Here are more photos of King Charles and Queen Camilla on Day 1 of their four-day visit to Kenya. There was a state dinner in Nairobi on Tuesday, but Camilla skipped the tiara and gaudy jewelry this time. She did that on purpose – she didn’t want to wear any diamonds looted from the continent of Africa while she was actually IN Kenya. She also didn’t wear a formal dress, opting instead for a clownish two-piece look by Anna Valentine – palazzo pants and an Indian-style kurta/tunic. Per People Magazine, “By leaving her tiara at home, the Queen eliminated potential outcry around accessorizing with a visual symbol of the monarchy in a country formerly under British rule and scarred by The Emergency or the Mau Mau rebellion, which was met with a violent and brutal British-led crackdown in the 1950s.” As if “not wearing a tiara” would make people forget about the decades of systematic oppression and the looting of their national resources and treasure. Speaking of, at the state dinner, King Charles refused to apologize in his speech:
“It is the intimacy of our shared history that has brought our people together. However, we must also acknowledge the most painful times of our long and complex relationship,” the monarch said.
“The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret,” he continued. “There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged, as you said at the United Nations, a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty – and for that, there can be no excuse.”
“In coming back to Kenya, it matters greatly to me that I should deepen my own understanding of these wrongs, and that I meet some of those whose lives and communities were so grievously affected,” he said. “None of this can change the past. But by addressing our history with honesty and openness we can, perhaps, demonstrate the strength of our friendship today. And, in so doing, we can, I hope, continue to build an ever-closer bond for the years ahead.”
“It means a great deal to my wife and myself that, in our coronation year, our first state visit to a Commonwealth country should bring us here to Kenya,” he said. “We both take considerable pride in renewing the ties between the United Kingdom and Kenya, a country that has long held such special meaning for my family.” He then said in Swahili, “Today, I don’t feel like a visitor.”
“It is well known, I think, that my dear mother, The late Queen, had a particular affection for Kenya and the Kenyan people. She arrived here in 1952 a princess but left as Queen,” the King continued, speaking about how Queen Elizabeth acceded to the throne during a tour there when her father, King George VI, died unexpectedly. “It is extremely moving to read her diary from that visit, in which she wrote that she did not want to miss a moment of Kenya’s extraordinary landscapes. I really cannot thank you enough for the support Kenya gave her through that difficult time.”
King Charles also recalled how his father, Prince Philip, attended the celebrations of Kenya’s independence in 1963 as well as when Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton in Kenya in 2010. “It was here, in sight of Mount Kenya, that my son, the Prince of Wales, proposed to his wife, now my beloved daughter-in-law,” he said.
I wonder if any Kenyan will ask him about what he did to his other daughter-in-law, the Black one he put in mortal danger as a way to bring her “to heel.” Which speaks to the colonialist attitudes of Charles in particular and the institution generally, which is why the careful wording of his statement falls flat. As always, beware of the historical passive voice- instead of “mistakes were made,” Kenya gets “There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans.” Who can even say by whom, amirite?? Also: does anyone buy that William actually proposed to Kate in Kenya at this point?
“By addressing our history with honesty and openness we can, perhaps, demonstrate the strength of our friendship today. And, in so doing, we can, I hope, continue to build an ever-closer bond for the years ahead.”
The King speaks at a State Banquet on Day 1 of #RoyalVisitKenya. pic.twitter.com/y96ZaBZ1Um
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 31, 2023
PS… Charles’s hands look extremely painful at this point.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a wreath laying ceremony at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior, in Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi, on day one of the State Visit to Kenya. Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: Nairobi, Kenya When: 31 Oct 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III wipes his temple during a wreath laying ceremony at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior, in Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi, on day one of the State Visit to Kenya. Featuring: King Charles III Where: Nairobi, Kenya When: 31 Oct 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive at a state banquet at State House in Nairobi, on day one of the State Visit to Kenya. Featuring: Camilla Queen Consort, King Charles III Where: Nairobi, Kenya When: 31 Oct 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive at a state banquet at State House in Nairobi, on day one of the State Visit to Kenya. Featuring: Camilla Queen Consort, King Charles III Where: Nairobi, Kenya When: 31 Oct 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive at a state banquet at State House in Nairobi, on day one of the State Visit to Kenya. Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla Queen Consort, Dr William Ruto, First Lady Rachel Ruto Where: Nairobi, Kenya When: 31 Oct 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
“Mistakes were made” – that’s the limit of what he is prepared to admit.
The passive voice is specifically used to obscure the identity of the subject (i.e. the actor in the sentence). They’ve got plenty of “she did” and “she said” phrases to throw around when the subject is one particular person, but then they fall back on “someone, at some point in time” when consequences come calling. Disappointing, not surprising.
“Mistakes were made”??? That’s what I say when I accidentally calculate my bank balance incorrectly. Not when 10,000+ Kenyans lose their life.
The passive voice is used to avoid taking responsibility for something as well. It comes across similar to saying sorry for something and then immediately tacking a “BUT” onto the apology. And KC definitely didn’t apologize. My sympathies to the Kenyans who are paying for this.
Holy shit, his HANDS. Dude is… not in the best of health….
He looks terribly out of shape,Prince Phillip and also the Queen DID NOT look this worn out at 70.
Do they make compression gloves? I think he needs them.
They do make them. I actually wear them when I’m knitting and my arthritis flares up.
King Sausage Fingers
An apology means accountability and that opens the doors for requests or demands of some sort damages paid by the offender. That’s why those in power will never apologize for the horrors of what happened – whether it’s in the US with slavery or the BaRF with their colonialism and exploiting and raping the land and people in Africa and India (and many more).
Exactly. And that’s why Charles can’t say anything more than the UK government wants him to.
British raping and looting in the US prior to American independence too.
And all but the last 90 years of slavery in the US as well.
Re: the proposal story: It was really Scotland, no? IDK why they insist on this African fiction?
So they can make pretty speeches about how much they love Kenya?
No I don’t believe that Kenya engagement story. I think it was made up by the Palace to make the engagement more romantic than it was. I’m not surprised that Charles didn’t apologize he believes in the greatness of Empire. But I’ve noticed that the Palace has introduced a new talking point that Charles can’t apologize because the British Government hasn’t apologized. I don’t remember this being said when previous calls for an apology were made.
And even within that story,if i remember correctly it was a group trip? Why would you propose to your girlfriend on a group trip? I know Kate was such a thirsty cling on but even she deserved better than that.
It’s likely an accurate talking point. Colonialism was government policy and even while was done in the name of the monarch, the UK is a constitutional monarchy so the monarch doesn’t get to reject government policy.
I believe the UK government needs to look to the Dutch on how they are reckoning with their role in colonialism and slavery. It’s not perfect, but its better than this passive voice nonsense.
So “we have vacationed here a few times and admire the beauty of your country, that means we are close.”?
LOL 🎯
When I read that BIG LIE about WanK engagement I immediately thought about SPARE when Prince Harry said that he and Wills had spent a month in Africa together working on a project. When they returned, to his absolute shock, it was announced that they were engaged YET, NOT ONCE did Wills mention it to him while they were away.
King Charles visited Kenya with his favorite toy Gumby.
To Charles,
“Recollections may vary”.
From Kenya
His beloved daughter in law. Kate Charles is so sickening not mentioning Meghan. I recall the reality of William taking Charles by surprise with the engagement announcement
Except Meghan doesn’t have any fake connection to Kenya. It wouldn’t have made sense to bring her up in this speech even if there wasn’t an estrangement.
Charles always leaves her out.
And doing it in front of a black audience.
Camilla in an odd outfit
At least she didn’t include a tiara.
Cam was wearing a strange outfit of denim blue that had been bedazzled, along with her very best Dr Scholl sandals.
Camilla thinks she’s in India…
Brown people, all the same to her, amiright?
“It’s the Intimacy of our shared history that brought our people together “? Well isn’t that a f d up way of saying we stole from and killed and enslaved you. You didn’t make love with them Chuckles. How thoughtful not to outfit Horsilla in any of the diamonds that were stolen from them. Instead she put on some kinda strange clown livery. Still waiting for an apology for the horrendous things that were done to these people by your country but I won’t hold my breath.
Camilla was obviously dressed for Halloween.
There is no other explanation for that ugly mess….and then there is her attire.. ….
As usual, Chuck fails. Camilla’s wearing very weird shoes.
Horse shoes don’t come in very many different styles. They just protect the hoofs.😉
Seriously, are those see-thru wedges?
KC at 73 was able to memorize a phrase in Swahili, and his idiot son hasnt been able to learn one bit of Welsh his whole life.
The lack of apology speaks volumes about their ongoing racism. A simple “sorry for slaughtering innocent people and pillaging your country” would probably silence a whole lot of criticism even without accompanying the apology with reparations of some sort*, but they can’t even fake giving a f–k because deep down, they still don’t believe that non-white people are capable of self-rule.
*I personally believe that words are not enough and that reparations are in order, but they’re unfortunately a hard sell to people with actual power.
Will had to say something in their engagement interview. Clearly he thinks he did Kate a favour and as a commoner she should be grateful he finally asked her. But he is unromantic,hates pda and too arrogant to go out of his way to make a romantic proposal ,He probably just informed her they will be engaged lol.
I would have sympathy for Kate has she not been nasty to Meghan and caused much trouble.
I remember in the interview after the engagement was announced, William being sort of bored as he told how he proposed and Kate awkwardly patting him on the knee and saying, “There’s a true romantic in here,” or something like that, trying to pretend that it was a romantic proposal.
He probably tossed big blue at her and said “Here you go, you finally got what you wanted”.
On another note entirely, the First Couple of Kenya, President William Ruto and his wife Rachel Ruto, are KILLING IT. They both look sharp, radiant, and confident, and very much in charge of the situation. I respect their chic self-possession in the face of all this public fuckery on the part of the British.
Right, he looks so sharp in a tux
I came here to say the same thing. They looked gorgeous at the arrival ceremony and in this evening attire. First Lady Ruto has style and presence, and poor Camilla looks so flaccid in comparison.
She left her tiara at home so there wasn’t a visible symbol of the monarchy…..as she, the current queen and her husband, the actual monarch, visit the country? They ARE the monarchy, the lack of a tiara isn’t going to make people forget that.
I’m sure Charles’ speech was vetted by the foreign office and he was never going to apologize – once he apologizes, then the question becomes “what are you going to do about it?” And the UK is not interested in being held accountable.
The passive voice is really something else though.
I was going to say the same thing – you can’t get more symbolic of the monarchy than the actual king and queen, no matter what they’re wearing.
That speech is something, not only passive voice, but filled with allusions as to how much his family have enjoyed their visits there. Now, I see from where William got the idea for his disastrous speech during the Tartan Tour.
“Our shared history” doing a lot of heavy lifting here. GB and Kenya would not have a “shared history” if GB hadn’t colonized, looted, and exploited Kenya. The two nations didn’t just crash together by accident and then some unpleasant 💩 happened. The passive voice, the talking all around the problem without saying the quiet part out loud has become more and more noticeable with time. And that itself becomes a problem.
As a Kenyan I was watching his speech yesterday and knew he wasn’t gonna apologize, can’t wait for them to leave.
Sophie, how have they been received so far in the media and general public?
In my opinion I’d say fair, they’ve been given their fair share of media attention, my fave tv show had to be cut short yesterday when he gave the speech at dinner🙄🙄, other than that I don’t think the public really gives a damn.
My take would be for African leaders to stop inviting colonisers back, they bend over too much.
The same president just agreed to deploy some of our policemen to go serve in Haiti as if we don’t problems of our own, I hope parliament doesn’t approve
NOT TRUE . When I read about WanK engagement, I immediately thought about SPARE when Prince Harry said that he and Wills had spent a month in Africa together working on a project. When they returned, to his absolute shock, it was announced that they were engaged YET, NOT ONCE did Wills mention it to him while they were away.
The point is to make THEM appear as victims for being asked about reparations.
I love how the Kenyan first lady looks like she’s so over the progeny of imperialist colonizing scum that have the gall to show up and justify their looting and genocide with a non apology, no reparations and let’s be friends so we can perpetuate harm on you again! What a shitty offer. I wish formerly colonized countries would realize that when these a-holes come with offers of collaboration disguised under diplomacy and capitalist prosperity that they only seek to line their pockets more while you will always earn less while they strip your resources and pay you less for your goods and services. All of it is rooted in white supremacy. So gross.
The WHITE one is his “beloved” daughter-in-law. That’s essentially what he said – and that’s how the people of Kenya are going to take it. These people are so stupid.
Christ almighty Charlie, roll up your bloody tent and take your comedy show home. Don’t try and justify your existence to the people of Kenya, without trying to justify it to the people of the UK as well. The way the people of Kenya were treated by YOUR family and forces was sick and depraved. An apology, you mealy mouthed little man, is the least they deserve! And how pathetic do you look, using the memory of your dead mother and your pathetic WHITE daughter in law to try and ingratiate yourself!
Maybe read the words from your speech back to yourself (or get one of your servants to do it!) and you will find a lot of them SHOULD be spoken by you to your youngest son, and more than that, just like with Kenya a massive apology should be given to your other daughter in law, you know the one who isn’t WHITE!!!, so take your tent, and the one your wife is wearing, go home and wait for hell to reign down on you, because you will find that people’s opinions of you and the rest of the “left behind Royals” is now in the gutter with your morals.
The First couple of Kenya are FIRE! Mrs Ruto is killing it in her gorgeous dress! So stately and dignified, and then…we have the schlubs from Britain!!! I don’t know how the Rutos can be so gracious, but they obviously are, dignity in the face of outrage.
The BRF is in love with the landscape. The people… not so much.
At this point in time, I could believe William stopped in front of a photo of Kenya and tossed Big Blue to Kate and said “You’ll do. Go plan our wedding.” and Kate whipped out her phone and called her wedding planner.
They made it look like he might apologize to get people interested in his visit. Plus, by the press talking about apologies it stops others from bringing it up. It becomes a wait and see.
I think he did this before. I feel stupid for falling for it. He just wants attention.
If Charles can’t apologize to his own blood son and his wife-he is certainly is not going to say sorry to the brown and black people of the commonwealths-I also think the UK government has strictly enforced no apology rules for members of the monarchy.
The shared history…brought intimacy…what a strange way of saying we arrived with superior military technology and kicked your asses, raped your land (and your women), and hauled your country’s riches back to jolly old England. What an odd way to summarize the history of colonialism indeed.