Prince William basically had to be dragged kicking and screaming to Pope Francis’s funeral a few weeks ago. According to the Daily Mail, William tried to get out of going to Rome because Aston Villa was playing that same day. William wanted Prince Edward sent to represent the crown, just as Edward attended Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January (when really, William should have gone). So, William went to Francis’s funeral, he wore a gaudy blue suit and he told everyone that he was a big-boy statesman. That was his first and only time representing the crown abroad at a state function since becoming Prince of Wales nearly three years ago. Obviously, William is not eager to flex his questionable statesman muscles again. Prince Edward will attend Pope Bob’s formal installation as pope next weekend.
The Duke of Edinburgh will represent the King at the inauguration of the new Pope, Buckingham Palace has said. Prince Edward will travel to the Vatican to attend Pope Leo XIV’s formal installation as Pope at a mass in St Peter’s Square next Sunday. Global leaders will gather for the ceremony on May 18, which will mark the official start of the Chicago-born Pope’s term.
In 2013, the Duke of Gloucester attended Pope Francis’s inauguration on behalf of Elizabeth II. The ceremony attracted a crowd of some 200,000 people.
The mass typically begins with a visit to St Peter’s tomb, inside the Basilica, where deacons gather two objects: a fisherman’s ring and the pallium, an ecclesiastical vestment worn by the Pope. Following prayers, there will likely be a procession into St Peter’s Square before Pope Leo is presented with the pallium and the ring as a symbol of his taking of the papacy.
In the days leading up to the inauguration, the Pope will have meetings with cardinals and the press.Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Robert Prevost, was elected on Thursday as the 267th Pontiff and Bishop of Rome. The King sent a private message to the Pope on Friday, congratulating him on his election. He sent “most sincere good wishes for his Pontificate” on behalf of both himself and the Queen, the palace said.
The King is deeply religious and takes his titles of Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England extremely seriously.
Ah, yes, Charles is so deeply religious that he skipped the Jesuit Pope’s funeral and now he’s skipping the Chicago Pope’s inauguration. Anyway, I like how Buckingham Palace keeps sending different people to the Vatican, like there’s not just one royal who can keep up with all things papal. I also wonder how Europeans really feel about the Chicago Pope – another ghastly American invading their precious club? And I wonder who the White House will send to the inauguration. Please, don’t send JD Vance. He’ll kill off poor Pope Bob, just like he did with Francis.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 08: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh and Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh attend a concert to mark the 80th Anniversary of VE Day at Horse Guards Parade on May 08, 2025 in London, England. The King and Queen, joined by Members of the Royal Family, will take part in events from May 5th to May 8th to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, which signalled the end of the Second World War in Europe.,Image: 996971744, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- The Duke of Edinburgh meeting guests during the gold award celebrations for the Duke of Edinburgh’s award at Buckingham Palace, London.,Image: 997127039, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Yui Mok/Avalon
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- The Duke of Edinburgh meeting guests during the gold award celebrations for the Duke of Edinburgh’s award at Buckingham Palace, London.,Image: 997127126, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Yui Mok/Avalon
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- The Duke of Edinburgh during the gold award celebrations for the Duke of Edinburgh’s award at Buckingham Palace, London.,Image: 997127205, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Yui Mok/Avalon
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- The Duke of Edinburgh speaking during the gold award celebrations for the Duke of Edinburgh’s award at Buckingham Palace, London.,Image: 997127231, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Yui Mok/Avalon
Oooh I wouldn’t mind seeing JD pitted against Leo XIV. I suspect someone further down might be sent.
I want to see him excommunicate Vance.. that is the message I want.
If he does, JD will lobby for a new pope and he’ll be based out of Avignon 😂
These converts are so much more conservative.
😍 🎯
Don’t forget Peter Thiel.
Maybe Pope Bob will smote down Vance as revenge for Pope Francis. But I doubt Vance will show his face there.
The tweets being dug up where the new pope directly or tacitly criticized maga and its members are fantastic. MAGA is in meltdown over Leo and it’s giving me life.
“Woke Marxist Pope” needs to be the name of a band.
So the current leader of the CoE and its future leader both have opted out of welcoming the new Pope… that says a lot, I find it insulting when they have to dig up the Royals so far down the LoS that they are unrecognizable for historical events like this.
Yeah, no lie, they’re not sending the king or the heir? That seems…kind of disrespectful right?
Extremely disrespectful imo.
They don’t like Americans. Especially mixed race ones.
The Duke of Gloucester isn’t a frontline royal and the queen sent him in 2013 so I’m guessing the BRF doesn’t regard this as overly important.
Fair point Megan. I guess it’s the fact that the nyt is alking about how William is attempting to burnish his statesman-like skills. So it could have been another opportunity. But I think you’re right that if the Queen didn’t send Charles last time when he was the heir then there is no precedent set for William to have to go. So he didn’t.
Henry VIII
“Charles is so deeply religious that he skipped the Jesuit Pope’s funeral”
Does the monarch even attend funerals of non-family members?
I could be wrong but it seems to me that the last time a monarch attended a public funeral was that of Winston Churchill. However, I could be wrong.
I’d enjoy watching JD squirm as Pope Leo gives a sermon about loving your immigrant neighbor.
I do wonder if there’s something going on with Edward. He’s not looked great for a while.
Awww, eddy is still alive! So cute. Happy you’ve got a few lines in the media, eddy old boy.. You and your racist wife can have a free trip to Italy., she’s got hundreds of Italian designer items in her massive wardrobe (she has a wardrobe manager – Ford fiesta that no one remembers – yes, she does)
Pope Leo has come out very strongly for Ukraine already, denouncing Russia. I suspect Europe will like Pope Bob a lot better than our 34 time felon.
Raised Catholic here. To my understanding (and I admit I’m a bit lapsed in my faith, to put it mildly), the whole point of establishing the Church of England was because Henry VIII didn’t agree with the Pope on the whole “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived” thing.
So I can’t get TOO deep in Peggy’s ass for that, even though, believe me, he deserves to be dragged by whatever follicles remain on his head for showing up at a funeral in a blue suit.
I’m just glad they found a job for Po Lil Tink Tink (aka Edward). Bless!
The Church of England was created because Henry the 8th wanted to divorce his first wife Katherine of Aragon because he was in love with Anne Boleyn. The Pope at the time wouldn’t grant him the divorce because Katherine was a member of his extended family. Henry the 8th wanted the divorce based on the grounds he had married his late brother’s wife ( Katherine was betrothed to his older brother but the brother died)
Katherine was actually married to Arthur, I think the argument was because they were both so young and Arthur so unwell the marriage was never consummated.
Is Huevo going on vacation or to another game?
That was my first thought. What’s Aston Villa’s schedule looking like?
Well it was easy to find AV’s schedule and they’re playing Tottenham Hotspur Friday but not Sunday. So it’s probably another vacation.
Edward looks spiffy. I’m glad his tailor slimmed up his suits.
I thought the same, and I think he looks pretty good in the hat.
The last few photos where Edward is wearing hats (military or otherwise) he looks SO MUCH like his grandfather George VI. Esp from the side or a 3/4 view.
With the hat and umbrella, he looks like he is going to bust out with “Singin in the Rain”
I was thinking more Fred astaire in stepping out with my baby from Easter parade.
Pope Leo is more Peruvian than from USA, you can see it in his first speech when he broke protocol to speak in Spanish and mention Chiclayo, he spent the last 40 years of his life in Peru and has double nationality
He still managed to attend a White Sox game so that’s still pretty American.
I’d like to see a football match between Peru vs USA and see which team he supports.
Lol, in Peru we don’t play baseball, and watching sports doesn’t mean anything for the catholic church
I think It’s appropriate to consider Pope Leo’s heritage being North AND South America plus French Creole through his biracial grandmother and I think having some African roots. He was multi-tribal before and global now.
He tweeted since 2011, plays Wordle daily, attended Game 1 of the World Series in 2005 for the White Sox https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/people-cant-believe-someone-actually-160717989.html
He cheers for Villanova basketball (Villanova is a Catholic university with GREAT basketball teams), attended a Villanova commencement 10ish years ago where Dr Jill Biden was speaking and he favors Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) in tennis. There are a lot of great sports teams at Catholic schools where chaplains are actually considered part of the team. Let the pope be global, from many continents.
If Willy could bring other countries to the negotiating table by stepping away from their meeting, imagine what he could do by not showing up at all?
Peace in the Middle East!
Ceasefire in Ukraine!
No more racism in football!
Homelessness solved!
All hail the global statesman!
But, but, but, but, but when?
The disrespect of sending the 15th in line to what is essentially a coronation. Wow.
I agree it should be someone higher in the pecking order but 9 of those 15 are minors.
That might be a good excuse if the adult ones actually had something scheduled, but they work less than a temporary employee does.
It is a known fact that the reigning monarch does not attend funerals of either religious leaders or foreign dignitaries. This is a longstanding tradition rooted in royal protocol and the monarch’s role as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. For example, Prince Charles attended Pope John Paul II funeral as QE II’s representative.
Typically, crowned monarchs and consorts do not attend the coronations of others and are instead represented by other royals. Prince Charles, once again, represented QE II at the inauguration of Pope Benedict.
QE2 did however break that precedent for the funeral of King Baudouin of Belgium in 1993. No, me neither…
Her presence at Baudoin’s, her only foreign funeral, is a true outlier. Especially because Baudoin’s absence from her father’s funeral in 1952 caused a lot of consternation in England and Belgium. Maybe her presence was purely diplomatic to show no hard feelings? The Belgian royals belong to the Coburg family like the Brits but there were other foreign monarchs who were closer. Like Olav of Norway was the Queens great uncle and Haakon her uncle. (And the latter’s birth name was Charles, he’s thought to be his namesake so the personal tie was strong.)
It is disrespectful. It was disrespectful when lizzie sent the Gloucester, it is disrespectful to send edward now. William should be there.
At the pope Francis ascension we saw the crown princely couples from Spain and netherlands. the ruling couple of Monaco. King and Queen of Belgium. Reigning couple of luxembourg.
The British royals wrongly think they are more important than other monarchies.
The European royals are much more involved in European events. The British pulled way back after ww1.
And there’s a religious element too. The Spanish, Belgian, Luxembourg royals are Catholic and they always send the monarch or heir. Other countries send high ranking Catholics. The US sent Biden to Francis’s but Gov Jeb Bush (W’s brother) to Benedict’s . Other countries send ambassadors or presidents or vice presidents. It’s a real mixed bag.
The swedes aren’t catholic and they sent their king and queen to the recent funeral. Some countries send monarchs or the heirs. Some send a high ranking royal and an ambassador.
The windsors didn’t send a rep to queen Fabiola funeral. Most of them were working that day. Kp said Kate was working so she couldn’t attend. She was papped shopping in London for six hours that day during the funeral.
There is no excuse for the Windsors to continue to class themselves as higher than other monarchies. William should be attending, not eddie.
It’s not at all a coronation as it he was elected by his peers based on personal merit, not accident of birth. It’s more like an inauguration, if anything, and I don’t think the royals generally attend those.
See my comment above. Countries usually send high ranking royals to papal inaugurations.
FK is not doing his duty and earning his keep.Or as we suspect this future King Billy will lessen his duties and continue to have the unmitigated gall to delegate just about everything to his aunts and uncle to do 95% of the royal engagements. Real issue for the Firm is King Billy ‘s absolute refusal to work full time.Once he’s King he should be fully occupied with meeting the full obligations of the role. It will be showtime for Willy
No excuses, no sick leave, no hiding behind pensioners or a sick wife or school runs or learning or adjusting just shoulder to the wheel and get on with everything.
European atheist here, so I don’t have a horse in the race.
The way people are reacting to Leo XIV. is curious to positive.
Curious because his old tweets targeting abortion, women in church and LGBTQIA+ issues were dug up — and people are waiting to find out if he’s changed more than a decade later.
Positive, because he mentioned Ukraine, the kids abducted to Russia — and Gaza, and the humanitarian cost of both.
I caught a few clips and was happy to find out that I understand his Italian without needing subtitles, and I’m impressed with him speaking seven languages.
And sending Mr Ed says quite a lot about how the BRF see themselves, while the rest of the world sees it as a huge snub.
The church has centuries of abuse to atone for.
An new pope who said nice things about some issues is nothing to celebrate.
But still, send them money, right?
As for Charles, there’s no reason for him to go. His family left Catholicism, also centuries ago, so while this might be huge for some, the rest of us couldn’t care less.
Far past time to stop this religion nonsense. It’s beyond harmful & traumatic. All of it.
William is too lazy, Andrew would be an insult, so that leaves Edward. Of course if they asked Harry to do it it would be interesting to see the reaction of the Wail and the Sun.
Its a good thing he gave Edward and his wife that Dukedom (as temporary as it may be) b/c they’re doing a large bulk of the work.
Edward doesn’t even have to go to this. The UK has an Ambassador to Italy that could go.
Charles expected heads of state and other royals to attend his coronation, why can he not attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration. Being the head of another religion should be no more relevant than kings and queens of other countries attending his coronation.
I mean to be fair, the pope (past or present) did not attend Charles’ coronation.
The constant delegation to relatively minor family members for most foreign state ceremonies, when other monarchies send the highest able representative, gives the impression the BRF/UK gov finds the events unimportant. What does a ceremonial head of state with, supposedly, no power need to do that would prevent them from attending a ceremony like this? QE2 got away with avoiding events because of her age but from Charles and William it comes across as isolationist at worst arrogant at best
Certainly for William but I give Charles a little slack, we know he has cancer, and they don’t seem to be able to cure it, presumably it will carry him off sometime. Of course Charles can’t go to it anyway, for whatever reason it is against protocol.
Edward is like Anne. They work.
Nothing is going to change when Will is King. He will occasionally show up at events to his liking whilst OAP aunt and uncle do the majority of royal duties!
While I wouldn’t expect the ailing King to attend, it’s amazing the Prince & Princess of Wales aren’t representing the U.K. at this historic event, both for the world and in deference to their most important ally.
(Diplomatic Q-If the King did attend would he be seated with world religious leaders or the political crowd?)
It should have been William. William is so awkward and sketchy at all his engagements (the few that there are) so he needs ALL the practice he can get at playing king (though he’d be better off being King of Soccer Only in the UK).
That photo of Edward with the hat and umbrella looks like an out take from an amateur version of The Talented Mr Ripley…”