It’s going to be a long year as royalists continue to lose their ever-loving minds over the Birmingham Invictus Games. It’s already started! Just this week, the Daily Mail’s Amanda Platell wrote a horrible column, threatening King Charles with “unpopularity” if he dares to show his face at the Birmingham games. Platell thinks it will be “appalling” if the head of Britain’s Armed Forces and the collector of fifty-plus military medals attends an international warrior-games for veterans. There seems to be a growing consensus that all of the choreography of the games will be difficult for Charles in particular. But I’d like to point out one thing – Prince Harry was not the one who decided to “give” the games to Birmingham. That decision was made by Invictus’ board and executives, because Birmingham and the British government put together such an impressive bid. They’re trying to make this about “Harry knew he was putting his father in a difficult position!” Harry wasn’t the decision-maker, and Harry’s supporters are really mad at Invictus’s board for choosing Birmingham. Anyway, here’s more commentary on how Harry “set a trap” for his father:

Prince Harry didn’t just bring the Invictus Games home to Britain — according to one of the U.K.’s top royal watchers, he set a trap the Palace can’t escape. This week, Harry’s team ran to the Daily Mirror, the same paper he successfully sued for phone hacking years ago, with a plea splashed under the headline “Dad: Let the world see us together,” pushing for King Charles to appear alongside him at the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham. And JJ Anisiobi, host of “The Daily Expresso,” the Daily Express podcast that ranks as the most-watched daily podcast in the U.K., says the King has effectively been boxed in.

“Harry even hosting the Games in the U.K. means that the royal family were, in a way, being blackmailed,” Anisiobi said. “There’s no way he could have the Invictus Games on British soil, and not one single member of the royal family turn up to it. That can’t happen.”

The trap, as Anisiobi lays it out, is all about the headlines.

“If he did the Invictus Games and no one turned up, all the papers will say King Charles snubs Harry,” he explained. And the optics get worse from there: “A lot of the teams competing are Commonwealth countries. How bad would that look if the king wasn’t seen supporting his own subjects who have injured themselves dying for his kingdom, and they’re now on his soil trying to restart their lives… and he doesn’t go there and salute those brave men and women? That can’t happen. Just by virtue of having the Games here in England, Harry has forced the royal household to send someone.”

So who shows up? Don’t expect the Waleses. “William and Kate — forget about it,” Anisiobi said. “Camilla, only if she’s attending with Charles. And then you’ve got the lesser royals, his cousins Beatrice and Eugenie… but there’s no way that’d be good enough. It’s got to be King Charles and Camilla or nobody.”

And Anisiobi says his sources indicate the king will indeed walk into the trap but on his own terms. “What I’ve been told is that Charles is likely to attend, and he’ll pick a day during the week that is one of the quieter days where there are fewer events on. That’s when he’ll go.” As for an opening or closing ceremony appearance, the moment Harry reportedly craves? “I don’t suspect that’s going to happen.”

[From NewsNation]

“As for an opening or closing ceremony appearance, the moment Harry reportedly craves?” At previous Invictus games, the heads of state made an appearance at the tailend, usually on one of the final days or the closing ceremony. In Dusseldorf, Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended the closing ceremony. In Canada, then-PM Justin Trudeau attended events in the final days alongside Harry, and then Trudeau spoke at the closing ceremony. In The Hague, King Willem-Alexander sat with Harry during some of the final events. It will be extremely notable and an enormous own-goal if Charles refuses to attend the opening and closing ceremonies and only makes a brief appearance mid-week. That being said, I think this really IS a trap, but on both sides. It’s a trap for Charles because he’s weak and indecisive and he’s torn between a campaign of public humiliation for the Sussexes versus wanting a “warm, kindly grandfather” brand. For Harry, the trap is horrific, because it involves all of these security issues and whether or not Meghan can safely attend.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Cover Images.