Last week, the Daily Beast’s Royalist column started a rather big conversation about King Charles. Tom Sykes (The Royalist) reported exclusively that Charles’s funeral plans were being updated at a furious pace because there were so many rumors that Charles was doing poorly, and that he was not long for his world. There was about 24 hours of speculation about “what is the palace hiding” and “maybe Charles will abdicate” and more. Then Buckingham Palace released a new portrait of the king and queen. It was taken in the gardens of Buckingham Palace “earlier this month” and “the day after their 19th wedding anniversary,” according to Rebecca English. BP also confirmed that Charles would be back at work next week. From Buckingham Palace:
His Majesty The King will shortly return to public-facing duties after a period of treatment and recuperation following his recent cancer diagnosis.
To help mark this milestone, The King and Queen will make a joint visit to a cancer treatment centre next Tuesday, where they will meet medical specialists and patients. This visit will be the first in a number of external engagements His Majesty will undertake in the weeks ahead.
In addition, The King and Queen will host Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan for a State Visit in June, at the request of HM Government.
As the first anniversary of The Coronation approaches, Their Majesties remain deeply grateful for the many kindnesses and good wishes they have received from around the world throughout the joys and challenges of the past year.
Charles said: bitch, you thought!! He said: the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. So what was up with the Daily Beast’s story last week? Was it from Kensington Palace, meaning Prince William? Is Huevo trying to convince everyone that dear old dad is at death’s door? See, I’m not even sure I believe that it’s coming from William. I’m not sure William is in any kind of state where he’s trying to push his father out. Also: the state visit from the Emperor and Empress of Japan is coming in late June, which means Charles will likely be able to get through some kind of schedule earlier in the month. Perhaps even the D-Day 80th anniversary? Definitely Trooping the Color and Ascot.
In Becky English’s commentary about the new portrait, she’s leaning in heavily to “the king wouldn’t be able to do any of this without Camilla.” Like, according to English’s sources, Camilla has been leading the family and she’s been the de facto head of state. Sure.
New portrait courtesy of Millie Pilkington for Buckingham Palace. Additional photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- Windsor, UNITED KINGDOM – King Charles III and Queen Camilla, accompanied by other members of the British royal family attend Easter Mattins Service at Windsor Castle. Pictured: King Charles III BACKGRID USA 31 MARCH 2024 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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- Windsor, UNITED KINGDOM – King Charles III and Queen Camilla, accompanied by other members of the British royal family attend Easter Mattins Service at Windsor Castle. Pictured: King Charles III and Queen Camilla BACKGRID USA 31 MARCH 2024 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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- Easter Mattins Service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. Featuring: King Charles III Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 31 Mar 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Easter Mattins Service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. Featuring: King Charles and Queen Camilla Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 31 Mar 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Easter Mattins Service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. Featuring: King Charles and Queen Camilla Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 31 Mar 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Two people who don’t live today looking more in love than the others
So I don’t really care for these two but they do seem in sync and affectionate. The other two should really take notes. This is how it’s done.
William does not want it done that way.
I mean look at the way he looks at her. She is his whole world.
They have no problem with personal displays of affection. Unlike K and W. Like it or not Camilla makes him very happy.
Transcripts from phone leaks (1980s) showed that Camilla calls his speeches brilliant, just genius, and puffs him up as basically the bestest royal that ever royaled and calls herself an old hag, even then. Charles in turn says that her greatest achievement is loving him. It’s like loving a mirror that hides any flaws. “She really gets my brilliance.”
Charles is so egocentric. He never said my greatest achievement is loving you. Speaks volumes . Also it’s always about Charles being made happy.
Yes, Camilla and Charles are in sync with each other, he uses her to love himself and she uses him to please herself. She is very happy that she controls him, his position, his wealth, and most importantly the courtiers and the press. The whole time keeping and servicing Andrew Parker Bowles, her true love. That’s why they live apart. As one British magazine recently said, “though divorced, Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles are still connected to the hips”. How many women could keep two men happy at the same time?
I don’t EVEN want to know what Camilla does to keep her men satisfied. Shudder.
Overall BP has handled the news of Charles having cancer quite well. He hasn’t hidden away from the media and they have provided updates with some specific information.
It is a huge contrast to KP with its kill orders on photos and vague lies about the whole situation.
Why are they releasing a photo? 19 years isn’t a “milestone” anniversary. (s)
It is a milestone if it’s the last one.
You make a good point. This might the last year of the King’s life. He should be enjoying life and not be concerned about governing the British empire. Let William pick up the responsibilities of the royal duties.
You read my mind
It is the first one after coronation.
Libra: Indeed. Unlucky number, thirteen.
Releasing an anniversary photo makes William look bad because he probably won’t. Charles and Camilla are acting like proper adults.
It feels like a narrative reset – the dark (cancer) days are over and everything will be brighter now that KFC is returning to full-time “work”.
Because the keens are not
Right. That was where I was going with the comment.
She is also wearing Kate’s royal blue color. I am gonna guess they are trolling Kate&William like she did with frequent hospital visits, multiple cameras recording her entry and exit. I bet we are gonna get an anniversary pic from K&W now.
So much for kate being like a daughter to Charles this is so unsubtle.
Yeah, it’ll be interesting. I could see them saying they’re not and then dropping a surprise pic. But then I can equally see them not. It could go either way.
According to Rebecca English, it’s for the one-year anniversary of the Coronation. And, I may have missed it, but I didn’t see where English said Camilla has been the de facto head of state, just that she’s been front and center in the public appearances of the RF – she has certainly been that..
I have to admire the way Camilla has navigated this situation. And the way this photo is staged with Charles gazing at her adoring, like this is how the public should gaze at her, very clever.
Camilla knows how to work it, all right. If she hadn’t gaslighted Diana or sicced Piers and Clarkson on Meghan, I’d almost admire her. I do love that every happy picture of them brings up deep unanswered questions about Huevo and Huesera.
Charles did not want the best royal workers in the family Diana Meghan and harry. He’s stuck with William and can’t get him to work
I don’t like any of these people, but I have to take my hat off to Camilla. She is playing this game as perfectly as possible.
According to the press the photo is in celebration of the one year anniversary of their coronation.
They released a photo last year on their 18th anniversary. It was their first wedding anniversary as King and Queen. I expect they will release a photo every year.
The timing of this. They release a portrait and the keens don’t. Deliberate timing on c and c part. Camilla looks triumphant
Lots of airbrushing
And clever hiding of his hands.
Camilla in charge. Funny how that doesn’t bother Charles one bit. Guess he sees it as better than his son. What’s really going on with William and Charles? Aside from a very few fluffy details, there’s actually so much silence around that. Why haven’t we seen a photo of Charles and William walking together or something? I mean it’s weird right?
@JAIS yes I’d noticed that omission as well. Father and son, king and heir, it is a two way street isn’t it? Both should already being mutually supportive and collaborative and yet it looks like even a crisis isn’t pulling them together? Now why is that?
Feels like the wagons have circled around CRex so angry Huevo can’t get anywhere near him.
It does feel like charles is letting william twist in the wind. but which house is responsible for this is hard to say. is it william’s choice or charles’?
It’s genuinely weird imo. Shouldn’t seeing the father and heir together be some sort of symbol that all will be well? All is not well is the only way to take it. At least bw the king and the heir.
Do we ever see photos of Charles and William just walking together? I think there might just be a handful of them in all of these years – most are for family and/or royal events.
Yeah, it might be atypical to see photos of just them, but the fact that his dad has cancer, you’d think there’d somehow be some show of visual support. Photo-ops are their thing.
All I have heard is that Charles has responded well to treatment. There has been no statement about the cancer being in remission or that he is cancer free. I can’t forget how they hid QEII’s bone cancer for months. Maybe Charles has many years left. Or maybe this is a temporary reprieve from an illness which will ultimately prove fatal.
I think the latter situation is what’s going on. Only unlike queen Elizabeth, Charles heir has not shown he’s willing to step up and take charge whatsoever. In fact even before Kate’s cancer announcement both baldingham and Karen were putting in less work than their 80 year old relatives. It really is saying something that the only thing that seems to motivate William to work is competition with the younger brother he helped push out the country. It continues to be confounding as to why Charles isn’t demanding more. I use to think that baldingham would be the last of the Windsor Reign and now I’m kinda wondering if that’s a little too generous.
charles might not be demanding more becasue he knows it would be a disaster. maybe he wants the focus on himself in his last (?) months instead of any criticism or controversy around william. there’s already quite enough of that
@A, re: Charles demanding more, he likely lost most if not all of his leverage over William as soon as Bill came into the Duchy money, right? Money was the one thing he seemed to hold over W&K’s heads, and once that threat was gone, William probably listened to his father even less than he already was (if that was possible).
And @OneOfTheMarys, exactly— Charles might not want William to do more because William fcks up pretty much every time he walks out the door and/or opens his mouth. I’m sure he saw William barely able to hold himself up at the investiture ceremony, and that was during a series of gaffes William made in a row over the course of a few weeks (his comments at the BAFTA event resulting in that hilarious photo of those three actresses comes to mind, lmao).
Then again, the more public a fckup William is, the better it makes Charles look in comparison, so who knows! It could go either way.
It is likely they just don’t know what will happen. But even with that uncertainty they are projecting an image of “keep on and carry on” for the public.
As opposed to the “panic, hide and freak out” which is what heir and future king William has done.
The Queen Mother survived colon cancer in her sixties and breast cancer in her eighties. Details were not released at the time. She lived to 101. Prince Philip had several ailments in his later years. I’m not sure if prostate cancer was ever confirmed but he lived to 99. Some cancers, especially breast cancer and prostate cancer are less aggressive in older people.
His suits are always tailored to perfection. He has clearly lost a significant amount of weight with his treatment. The suit is just hanging on him
I think he always looks this ill fitted and wrinkled. I don’t know if it’s his personal preference, his tailors, or his body shape but he never looks “sharp” or perfectly tailored imo more like an absent minded professor who buys off the rack.
But he used to look sharp & perfectly tailored. Things changed as he got older, he’s not trying any more.
The poor suiting started last year and was visible before coronation. Apparently, he changed his tailors .
No even longer than that, I think about 3/4 years ago. Before that, Charles was well dressed and his suits were tailor-fitting.
Apparently he changed his tailors years ago in a bid to appear more economical. Previously his suits were 100% bespoke and mocked up on him, now they’re semi-bespoke.
I also suspect that the loss of weight is not helping.
Are those new earrings, she keeeps wearing the same pearls and today, something ive not noticed before. Someone wrote, some partners dont feel like working when their spouse have cancer and some continue working. lol the shade!
Expanded the photo to get a better look. Gold? Leaf shape? Maybe anniversary gift.
English says all the jewelry Camilla is wearing are personal gifts from Charles – no royal jewels. Again, so clever – “See? I was never in it to become Queen. I did it all for love.”
I’m sure William is relieved. He doesn’t want to be King. As Harry said he feels trapped.
Well, theoretically, William would want to become king if he committed a crime that he didn’t want to be prosecuted for. I think that’s the only reason why he’s pressed the only reason he wants to Push Charles out.
So William is a thinner version of Trump. That fits, because Kate is definitely a self centered Melania who looks after her own self interest first last and always. And together, they bring out the worst in one another.
I always felt that about Charles too. Princesses of Wales don’t do well in that family.
I think wank would never abdicate no matter what his feelings are. He would lose access to all that money that he barely does anything for. And unlike harry, he is too lazy to work. He is going to take that throne no matter what.
I think he wants to abdicate, but he knows that, unlike his brother, he couldn’t hack it in the real world. He wouldn’t last a day.
Well suppose that upon Charles’ death, William does abdicate the throne.
Would the abdication be specific to the king position only? It seems like he would still be PoW and Duke of Cornwall. And those positions are where the money is, right?
And because he would actually be king from the moment of KC3’s death until the abdication, would he still inherit all of Tampon’s money tax-free? Technically it is a king to king transfer until he abdicates.
@Lorelei: what does one do with a bachelor’s in Geography? I remember years ago, my scuba instructor had a bachelor’s in Geography; he taught scuba & painted houses to pay the bills. Wonder what Billy Boy would do?
I think it all goes to George, with a regent appointed while he is a minor.
It would all be negotiated. The only precedent is Edward VIII’s abdication, which was messy as hell: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/30/freedomofinformation.monarchy1?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Sykes is too well connected for the story to be BS and all of this feels like a direct response to it. Also, when coupled with Tina Brown’s NY Times piece, I think we can read between the lines. But while Tina touched on Kate as well, Tom didn’t go there probably because of his connects with Kensington Palace. My feeling is both Charles and Kate are in bad shape and Charles is being used as a bit of a red herring for Kate. It’s almost staggering to think about, but I feel the next 6-12 months are going to see big shifts with this family.
Tom Sykes has always had connections directly with KP so I think the story from last week is coming possibly from William or if not him directly, his minions. Sykes will usually parrot whatever KP wants.
C&C’s photo was taken by Millie Pilkington. She’s described as a favourite of WanK as she also took G, C and L’s birthday photos last year. I think posters on here have said that she did some work for CarolE and even took “behind the scenes” photos of WanK’s wedding? I’m guessing she can be relied upon to keep shtum so if WanK wanted to release a new photo of themselves then who better than Millie to refresh their image.
Hmm. Camilla using their past photographer kind of feels like trolling.
I was thinking coordination.
Millie took a great picture here. The way they are posed with Camilla’s arm around Charles’s and her leaning into him makes her look positively svelte. It takes inches off her waistline.
They look more affectionate than Will and Kate have ever managed.
Isn’t it romantic that Charles loves how Camilla makes him feel, and Camilla loves the power and financial security that she and her family have received.
I’m glad that Charles was finally able to marry the woman he loved, and it’s nice to see him improving, The thought of William as king is dreadful but it doesn’t stop me being angry about the way he has treated his younger son.
Charles was never prevented from marrying Camilla. He could have had the chance when they first met. He told his biographer he was not interested in marrying her when they first met. He did not tell her they had a future. There were many other women in his life and was said to be serious about some of them. She became his married mistress in the late eighties but he was apparently not willing to sacrifice the throne for Camilla. He married Diana to get heirs and he had other mistresses besides Camilla like lady dale tryon. Camilla wanted to marry Parker Bowles and they had dated since 1966.
Edit. Late seventies not late eighties
At what a price. He brought Diana in to have his heirs and would not stop seeing Camilla. He never was out of touch with her
It just goes to show the purpose of their propaganda and press control: they set narratives in peoples heads. even when people are paying attention, they still buy into the basic premise laid out.
This idea of Camilla being his long lost love was meant to erase their mutual abuse and torture of Diana.
In reality, even if they actually loved one another, nothing excuses what they did to Diana’s and nothing excuses what they’ e done and continue to do to Diana’s boys.
She was one of many mistresses for Charles. She was never his great love. He was never hers (she wanted Parker-Bowles) He never wanted to marry her and she never wanted to marry him. All of this revisionist history was put into play after the Diana controversy blew up in their faces and they scrambled for damage control.
Not only did Chucky/BP released that photo, they brought the ”the king will be back working, sort of” new as national Breaking News, straight at the BBC’s 5 PM news, completely with that bald Diamond guy as a live stand in infront of BP castle (with nothing/nobody to be seen, by the way). Very dramatic. And about an hour before that, they leaked to press and to key royal propagandists that an announced was coming up at that time, about the King (some started tweeting about it). Even the foreign press (like the Spanish ones) were notified. So people tuned in to watch it. Most of them expected bad news, sort of.
So this announcement was clearly aimed at debunking the growing “Charles is at death’s door, funeral rehearsals are taking place, he’s going to die within 2 years”, rumours in the press and on social media quickly.
I personally believe that Charles is still not well/ in poor health (remember, the palace/govt made the cancer-strikken Queen E2, who WAS at death’s door, work until two days before she died, whilst she was suffering from cancer- the condition they never informed the nation about).
I’m in the US and got a “breaking news alert” email from People announcing that Charles was returning to his duties. My first thought was that Kate must have been very unhappy with this development, lol.
Especially as she officially hasn’t got cancer and is only middle aged.
He looks rumpled, and she looks like the cat who got the canary. I swear, that glint in her eye is “see, suckers — I’m not leaving the throne yet.”
And if an unelected person with no major professional skills (unless I’m just uninformed, which is possible) can be your de facto head of state, what does that mean?
Camilla is the sort of person who makes sure that she comes out on top, no matter what happens.
She’s not de facto head of state. She’s just the one showing up to public events. Nobody has said she’s meeting with the prime minister every week and reading through the red box.
This is true. The phrase “the power behind the throne” keeps playing through my mind. No, not saying Camilla. I’m saying about William and Camilla, Charles still has the power behind the throne. Until he passes. Camilla, though, has enough power to do harm, or try to do harm to Meghan. Such as the media people she seems to have in her pocket. I just don’t see why she wants to keep that up, since she is the Queen of England. How many more battles does she want to fight. One would think she would like to put her weapons down and enjoy her position and life for a while.
@therese – that’s a very good question. I don’t know that Meghan was ever her specific target. I think both Harry and William have been her targets and Meghan is a way to get to Harry. At this point, Camilla doesn’t have to actively battle H&M – she set her dogs loose on them a while ago and now she can just watch her pets attack and maybe give them a treat once in a while. The narrative has been set and she can sit back and enjoy the show. Now, it seems her active plotting is against William.
His suit actually is very well made, he has lost weight. It seems like he’s been losing weight for a good 4+ years now. He still doesn’t have a collar gap with his head turned, the arms come down the shoulders beautifully. He is still impeccably suited, he just needs it to be taken apart and resewn to his new size. And he probably doesn’t want to spend the money, seriously. He is greedy af.
Why do I get the distinct impression that far from being “shocked” and “overwhelmed” by the thought of Charles’s illness(es), incandescent, entitled William demanded that BP kowtow to KP in the interim AND declared himself to be in charge, then went a step further and demanded that Charles step down and declare him king (like what happened in Denmark) and Charles (and Camilla) refused, BP courtiers were horrified, and ever since then they’ve been teaching William a very public lesson while William has been loftily thinking that he is teaching Charles and his handlers a lesson?
And they’ve got a ton of dirt which they could drop at any moment and they are letting him know that they are not afraid to do so. There is a reason why all those reporters were suddenly claiming that William “is not thought to have anything to do with” his cousin’s husband’s death, even though no-one was asking that question, plus all the other cockups from KP which we’ve seen thus far.
I can’t keep the press players straight without a scorecard … IIRC Sykes is someone who KP talks with.
“Charles said: bitch, you thought!!”
😂😂😂
God save the king!
Boy oh boy the guinea pigs are getting their cages lined with newspaper photos of this pair tonight and having to squeak sympathetically whilst Willy confides how he’s going to do exactly as he pleases once he’s KING FOREVER. Sometimes it is tough being a Guinea PIg when your owner is not yet king!
I laughed so freaking hard at, “bitch, you thought!” Thanks Kaiser!
Queen JumpOff looks like the cat who ate the royal canary. Yet Charles seems truly smitten with her. Camilla played the long game and she’s getting everything she wanted. I suspect we’ll soon learn of honors for her fugly son Tom.
Honors for tom are coming
I doubt Camilla was and is thrilled with Kate like a daughter to Charles spin. And he substitute for William on appearances and escort his mother
Maybe Camilla is so happy because she knows the days of having to placate and mollycoddle this man-child are numbered and she can return to APB with her reputation improved.
My opinion: there is not much they can do for that man. Therefore, he is released to live his life as he chooses. The cancer damage is done.
You can gain the throne by right of birth. You can gain the throne by right of conquest. Can you gain the throne by right of side piece? Is she stealing all the jewels? When this is over what will she have gained?
Charles waited 70 years to be king, there’s no way he’s going to abdicate. Like his mother he will die on the throne.
The irony of this picture is that it’s almost an exact replica of the Queen and Prince Filip from a few years before their health started to fail.
The pose, colours worn and messaging at the time ….. the BRF are not vey good at this PR malarkey….
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/04/prince-philip-death-the-queen
I think this will be Chuckles last couple portrait as others have said above….