Queen Elizabeth ‘planned’ Prince Charles’s appearance at Parliament

Queen Elizabeth made the Royal Windsor Horse Show more of a priority than the State Opening of Parliament. While I don’t blame her for that, it was a choice! But was it a choice the Queen made herself, or was it made by the Queen’s advisors and courtiers? It will be curious to find out what exactly has been going on with the Queen’s health and mental faculties over the past eight months. I wonder if the truth will ever be told. In the meantime, trust the Queen’s advisors to insist that however chaotic, however shambolic, however irresponsible they are, it was all according to the Queen’s plan. So it is with the Queen’s “choice” to send Prince Charles to the opening of Parliament last week. According to sources, the Queen masterminded this whole thing. Uh-huh.

The Queen was ‘adamant’ that Prince Charles delivered her speech at the State Opening of Parliament – as part of the ‘pin sharp’ monarch’s ‘masterplan’ to prepare her son for the throne and ‘soften the edges of transition’.

Prince Charles, dressed in ‘full rig’ uniform, read her speech for the first time and was accompanied by Prince William – who had never attended before. The appearance was planned by the Queen, her son and their aides as part of the latest move to ‘soften the edges of transition’ before Charles becomes king, The Times reports.

A royal source said: ‘Make no mistake, this was the trailer. The prince was dressed in a very regal way, but not to the point of appropriating the sovereign. Once you adjust your eyes to that, it won’t be so different when we see him wearing the crown. Technically, it wasn’t even necessary to have him read the speech.’

An emotional Prince Charles gazed at his mother’s crown before he announced 38 of Boris Johnson’s Bills for the coming year including new laws to properly punish eco hooligans, capitalise on Brexit, better regulate landlords and ensure Britons can pay their soaring bills.

It was only the third time the Queen has missed the event in her 70-year reign, with the Lord Chancellor reading a speech on her behalf on each occasion. But the monarch this year insisted that Charles deliver the speech, rather than current Lord Chancellor Dominic Raab.

The Prince of Wales giving the speech was a ‘very conscious decision’ by the Queen, who is keen to ‘cement in people’s minds that his role is coming’, the source added.

Another source close to the Queen said ‘things have been changing for a while’ as the monarch has a pragmatic understanding about her ability to perform the role. But she continues to sign legislation, receive visits from heads of states and perform engagement virtually from her office.

[From The Daily Mail]

Sources again insist that the Queen is “very much in charge” and that she’s still doing all of her meetings with the Prime Minister and she’s doing some of the diplomatic meetings too. I believe that about the meetings, and they probably severely limit her time with both Boris Johnson and ambassadors and such. They keep her very insulated, which they translate as “safe” (but is not the same thing). As for the Queen masterminding Charles’s big keen speech… bullsh-t. This was Charles masterminding the transition to his own kingship. I don’t think Charles forced the Queen to stay in Windsor, but he was more than happy to get his moment. He wanted face-time with the actual Crown.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and Instar.

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28 Responses to “Queen Elizabeth ‘planned’ Prince Charles’s appearance at Parliament”

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  1. BUBS says:

    Off topic but are they airbrushing Betty’s pictures now? The pictures of her smiling are giving “Kate Middleton crazy airbrush” vibes!

    • Snuffles says:

      Probably. Can’t have her looking like the crypt keeper like Philip did in his final years.

  2. Snuffles says:

    Pretty sure this is Charles plan. But seriously, let Lizzie have her Jubbly then enter into an official regency. Let the Queen chill and just do the fun stuff she likes like horse stuff and Zooming with Harry.

  3. Harleyb says:

    ‘He wanted face time with the actual crown’….dyyying.

  4. Sunday says:

    I commented yesterday that if I were a full-blown conspiracy theorist I’d say they’ve perfected the QEII body double due to how quick this turnaround has been. But besides the Melania-bot theory, I do want to point out that if the queen had opened parliament, she would have had to speak publicly. So, while she’s been seen in various locations since then, she hasn’t publicly spoken at all. IMO this points to a cognitive decline rather than severe mobility issues. (Although, if it IS a body double, maybe the voice gives her away… hmm.)

    • windyriver says:

      I wouldn’t write off the mobility issues. That kyphosis (dowager’s hump) seen in the transit station pictures is pretty significant and could be causing a lot of problems.

  5. Noki says:

    She has smiled publicly more in the last few months than her whole reign put together. She seems so much warmer lately.

    • Nick G says:

      Yeah people were commenting the other day that she’s always cheerful around horses, but the smiling is happening at every occasion we see her! This, from a woman who looked grim at her children’s and grandchildren’s weddings 🙄

      • Dee says:

        I didn’t want to say anything about that. Because I’ve been worried the smiling is from a cocktail of medication. I watched that Crown episode with Jackie Kennedy where she’s talking about how “their doctor gave them stuff to perk them up or calm them down”, and I see her smiling so goofily when, from all we’ve been told, she’s in quite a bit of discomfort, and I get very worried about Harry’s comments.

    • Eggbert says:

      I think smiling more is a sign of a change in her normal behavior due to dementia.

  6. Jay says:

    Tell me there’s a regency without telling me there’s a regency.

    I don’t know that this makes the queen look wise – if she really wanted to soften the transition for her son, she would retire. If she really isn’t up for these duties, for whatever reason, then it’s not heroic to keep the role. If anything, it undermines Charles in my view. Certainly it wasn’t a flattering look for William, who looked like a miserable preteen dragged along on take your kid to work day.

    I would, however, find it hilarious if she ONLY attends horsey events from here on out. Opening Parliament? Nope. Meeting with the PM? Nah. But you’d best believe her maj will be there for her ponies.

    • Colby says:

      This. If she can’t do her duties, which seem to include going places and sitting down and occasionally reading something, she shouldn’t be reigning. I have absolutely no sympathy for Charles generally speaking – but this is just objectively dumb and makes it look like she doesn’t trust him which does undermine him.

    • AMA1977 says:

      WHY does William ALWAYS look so freaking miserable in literally every image? Smug or miserable, those are his only two visible emotions.

  7. Cessily says:

    How incompetent do you have to be at the age most look to retire that your mother is still making sure you are up to handling a job where the only requirement is you came out of the Royal birth canal first.

  8. Eurydice says:

    Lol, omg, please stop, you’re killing me here. If TQ wanted “to prepare her son for the throne and soften the edges of transition” she would have done it much earlier and not waited until she had one foot in the wheelchair and the other in the grave.

  9. Jennifer says:

    Hellllo! People, people, people–you’re skipping right over “An emotional Prince Charles gazed at his mother’s crown before he announced…”

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA … good one.

    • Eurydice says:

      I’ve been laughing ever since I saw the photo on the day. The emotion Charles was showing was pining – “so close…getting closer…I can smell it…I can almost touch it…”

  10. matthew says:

    Charles cry face staring at the crown is HILARIOUS

    • SnoodleDumpling says:

      It gets funnier when you realize that William is just on the other side of that, um, crown chair, and it is almost CERTAIN that Charles has William firmly in view while gazing mournfully at Mummy’s blinged out Work Hat.

      Is it the contemplation of his mother dying that makes him wanna cry or the contemplation of how much Wee Willy Wales (every inch his father’s son) will ruin everything that Charles has done in his entire life?

      Well, okay, it made ME laugh.

  11. Margles says:

    Sounds like they’ve figured out they can reduce criticism by piously claiming it was The Queen’s idea. And how could you criticize her? She’s so noble and dutiful and old!

    How much you want to bet, after she dies, they’ll be constantly claiming that they’re just following her “last wishes” whenever they do something shaky?

  12. C-Shell says:

    “ The Queen was ‘adamant’ that Prince Charles delivered her speech at the State Opening of Parliament – as part of the ‘pin sharp’ monarch’s ‘masterplan’ to prepare her son for the throne and ‘soften the edges of transition’.”

    “Pin sharp,” and “adamant” and “master plan,” all in quotes, unattributed. This is, probably, coming from Edward Young, no? He’s proven himself an idiot many times over, but if he thinks ANYBODY is buying this pin sharp master planning 96-year old monarch bit, he’s smoking his own crack.

    If Charles weren’t such a wimpy, whiny, poor excuse for a brother/father/grandfather, I’d feel sorry for him being teased and punked this way, but he is and I don’t.

  13. Amy Bee says:

    Charles and William looked trapped. Proving Harry right once again.

    • Babz says:

      Nailed it. Harry knows what’s going on, and isn’t afraid to call them out about it.

  14. Julia K says:

    At this point, who knows what or who to believe. As mentioned in the post, there is chaos behind the scenes. Too many ” insider ” or friend of a friend comments. The easiest, simplest explanation is that morning she just didn’t feel up to it so delegated to next in line. Or not. No one knows except Her Majesty. Guess I’ll have to live with that.

  15. nina says:

    Betty’s doing the right thing. At her age, she should do what she likes. so she wants to go see the ponies, let her. That’s just all pomp and ceremony. The Brits want to carry on doing that song and dance let them. If Betty wants to say: “peace out”, let her. How much longer can she possibly have.

  16. FeministYeah says:

    The more they tell me she’s in charge, the less inclined I am to believe it 😉