Even though I knew, intellectually, that the Windsors would go through some things when QEII passed away, I’ve been shocked by just how quickly the British royal family has seemingly lost all relevance and reverence. The lead-up to the London coronation was somewhat exciting, just because there was so much chaos with Buckingham Palace openly briefing the British media about Prince Harry’s possible attendance. As in, the palace was happy to make the whole bloody Chubbly all about the Sussexes. Sad. What was worse was watching, in real time, the short half-life of the small coronation “buzz.” The coronation happened on a Saturday morning. By the following Tuesday, most people had forgotten about it and the only follow-up stories were (again) about the Sussexes and how Meghan dared to step outside in Montecito.

Well, it was even worse this month when King Charles threw himself a “mini-coronation” in Scotland during Holyrood Week. At first, I was convinced that it was basically just a church service. Then the palace started hyping it as a super-important royal event, a Scottish coronation with Scottish royal jewels and all of that. The British papers once again used Prince Harry’s non-attendance as their framing device: look, there’s this big new royal event and HARRY ISN’T COMING. The papers couldn’t even keep up the pretense, and the mini-coronation was, at best, just some boring and tedious event. Speaking of, the viewership numbers for the mini-coronation were “staggeringly low.” LMAO.

The TV coverage of the Scottish “mini-coronation” for King Charles reached a “staggeringly low” audience of over two million viewers across the UK – only around a quarter of the number who tuned in for Elton John’s Glastonbury appearance.

The BBC screened a live programme, which was more than two hours long, to show the service of thanksgiving from St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh on Wednesday July 5. The event to celebrate the King’s coronation included processions down the Royal Mile, a 21-gun salute, a flypast by the Red Arrows and a service in which the monarch was presented with the Honours of Scotland. However it also saw protests by anti-monarchy groups, and shouts of “not my King” could be clearly heard with the cathedral during key moments of the service.

Asked to provide the viewing figures, the broadcaster told The National that the coverage had “reached” over two million people across the UK, with the “strongest performance” in Scotland. In comparison, Elton John’s headline slot at Glastonbury Festival the week before was watched by 7.6 million viewers across the BBC, according to figures published by the Radio Times.

In May, the King’s coronation in London drew a peak audience of 20m in the UK – but the numbers were significantly lower than the 29m who watched Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.

Tristan Gray, convener of Our Republic, which was one of the groups protesting at the Edinburgh event, said: “I think it is really indicative of what we have been saying for a while now which is the vast majority of people, not just in Scotland but across the UK, have a pretty ambivalent view on the monarchy. They have no emotional or personal attachment to them and I think that undermines the legitimacy of the monarchy as an institution built to rule the UK. Their claim to rule has always been based on the fact they represent what Britain is and when you get such staggeringly low interest in Charles taking up his position it really shows that entire claim is built on quicksand.

Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Green party, which supports the abolition of the monarchy, said: “For all the time, energy and money spent on this spectacle, the King’s coronation could only manage half the viewership of Coronation Street. With people’s wages continuing to fall in real terms while their energy, food and housing bills are skyrocketing, it’s no surprise that a lavish tax-payer funded party for a billionaire didn’t hold much appeal. Increasing numbers of people in Scotland want to put this circus behind us, and build a modern, democratic republic where our head of state is chosen by and accountable to voters.”

[From The National]

The thing is, I’m not sure most people knew what the f–k the event was even supposed to be. I follow and cover royal news, and for weeks, I thought it was just going to be a simple church service, not a “mini-coronation.” It’s like the palace couldn’t decide how to promote the event or hype the story of Charles getting a second crown. It was also confusing because I think most people assumed that the London coronation WAS the Scottish coronation. As in, Charles had his formal ceremony being the crowned head of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It brought up questions like… is he going to throw himself a Welsh coronation? A Belfast coronation? Why did he need a Scottish coronation? But I also agree with the republican critics too – Chuck hasn’t even been king for a full year and people just stopped caring completely. His Trooping the Colour parade was giving “Trump inauguration” and this Scottish coronation was giving “backlit White Walker.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.