Before King Charles’s enlarged prostate issue and cancer diagnosis, there was chatter that 2024 would be the year in which the “new king” finally started visiting his “realms.” I’m a broken record about this, but I find it shocking that no one in the UK has really discussed it: Charles was absolutely supposed to visit Australia, New Zealand, Canada and at least a few other “British realms” in his first year as king. That was always the plan before QEII passed away, that was always part of the “new king rollout.” I’m sure Buckingham Palace’s argument is that the Sunak government didn’t want the king to travel that much, and that there was a more immediate need to shore up European alliances post-Brexit. Which is true, but still – the king and his heir have spent the past seventeen months completely blanking on their realms and the British Commonwealth. They kept putting everything off. Later this year, Charles and Camilla were supposed to visit Canada and Australia. Those travels are probably going to be canceled, and the Telegraph has a new piece about how the commonwealth will fall apart, especially because the heir refuses to get off his ass.

Both the King and Queen were expected to visit Canada in the Spring and then travel to Samoa in October for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, before going on to Australia. The tours would have marked the monarch’s first visits to Commonwealth realms since he ascended the throne and were considered critical in terms of shoring up support. The timing was crucial, with several indicating that they want to sever ties with the British Royal family and remove the King as head of state.

Many expressed surprise that the King’s first overseas tours as monarch were to France and Germany respectively. The next was to Kenya, a member of the Commonwealth but not a realm.

Dr Craig Prescott, a constitutional law lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, said it was clear the British government had prioritised post-Brexit relations with Europe. “It is notable that the first two visits were to Europe and clearly, this was on government advice,” he said. “It certainly feels that the Government chose to make those relationships the priority and the Commonwealth has been put slightly on the back seat.”

In theory, the Prince of Wales could stand in for his father on such important foreign trips. But Kensington Palace has its own itinerary and as popular as both the Prince and Princess of Wales are in these countries, their presence is not akin to that of the head of state. Although the King stood in for his own ailing mother at Chogm meetings in both Rwanda in 2022 and Sri Lanka in 2013, the head of the Commonwealth is not a hereditary title, meaning that Prince William would have to be invited to open such a meeting by world leaders. In 2018, Commonwealth leaders announced that the King would become the next head of the organisation after the Queen said it was her “sincere wish” to be succeeded by her son.

But Prince William has acknowledged that there is no guarantee the mantle will eventually pass to him. In March 2022, following his ill-fated Caribbean tour, Prince William issued an unprecedented statement about the future of the Commonwealth, acknowledging that he may not succeed his grandmother or his father as head of the organisation as he vowed not to “tell people what to do”.

As for other state visits, the Waleses’ have their own commitments, not least the annual Earthshot awards and appear increasingly reluctant to go away on lengthy tours while their children are young. What that means for the Commonwealth remains unchartered territory.

Dr Prescott added: “There is a constitutional need for some Commonwealth realms to see their King. Australians and Canadians are as entitled to see their head of state as we are, in many ways and if the King is unable to travel it cannot be good for the institution. As Elizabeth II always said, she had to be seen to be believed.”

[From The Telegraph]

I was thinking the other day about how the final 10-20 years of QEII’s reign were actually pretty good as far as royal manpower and having enough royals to cover everything. When he was Prince of Wales, Charles traveled far and wide and he was always being sent to state funerals, Commonwealth tours and international conferences to represent the crown. The idea was that Prince William was slowly being trained to do the same when QEII died, that William would finally step up and assume a similar role, that of a roving ambassador on behalf of the crown. That is the bigger problem – Charles was always going to be an old king, he was always going to need the support of an heir who could do what Charles did as PoW, and William just… can’t. Won’t. Is incapable of doing anything. Football Association President Peg even refused to go to Australia when England’s Lionesses made the World Cup final.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.