Slimmed-down royals put on show of strength in front of the cameras
TO WESTMINSTER Abbey — a coconspirator in one of the most celebrated cases of royal photographic trickery of all time. (Keep it under your hat, but Cecil Beaton’s official 1953 Coronation portrait of Elizabeth II was actually taken at home with a fake Abbey backdrop.)
Happily, there was no artifice to be found here at yesterday’s Commonwealth Day service.
While much of the world was debating the ethics of doctoring a snap of a child’s pullover, the entire operational capacity of the Royal Family was used to produce an old-fashioned show of strength in front of the BBC cameras.
The unspoken message was authentic enough: we may be more slimmed- down than ever but we are going to get on with the job. Led by Queen Camilla, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, the Edinburghs, the Princess Royal, the Gloucesters and the Duke of Kent, they were the supporting act. It was left to the absent King to do the talking.
He insisted on recording his message for the service on camera, aware it would be examined in forensic detail for every indication of his state of health.
The late Queen sometimes recorded an audio version or even, on occasion, consigned her Commonwealth Day thoughts to a written statement.
KNOWING this would cause even more disquiet than a fullfrontal video appearance, the King did what the Waleses have not done so far. He bit the bullet.
Here was his first public address since his cancer diagnosis nearly two months ago. To my untrained eye, he looked exactly as he did in his last speech to the nation, on Christmas Day.
Readers can call up videos of both online and take me to task. Perhaps the eyes were a tad rheumy this time, the voice thinner — though that could be because he was recording the latest broadcast in the White Drawing Room at Windsor, a larger space than the Centre Room at Buckingham Palace, the scene of his Christmas message.
Back then, he stood up. This time, he was behind a desk.
The words were generally upbeat and forward-looking, with the emphasis on the Commonwealth as a network rather than a political talking shop. He spoke of the self- help groups and associations spanning everything from accountancy to trade.
It was telling that he opened by reflecting on three Commonwealth anniversaries — half-centuries of independence for the Bahamas, Grenada and Papua New Guinea. All three are also Commonwealth realms where he is head of state. In other words, republicanism could become an issue there, just as a vocal minority seeks to make it one here.
Pressure group, Republic, mounted its first protest of 2024 outside the Abbey yesterday.
Their ‘Not My King’ banners were hardly going to work so they had a batch of new posters reading: ‘Down With The Crown’. Even so, it seemed a little pointless to spend all afternoon railing against a sovereign who wasn’t there.
All the recent royal troubles meant that it was a less awkward day than it might have been for one guest. Ex- Spice Girl Geri Horner has long been an ambassador for the world’s oldest school writing contest, the Commonwealth Essay Competition, and always attends this event.
She has had her own family dramas of late. Yet she still kept her appointment. Good for her.
The King also used his video to make a clear reference to the ongoing debate in several Caribbean Commonwealth nations that are seeking reparations from the British Government over slavery, arguing it continues to cause grave economic problems.
‘ We must work together to understand each other’s perspectives, including the inequalities and injustices which still resonate to this day,’ the King observed.
‘We must find ways of healing, and to support each other to pursue solutions.’
AT THE Palace it has not gone unnoticed that last month’s meeting of Caricom, the association of nations, wants to put reparations on the agenda at this autumn’s Commonwealth summit in Samoa.
It will not have been overlooked, either, by the Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, who was in the VIP seats yesterday.
So was Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner. If her party is in power by then, it will be interesting to see how it handles the current Caribbean calculation of Britain’s obligations: $24 trillion (£19 trillion).
If the King cannot make the big summit, the expectation is that the Prince of Wales will need to be there. The Prince had much to cheer during yesterday’s service.
One of the main speakers was the boss of Notpla, the brilliant British start-up that has found a way of making packaging from seaweed. In 2022, it won the Prince’s Earthshot Prize, the £1 million annual eco award.
At the end of yesterday’s service, he looked thrilled to be reunited with Notpla on the way out.
Turning seaweed into ‘plastic’ might sound like a sorcerer’s trick. In fact, it turns out to be rather more plausible than his attempt at a happy family snap.