For a while, it looked like none of the Windsors were planning on turning up to the D-Day 80th anniversary event in Normandy this year. French presidents always host memorials and dignitaries for D-Day anniversaries, but for the “big anniversaries,” world leaders are always expected to come out. President Macron will host President Biden, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and likely a host of other European leaders and royals in Normandy on June 6th. Sidenote: the White House is pissed because Macron invited Russia to send a representative to the memorial this year too. For months, Buckingham Palace was playing fast and loose about King Charles’s attendance, given his ongoing cancer treatments. What was strange about that is Kensington Palace was also playing fast and loose, like Prince William shouldn’t be expected to stand in for his father. Well, now they’re saying that “the big three” will attend: King Charles, Queen Camilla and Prince William.
The King, the Queen and the Prince of Wales will mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in both the UK and France next month, Buckingham Palace has said. The couple will join the Royal British Legion’s commemorative event at the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer on June 6.
Meanwhile, Prince William will attend the Canadian commemorative ceremony at Juno Beach, hosted by the Canadian government, alongside Second World War veterans and Armed Forces personnel. He will then attend the international commemorative ceremony at Omaha Beach, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, alongside 25 heads of state and veterans from around the world.
The Princess of Wales, who is being treated for cancer, is not expected to travel to France.
On June 5, Their Majesties, accompanied by the Prince, will attend the UK’s national celebration in Portsmouth. The Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will also attend UK events.
Just at a regular, non-gossip level, I’m glad that the British royals are turning up for all of this. There are so few living WWII veterans at this point, this really may be the last big D-Day service for them. It’s also fascinating to me that they’re doing different ceremonies on different beaches (different landing points for the invasion on D-Day), then the big ceremony will be on Omaha Beach. Yeah… the king will be in his element, while Camilla looks grumpy and William blinks furiously and tries not to sway. But hey, at least they’re traveling and doing something. No Kate though.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Britain’s King Charles III officially hands over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William, The Prince of Wales in front of an Apache helicopter at the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop, England, Monday, May 13, 2024.,Image: 872553030, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kin Cheung / Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles III meets staff members and their families at the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop, England, Monday, May 13, 2024. King Charles III will officially hand over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William, The Prince of Wales.,Image: 872554581, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kin Cheung / Avalon
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- London, UK, 15th May 2024. The King and Queen, together with the Lord Mayor, exit St Paul’s Cathedral after the service. Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend a Service of Dedication for the Order of the British Empire at St Paul’s Cathedral in London today. The ceremonial service is attended by holders of the Orders awards, as well as many others.,Image: 873161218, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
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- King Charles III during a visit to Gibraltar Barracks in Minley, Hampshire, to meet the staff and families of the 3 Royal School of Military Engineering (3RSME) and 8 Engineer Brigade, at the training base for the Army’s Royal Engineers Featuring: King Charles III Where: Minley, United Kingdom When: 09 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III during a visit to Gibraltar Barracks in Minley, Hampshire, to meet the staff and families of the 3 Royal School of Military Engineering (3RSME) and 8 Engineer Brigade, at the training base for the Army’s Royal Engineers Featuring: King Charles III Where: Minley, United Kingdom When: 09 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Their Majesties The King and Queen attend a Service of Dedication for the Order of the British Empire at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 15 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attending The Sovereign’s Creative Industries Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London, in celebration of the Creative Industries of the United Kingdom. The Garden Party will bring together approximately 4,000 representatives across culture, art, heritage, film, TV, radio and fashion Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: LONDON, United Kingdom When: 15 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Sovereign’s Creative Industries Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London, in celebration of the Creative Industries of the United Kingdom. The Garden Party will bring together approximately 4,000 representatives across culture, art, heritage, film, TV, radio and fashion Featuring: King Charles III arrive at The Sovereign’s Creative Industries Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London, in celebration of the Creative Industries of the United Kingdom. The Garden Party will bring together approximately 4, 000 representatives across culture, art, heritage, film, TV, radio and fashion. Picture date: Wednesday May 15, 2024. Where: London, United Kingdom When: 15 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
How did they get Peg to agree to doing this? Of course there is still time for him to back out by saying I’m needed at home (not).
They’ve hidden DVDs of Tom Cruise movies behind various tombstones, so William gets to go on a big Easter egg hunt.
After turning their backs on veterans when they snubbed the IG service, I think they have all been told they are going. This is really a big deal and its embarrassment if William doesn’t go, Charles has been out and about too much now to use his health as an excuse.
They told him he could dress up and play pretend soldier – again.
They threatened to give the go ahead for the Rota to publish what’s actually going on with Kate.
Is William going to joke with the few surviving veterans that it looks like they had a great time? Show up with random bruising? Stagger around and drop things? Not sure, but I’m certain he will show up with a chest full of unearned medals and command ranks on ground where thousands of valiant lives were lost, take some pictures, and leave in a private jet as soon as he is allowed.
But who will do the school run in his absence?
He probably will do that because for him it’s just a photo op.
Any opportunity to wear his I’m a Very Special Boy Airplane slippers …
Charles and junior hopefully won’t wear tons of medals insulting to veterans
I find myself wondering if William will bow out 45 minutes before the event is due to start much more frequently than I should.
If he does, “Where’s Kate” 2.0 starts.
There do seem to be a lot of visits around the military by the “working” royals since the infamous snubbing of the IGs ceremony. I understand commemorating the D Day landings is important and the king (or his representative) should attend but, it seems the palace(s) have gone from we might go depending on the kings health, to we’re all going as we must be seen as the royals who really care about our fallen heroes. I could (of course) be doing Charles, William and Camilla a huge disservice but, (IMHO) it does seem like they’re doing everything possible to erase their terrible behaviour towards military veterans who participate in the IGs.
The BRF has always given a ton of visibility to the military and to military vets. I think it just gets noticed now because the press is trying to create a story about them vs Harry.
Perhaps dead soldiers are OK but soldiers missing a couple of legs and an arm are too difficult to think about.
Without Charles’ cancer diagnosis, I don’t think his attendance at these events would have ever been in question. These particular events have nothing to do with Harry (although William’s attendance could be related to Harry.)
The royal family’s visibility at military events is what makes their treatment of Invictus so notable IMO. If they never did anything military related or never paraded around in their fancy unearned uniforms etc, I don’t think ignoring Invictus would stand out so much.
@MaryContrary and Becks1 🙂
I really believe if “they” hadn’t scored such a massive own goal by stating the BRF were “too busy” to send someone (anyone) along to the Invictus service, Charles, Camilla and William wouldn’t be going to the D Day events. I do think they would have sent Prince Edward like they did with the ANZAC commemorations earlier this year.
This is a chance for William to bolster those Global Statesman credentials.
Bingo @Amy Bee the Fail stated that Willy’s mixing with 25 heads of state at these events was due to his “enhanced international significance as PoW” so he can rattle his milk bottle top medals with pride in such distinguished company!
Oh, great … He can be Ivanka 2.0, milling around true global statesmen who are far more intelligent and experienced than he, while mumbling about his airplane loafers.
Amy Bee, that’s exactly what I thought. I hope Biden is able to dodge him.
I wasn’t surprised that he’s going. H&M had an incredibly successful trip to Nigeria for Invictus and their charities. Billy Idle wants that, too. I wonder how many of the rr will be going to get those picture and make up stories?
Pretty sure Peg only committed to go after the Invictus Service was confirmed.. my grandfather was on those beaches, he survived but was shot several times. It truly is sad that none of these so called leaders will ever be good enough to compare to the true hero’s that fought against 🇩🇪 and 🇯🇵 . People should be paying close attention to this we are dangerously close to repeating history.
my grandfather was involved in a big battle in the Netherlands during WWII and every anniversary he would travel back to commemorate. One year it was a ‘big’ anniversary and then Prince Charles was due to be there. My grandfather was offered the opportunity to meet / chat with Charles and his answer was fairly short with some choice language. It was in the negative. even then people had no respect for Charles.
My father had been in the US Army Air Corps, which is what they called the Air Force before it was split off into a separate wing of the military. But there were problems keeping parts flowing so planes could be repaired & keep flying. so then Army seconded him to Lockheed Co in Burbank they’re pretty much the rest of the war to handle procurement. Big disappointment for him & others like him. but very effective with getting stuff for the planes.
What is nationality is/was your grandfather? My impression is that British of that generation had been taught pretty intensively to respect the royalty, but Americans / Canadians /Australians / Kiwi/ etc often thought Royalty should go bite sand, especially with their stolen valor medals!
He was British, grew up in the (rough) east end of London. I say grew up because he certainly wasn’t raised. His parents died before he was 5 years old and he went to live with an unknown “Uncle” and had a tough time. So he wasn’t taught to respect them, he fought for country and his own family, not theirs. I admired him greatly. I didn’t know him as well as I would have liked but my mother often says I have his “bite”. I take that as a massive complement!
Honestly, good for them. It would have been a grand scandal without a Very Senior British representative.
Wills still has time to bail, but he’ll be treated as one of the Most Important People so might actually show.
I remember watching the coverage of the 70th. Elizabeth went, came in last (which in processional terms == “most important person”), shook the hands of the delighted survivors, and did not use headphones for the programme in French.
ETA: Camilla is actually pretty good at charming old veterans so she might look as grompy for this event
Charles speaks French as well. Not William though!
Too bad Harry can’t hitch a ride with Biden and attend. Then we could see Wills head explode like a over done hardboiled egg
That would be most amusing.
Well they had to do something en masse to continue to try and overshadow the very successful trip to
Nigeria, doncha think?
PS .. where is Kate? I mean .. 5 months and counting now
Or if he attended along with a veterans group.
So let me get this right. Charles confirmed a cancer diagnosis. Confirmed that he is receiving treatment. He has been seen repeatedly since these announcement and is even traveling. Kate said “cancer had been present” and she is receiving “preventative chemo” and KP said she didn’t have cancer. There are multiple Franken photos and fake videos. She has not been verifiably seen in 5 months and now suddenly the line is she has cancer? Can we get Ronan Farrow on this or something? I am so confused as to why no one is questioning the total vanishing of the the future Queen of England.
It could be possible that the doctors have found another patch of cancer, or it could be just lazy journalism.
That’s what happens with many women who have ovarian cancer. They warned me about that common pattern after my eight hours of surgery when I started chemo six weeks later.
Is the info on Kate embargoed? Surely some journalist has to know.
How long can Kate be gone before the media starts commenting on it again? It’s weird she is still skipping events and hasn’t been seen in public.
The media’s too busy putting out puff pieces and non stories as deflection. It’s ridiculous.
What has the media been promised in return?
Wait, is Charles only going to the British event in Normandy not the international commemoration? The article makes it seem like only William is going to the big ceremony. I expect most royal families to attend so it should be a rare chance to see how the others interact with William. I expect polite but not overly friendly
No, the article says C&C will be at Ver-sur-Mer which is in Normandy.
It’s astonishing that no one in the media or government is demanding proof of KKKhate’s life. WTF is going on?!?
The Nigerian not royal royal tour has forced these lazy parasites out of hiding. You’ve gotta love it!! 😂😂😂
They wouldn’t be stupid enough to wear their fake medals, would they?
I figure Kate is sidelined by her own or William’s choice OR she’s physically unwell because no way would she cede the floor to Meghan. Still doesn’t answer the question but it’s serious