Here are some photos from today’s state opening of Parliament. King Charles and Camilla were in attendance, obviously, as they’re the ones officially opening up the parliamentary session. Charles performed his King’s Speech, which was written by Downing Street, and everyone dutifully showed up and listened to it. Charles wore the Imperial State Crown and the ermine robes of whatever. Camilla wore the George IV State Diadem, which was QEII’s favored headpiece because it is much lighter than the Imperial State Crown. Also: Camilla’s dress here is a custom Fiona Clare.
Does anyone else think it’s interesting that the Princess of Wales scheduled her Italian visit to coincide with the state opening of Parliament back home? This is an event which is on the schedule for years in advance, although Charles apparently asked to skip it this year because Keir Starmer will likely not survive as prime minister for another month. But still, Kate would have known that this was on the schedule. Prince William and Kate have been doing this a lot lately, scheduling their weird, random events to coincide with major events for Charles and Camilla, like the US state visit and now this. Of course, I also feel like it’s pretty notable that William didn’t attend the state opening of Parliament too. Another piece of evidence that William is Prince Sleeping It Off – he can’t get out of bed and out of the house before 3 pm, and he only works one day a week on average. But sure, he’ll make it to an Aston Villa game next week in Istanbul.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Queen Camilla and King Charles III depart State Opening of Parliament, The Victoria Tower, Sovereigns Entrance, Palace of Westminster, London, UK – 13 May 2026,Image: 1098544071, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no , Credit line: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock/Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive for the State Opening of Parliament, at the Houses of Parliament, in London, Britain, May 13, 2026.,Image: 1098546605, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no , Credit line: Suzanne Plunkett/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla walk through Royal Gallery for the State Opening of Parliament at Houses Of Parliament, London, England, UK on Wednesday 13 May, 2026.,Image: 1098555181, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla walk through Royal Gallery for the State Opening of Parliament at Houses Of Parliament, London, England, UK on Wednesday 13 May, 2026.,Image: 1098555242, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles III speaks as he sits besides Queen Camilla during the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool),Image: 1098558590, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WPA POOL PHOTO, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no , Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla leave after the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool),Image: 1098558609, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WPA POOL PHOTO, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no , Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Avalon
It boggles my mind that on one hand Charles says he wants to modernize and streamline the monarchy but hangs on to the OTT trappings. He looks crumpled and feeble and sad in all that puffery. And don’t get me started on Lady Macbeth.
She’s just slumped in that chair/throne. I know she has osteoporosis, but damn! Make a bit of an effort woman! You “worked ” hard for that crown!
And doesn’t she already have a cream dress like that?? For another Parliament thingy, or the coronation?? What a waste.
I use a walking stick a lot, I have many degenerative health issues worse than the horse, plus, I have to do my own cooking and cleaning, most days on my knees (well she got her job on her well known knees so…). Except i have to crawl to live my daily life and I don’t have slaves. FUCK COWMILLA,’S arthritis. I have major arthritis, so what? I’m actually paying for her while I can’t heat my flat. Stop pretending she’s suffering . Omg sometimes I don’t know if you people understand anything. She DOES NOT GET A PASS . Who gives a fuck about a pampered horse and her arthritis. This is her job. I volunteer with my walking stick and arthritis. She wears millions in stolen gems and people still make excuses for the lazy mare. Wt?
All of her dresses look like house dresses.
@Catslave…..uh…..might want to reread the comment again.
Where are all the articles complaining about her not walking behind the king. Such a huge protocol violation.
The dress isn’t new – she wore it to the Nigerian state banquet and a diplomatic reception in 2023 at least.
Charles should follow the Dutch model, especially now that the aristocracy has no role. The Dutch still use the carriages and the throne but not the robes or crowns/tiaras. https://www.royal-house.nl/topics/monarchy/state-opening-of-parliament-prinsjesdag
The Dutch dress code for this always confuses me. Ballgowns worn with hats? Ditto Pascal militar in spain.
There is a reason none of the other royal houses wear all this regalia to open their own parliaments – it looks ridiculous and out of touch. I hope there were lots of protesters.
It’s like watching a cos-play of the Victorian era. Except the taxpayers are funding this farce.
If C-Rex can exit parliament in just his (still absurd) military regalia, is there a reason he cannot wear the same during the ceremony. While still OOT, it is less ridiculous than the robes and crowns. He’s been preaching modernization for decades – well get on with it!
Agreed. I get the “tradition” aspect of it but at some point what was traditional becomes out of touch especially in this economy. The Independent has a big article about it, maybe we’ll discuss tomorrow.
This is the State Opening of Parliament. William and Kate, the heir to the throne and his consort, should be there. I believe they never showed up jointly before. Why aren’t the royalists screaming here?
As I pointed out yesterday ( on here I think) Charles and Diana and the Charles and Camilla always attended this with HMQE2. I am astonished that W&K are not there. Camilla’s custom dress is giving me Sound of Music vibes – it looks like it has been made out of curtains. Love her diadem, I think Charles just looks ridiculous. They drive there in the State Golden coach too – with all the kings horses and all the kings men in attendance. Total waste of money in my opinion especially when the country is on the brink of yet more political uncertainty.
Yes, me too with the curtain vibes! 🤣🤣
It’s opened by the King . I don’t believe Peggy has a role? They may have gone for pomp and ceremony. When Charles goes, im just going to enjoy all the roles that apparently the King won’t need to do any more. Britain is run by the media. What they say, will happen.
🤷♀️ Charles & Diana showed up, don’t see any reason why Will & Kate can’t.
In the RFs everyone shows up for this event so 100% William should be there and Kate as well
If William can show up at the Garter ceremony in June with his robe and feathered cap, he can attend the State Opening of Parliament.
God this all looks so utterly deflated, and absurd, like a bad parody in an unfortunate cross-genre rendering of The End of the U.K. …the Starmer government is on borrowed time, clock ticking, bond markets seething, wars in Iran and in Ukraine, vultures circling, the nationalist parties are taking control in Wales, Scotland, & Northern Ireland, the Union — as in “united” kingdom — is cracking up, the heir to the throne is in the wind, his wife is pulling focus as best she can, as per usual, it’s like a race to the bottom of the charts. The wheels came off after the late Queen died.
Like Her Late Maj famously said, “apres moi, le deluge”
I like to imagine Liz and Phillip sipping cocktails on the porch of their bungalow in hell, watching what generations of inbreeding have wrought.
All anyone is talking about in the UK at the moment is Starmer and how long he will last in his role. No one is really paying attention to anything else tbh. So the royals can try to one up each other but the public don’t care!
It’s gutting how Britain desperately needed a fantastic Labor government after what’s gone before. Unfortunately, the right wing media these days rule the roost . We got Starmer. The media are getting the ultra right as they want. Voters seem clueless.
Is this shades of the Great Chelsea Flower Showdown? Kate shows up to crowds in Italy on one of Charles and Camilla’s big days. It would not surprise me.
I’m waiting for the backlash for this upstaging. Cue some very interesting articles with some new fun info!! Popcorn ready!!
Life is very tough but this obvious fight is fun to watch. I can’t pay for my heating most years but let those idiots I pay for wear their stolen kit. I give them the finger every time I see any of them. They’re do nothing’s. I worked my whole life and still poor. Screw all of them. We need the revolution. Not pretends like Starmer. Unfortunately the right are called popular. They’re the rich on disguise
@jais Can the Starmer government afford to bus people all the way to Italy to stage a Kate centric walkabout where people pretend to give a damn?
What’s feasible in Chelsea and Wales won’t necessarily work outside UK borders. See also: Fred and Gladys’ shambolic tour of Australia where Chucklehead’s advance team literally street kettled the public headed to a completely unrelated, different local event just so they could pretend that the people of Oz showed up for them in a very obviously staged photo op.
That’s one thing Diana, Meghan, and Harry have never done and will never need to do: beg or trick people into paying attention to their work.
My speculation based on what I read in Spare, I think multiple things are likely true here. It would not shock me if William and Catherine were specifically told they are not to attend these events to ensure Charles and Camilla are the only ones receiving press coverage for these events. I also genuinely believe William is “unavailable” before 3:00 pm, embarrassed by all the pageantry, and completely disinterested in his future role. What we’re probably watching play out is Charles and his awful wife reaping what they sowed with Diana’s sons. William is “trapped” in the game and his response is to do as he pleases now that his father can’t control him with money. Harry took the option to exit when he realized how awful and pointless it all was and refuses to engage in the toxic games designed to punish anyone who dares to exist outside of the times Charles and Camilla find it convenient.
It’s gutting how Britain desperately needed a fantastic Labor government after what’s gone before. Unfortunately, the media there days rule the roost . We got Starmer. The media are getting the ultra right as they want. Voters seem clueless.
Camilla’s makeup is awful. Her lipstick isn’t even on her entire lip. In the outdoor light it looks harsh and clownish.
She looks so very happy to be there, doesn’t she?
The pic on the steps looks like she is running away.
Runaway bride! And hey, isn’t she breaking protocol walking ahead of Charles?! 🤔
It’s the whole medieval costume party of it. Once you’ve visited the museum and seen the crown jewels up close, looking so gaudy and just FAKE, you cannot view the royals in their mid-Michigan Renaissance Faire trappings the same way again.
I haven’t seen the English Crown Jewels but I’ve seen the Scottish Crown Jewels and they are–and look–very, very real.
I think the Crown Jewels look just as real as any of the jewels I’ve seen in any museum anywhere in the world. I find them incredible. Clearly YMMV…
I’m guessing Charles didn’t mind being upstaged in this circumstance, given his reluctance to be there.
They all look very silly. Did Charles ever skip as POW?
If he really wanted to modernize, Charles would show up in a a suit, and the Crown can just rest on a cushion.
But then, he was born in the last century, and grew up knowing that everything his mother did would one day be his to do. Charles can’t modernize because his head is still in the last century. William is using modernizing as an excuse to not work.
It’s so weird to me that William doesn’t attend as POW and that George doesn’t serve as a page. This would be a perfect opportunity to involve George in the ceremony and help develop a sense of duty and appreciation.
Exactly @Lady J where is Will? He’s not with dad and he’s not with his wife in Italy? If Camilla hadn’t attended would he have been expected to instead? Like does he even provide emergency cover to help dad if necessary?
George has (theoretically) this future role all laid out for him, but literally no one is training him for it.
I hope he grows up, tells them all to pound sand, and becomes a forensic accountant.
George experiences the many vacations. He could expect this for himself when he moves up in hierarchy
Are rose, rocksavage, and their twins there? I know the official role rotated away from rocksavage, but Charles gave him and one ( or both?) of the twins a role in formal events.
The pair of them to me are just a dismal sight. It’s obvious they don’t want to be there, and those bored, blank eyes. All I see is a pair of cruel adulterers, nothing more. And as far as the sidepiece goes, I’m reminded of “putting lipstick on a pig.” And I happen to like pigs …
Every. Damn. Word.
It’s probably partly because QEII was monarch my whole life, but both CIII and Horsezilla make that crown and diadem look so cheap and tacky. Maybe it’s also their inner grubbiness coming out.
I don’t understand the fascination with crowns and tiaras. They look rather silly to me, like items that belong in the 1950’s and earlier. They are relics that belong in museums.
Why is she running down the steps. She needs to be careful with her footing
The only smile I see in any of these photos is a small smirk on Not Diana’s cruel face.
This just looks sad and completely passé.
And she’s wearing that snake necklace again… did she just grab the same jewelry she wore the other day, that was laying on her dresser…would it kill her to at least fake that she is interested to be there?
I’ll be the one to say Kate is deliberately trying to upstage (in Brit speak, “overshadow”) the king and his strumpet.
I’ve got to give it to Camilla. Girlfriend loves a tiara and always brings out the jewels. 😂