In 2023, the build-up to King Charles’s coronation was almost entirely about whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would attend. You would have thought that Harry was the one on the throne, that was how much attention he and his wife were given for months. The coronation finally happened and only Harry went, while Meghan stayed in Montecito and went for a hike with friends. Meghan’s hike overshadowed the coronation, which said a lot about the Chubbly. What I found especially interesting about the coronation was how quickly people stopped talking about it. Literally, just days later, British newspapers were complaining about how there would be no more “big events” for years and how the left-behinds are dull and refuse to do exciting events. At the time, it was said that Charles was trying to force Prince William to agree to a Prince of Wales investiture, similar to the one Charles had in his 20s. William refused, and it’s barely been brought up since. Well, Robert Hardman dusted off that story for his latest book:

Prince William rejected plans for a major investiture ceremony and church service to mark him becoming Prince of Wales, a major royal book has revealed.

Acclaimed Royal author and Daily Mail writer Robert Hardman revealed that William turned down plans drawn up by his father’s courtiers for an event at St David’s Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, in 2022.

William and Catherine instead marked their new titles with a visit to Anglesey, where they lived for three years after getting married, and Swansea. The low key approach – a sign of William’s desire to modernise some aspects of the monarchy – was in stark contrast to pomp and pageantry of Charles’s investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969. The ceremony at Caernarfon Castle was broadcast live to 19 million people in Britain and another 500 million people worldwide and involved Queen Elizabeth presenting her son with the Prince of Wales’s sword, coronet, ring, rod and mantle.

In Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story, Mr Hardman, writes: ‘On becoming Prince of Wales, he [William] had not only ruled out an investiture, like his father’s in 1969, but even a church service.’

Mr Hardman reveals that the Government went as far as consulting Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, about the ceremony plans to ensure there was no objection but ‘the idea never progressed beyond the desk of Prince William.’ One of William’s team told the author ‘It wasn’t ever something that he wanted to do.’

[From The Daily Mail]

If I’m being honest, I can sort of understand why someone would refuse a big, splashy investiture at Caernarfon Castle. But to refuse the church service? To refuse to mark the occasion in any way? Odd. Then again, William doesn’t like to go to church and he’s apparently deeply uncomfortable and “embarrassed” by religious ceremonies and rituals. I also find it interesting that William just flatly turned it down in late 2022, and yet it was still being talked about after the coronation. Charles really wanted William to do it so that the press could have another big showpiece “event” to write about. Kate could have gotten another decoupage Hobby Lobby tiara too. It’s a shame!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images and Buckingham Palace.