT on the DRF, they did not assume anything. They are way more professional than that.
Yep. When an official apology is issued it is because the British FO fucked up.
Hey but Sandra Oh was there.
This is supposed to be what the British excel at–ceremonial events. How could they get it so wrong? I noticed that plenty of contries sent only one representative, so of course those that wanted to send a third could have been accommodated.
I was in a military band (US Army Nat’l Guard) for 15yrs, and because we were stationed in Pres. Ford’s hometown we were tasked with playing at his funeral when the time came. Once a year we would get an updated list of hymns the family had chosen, and we would rehearse them (along with things like ceremonial marching, salutes, etc). Every few years officials from D.C. would come watch/listen to us rehearse, relay new protocols, etc. So, when Pres. Ford passed away in 2006 every single person involved could do our job in our sleep. Not just my unit but other bands, color guards, secret service, reserved hotels for funeral attendees, etc etc. QEII was sovereign for DECADES of a country that has had royal funerals for HUNDREDS of years–how is this whole thing not running like the most oiled machine in the history of machines?? Uninviting a member of a neighboring royal family with an, “Oops! Our bad!” seems like the tackiest f*cking faux pas I can even begin to imagine. I am quite literally gobsmacked that this happened.
Your personal experience illustrates perfectly the point I was trying to make just above. It is indeed the ‘tackiest f*cking faux pas’!
Scarlet Vixen – thanks for pointing how it should be done! Whenever I see someone saying, well the Operation plan was last updated in 2017, gee the lady was obviously struggling in the last year so why wouldn’t they be tying everything down then. It’s especially tacky to disinvite Danish royal who had to put up with Kitty being late to all appointments she scheduled in their country last year while she was learning about Early Life.
@Scarlet Vixen highlighting the Ps: Proper prior planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance.
All this pomp, yet they fail basic courtesy and etiquette. SMDH.
I wish CPM had appeared at the funeral in a burst of green flame, like Maleficent. Hey, a girl can dream…
I do not see CP Fredrick and Q Margarethe at the Windsor funeral. Has someone seen them there?
They were there. I saw a photo of them outside and seated in the church. I didn’t see him walk in next to her though, which I found odd.
She walked in with Pavlos
They were there. Frederik was in his Navy dress uniform. I saw a photo and they were seated in the front row right across from Charles/Camilla.
Oops, my comment is referring to the funeral at WA. Frederik was not in Windsor.
Frederik is due in NYC tomorrow to begin 3 days of meetings/events in connect with the UNGA. Tomorrow 9/20 he is set to attend the UN’s welcome reception and opening of the general debate so he most likely had to start making his way to NYC. CP Mary joins in NYC on 9/21 for 2 more days of events/meetings.
(OT: Queen Letizia and Prince Albert are also due in NYC).
Just yesterday I said they only invite and disinvite Harry and Meghan. I was wrong. They also snub the Crown Princess of Denmark. The f-ckery of these people. Just WTF? What other country DOES that? Of course, the final glory would be for a courtier to quietly walk up to President and First Lady Biden and tell them that a mistake was made and they weren’t really invited.
Why didn’t they have it at the larger St. Paul’s cathedral, where Diana married Charles?
Not one mention of this in CNN or MSNBC, just praise that ‘this is what the British do best’. blah blah blah.
The Wail’s are supposed to go to Australia next year and it’s possible the folks where CP Mary comes from will hold the un-invite against them.
Okay, so I’m going to point out, yet again, that the funeral was a state funeral, which means that the British govt is the one in charge of deciding who’s going to be on the guest list. Given the current state of things with the British govt, it does not surprise me one bit that the whole thing was handled as a shambles from top to bottom.
Tacky, tacky, tacky.
I have been realiably informed from a ‘good source’ that Crown Princess Mary was univited to prove there was nothing wrong with Harry and Meghan being uninvited as it was just an error. Also this family funeral event was then called a ‘work event’ after Harry and Meghan refused to sign any NDAs as a condition of their invite and therefore they could be uninvited. I am not prepared to diclose my sources as per Angela Levin’s assertion that we do not have to do so and whatever we want to say is ok.