Last week, Rishi Sunak called the general election for the 4th of July. Buckingham Palace promptly announced that they were canceling many of their events for King Charles and Queen Camilla, and Kensington Palace quickly canceled a surprise/unannounced event for Prince William as well. The whole idea is that for a six-week period, the country needs to be focused on the election and the “apolitical” royals cannot and should not do anything which could be construed as partisan or political. Reportedly, Charles, Camilla and William will still go to Normandy for the D-Day anniversary events, and some or all of them will also attend Royal Ascot. Trooping the Colour will still go ahead, I’m sure. But what about the state visit by Japan’s Emperor Narukito? From the Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column:
Rishi’s surprise poll call has given King Charles the jitters over next month’s state visit by Japan’s Emperor Naruhito.
The Prime Minister and the Home and Foreign Secretaries have high-profile roles in the event, which could be deemed inappropriate so close to an election.
Naruhito’s schedule also includes speaking to MPs and peers at Westminster – impossible given that Parliament is about to be dissolved. While details are being amended, officials are also considering alternative dates.
The visit has already been postponed because of the pandemic.
Given that the visit was already postponed once, I imagine it will go ahead but the palace will change some stuff. They’ll probably roll out the red carpet (literally) and do a parade and lean into the military pomp. The state dinner will go ahead. But I bet there will just be a softer, less political focus for the rest of the visit. Like, Charles will take the emperor to a garden show or something. What will also be interesting to see is which royals are brought out to entertain and show the monarchy’s beleaguered soft power. I imagine we’ll see a lot of Prince Edward and Sophie. Anne will be tasked with something. But I bet William won’t be given much of anything to do. Also: I guarantee that if the state dinner goes ahead, the king’s Lord In Waiting will attend. Meaning, David Rocksavage and Rose Hanbury will be there.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 22: (L-R) King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort during the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022 in London, England. This is the first state visit hosted by the UK with King Charles III as monarch, and the first state visit here by a South African leader since 2010.,Image: 739545375, 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, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- King Charles III And Queen Camilla Visit France – Day One In Versailles VERSAILLES, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 20 King Charles III, Brigitte Macron and President of France Emmanuel Macron arrive at the Palace of Versailles ahead of the State Dinner held in honor of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in the Hall of Mirrors of the Chateau de Versailles on September 20, 2023 in Versailles, France. The King and The Queen’s first state visit to France will take place in Paris, Versailles and Bordeaux from Wednesday 20th to Friday 23rd 2023. The visit had been initially scheduled for March 26th – 29th but had to be postponed due to mass strikes and protests.,Image: 807049417, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Franck Castel / Avalon
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- King Charles III And Queen Camilla Visit France – Day One In Versailles King Charles III, VERSAILLES, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 20 King Charles III, Brigitte Macron and President of France Emmanuel Macron arrive at the Palace of Versailles ahead of the State Dinner held in honor of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in the Hall of Mirrors of the Chateau de Versailles on September 20, 2023 in Versailles, France. The King and The Queen’s first state visit to France will take place in Paris, Versailles and Bordeaux from Wednesday 20th to Friday 23rd 2023. The visit had been initially scheduled for March 26th – 29th but had to be postponed due to mass strikes and protests.,Image: 807050672, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Franck Castel / Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles III sits besides Queen Camilla during the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. King Charles III sits on a gilded throne and will read out the King’s Speech, a list of planned laws drawn up by the Conservative government and aimed at winning over voters ahead of an election next year.,Image: 820442702, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WPA POOL ALL IN, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Avalon
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- The Princess of Wales, President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol, King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the state banquet at Buckingham Palace, London, for the state visit to the UK by President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee. Picture date: Tuesday November 21, 2023.,Image: 823485090, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown / Avalon
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- Queen Camilla at a State Banquet for the President and First Lady of South Korea at Buckingham Palace in London on the first day of their State Visit to the United Kingdom. London, UK, 21 November 2023,Image: 823485363, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Licenced to i-Images Picture Agency. All Rights Reserved. UK copyright law applies to all print & online publications. i-Images space rates apply to all images. Magazines contact agency for fees before use. Images Single use only then repro fees apply. Info@i-images.co Tel: 07860204379, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Stephen Lock / i-Images / Avalon
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- Berlin, GERMANY – President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort and First Lady Elke Buedenbender pose with guests at a state banquet at Schloss Bellevue presidential palace in Berlin, Germany. The King and Queen Consort’s state visit to France, which was scheduled for March 26th – 29th, has been postponed due to ongoing mass strikes and protests. Pictured: King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort BACKGRID USA 29 MARCH 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Palace of Westminster during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords, London. Featuring: King Charles III Where: London, United Kingdom When: 07 Nov 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Japanese royalty is causing British royalty to have the jutters due to British elections? What is really going on, because that doesn’t make sense.
It makes no sense at all. How can a dinner for a foreign country affect domestic politics? I’d imagine it would be highly insulting to Japan to postpone the visit again.
Since I’m avoiding work, I did a dive. (I’m an American, so all caveats apply.)
There’s apparently something called a Period of Sensitivity before a general election.
Parliament has been dissolved, so other than minor day to day business, the work of the ministers has stopped.
There’s also apparently restrictions on the kind of publicity going on. There shouldn’t be any kind of publicity from any governments that shows the candidates or could reasonably influence the outcome of an election. General public notices are fine; issuing a news release featuring a minister opening a new center is not. Even ministers who were supposed to appear on BBC talk shows have canceled their appearance.
So having a state dinner, featuring high ranking ministers in fancy swag, all running for re-election, could reasonably affect the outcome of the next election.
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/restrictions-government-activity-election-campaign
https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/short-guide-publicity-during-pre-election-period
Plus, state.visits are done at the request of the government and it gets tricky. Yes, Rishi and Kier will both be at the state dinner dinner, bit any photo ops of meetings with the Emperor and the PM will probably be nixed so it doesn’t give the perception that the,Emperor is tacitly endorsing the Tories.
They shouldn’t be jittery over the Emperor’s appearance.
They should be jittery over Kate’s disappearance.
Though they look rather unconcerned and Wills looks increasingly smug.
Is a divorce forthcoming for William hence his smugness
More concerning for the Monarchy should be the fact that I think you would struggle to find a single person in the UK street who cares about this state visit or who attends it…
“Meaning, David Rocksavage and Rose Hanbury will be there”
I could not care less about this state visit but I am very interested in what Rose will wear to the Formal State Dinner. LOL! LOL!
Haha @BTB. I wonder if the media will feature her again??
PS you asked me a few days ago about timing of the affair – don’t know if you caught my answer – it was quite late. My best guess is mid to late 2016 to latish 2019 – I was having conversations about it having ‘been three years’ in 2019. But that’s when it was known about – it could have started earlier…
I am more interested in the Empress.. she looks stunning when she wears a kimono. I wonder if she could meet Kate privately. The Empress famously disappeared from public life for a long time due to mental health issues.. and the stress of not producing a required male heir. I think she has done amazingly well as Empress. Charlene of Monaco has also come back from some serious ill health and rumours about her marriage. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Wails over the next year or more.
C and C can deck themselves out in medals and jewels.
lol, announcing cancelling a secret appearance.
Is this the tories admitting seeing this grifter family wandering around reflects badly on tories?
See, this doesn’t make sense to me. The royals pride themselves on supposedly being “apolitical” (even though their very existence props up a gross system of privilege and colonialism). Like, that’s their whole deal, that they are always “raising awareness” and “listening and learning” in order to somehow avoid being “too political” ( i.e. actually changing the status quo). So, are they now acknowledging that that was always bunk? Or do we think that they simply wanted the opportunity to take a break?
It would actually be really funny if they couldn’t do Trooping, after all of the deal being made about Charles getting on a horse and Kate unlikely to be there.
I think they jumped on the nearest excuse. This is a critical situation that magically didn’t exist in QEII’s time? You’re telling me she completely cleared her schedule ever?
I can’t see any reason for a State visit to make any difference to the election. To postpone it again would be the height of bad manners.
Royals have had visits with foreign leaders in the leadup to the previous elections. Elizabeth had a cocktail hour with Donald & Melania Trump, for Pete’s sake.
I’m still shocked at the sheer level of incompetence all around. This state visit has been on the books for months, yet the PM decides to schedule a general election during an announced state visit and on the 4th of July (US Independence Day from England – the jokes really do write themselves!). With Parliament about to be dissolved, they should just cancel it since the Emperor may not be permitted to address the MPs and peers.
So, during C-Rex’ reign, the Windsors are now known for cancelling events (sometimes without notice), not showing up to events, and uninviting high status people (like Princess Mary) to their events. And this was before the 2 royal racists were diagnosed with cancer. Nice track record. Will’s reign will likely be even worse. If they cancel on the Japanese royals (JR) again, the JR should never reschedule.
I think the state visit will go ahead. If I’m not mistaken in the run up to the 2019 election, the Dutch royals visited the UK. I don’t understand why the Royals have decided to postpone engagements this time.
QEII would not have cancelled anything.
This is really ridiculous, why should a state visit, scheduled already, have anything to do with elections?
I’m amazed that they are pulling this off. This is next level gaslighting, QEII DIED the day after she welcomed a new PM, but these lazies are seriously floating this as the status quo. Don’t get me started on the ultimate in Willnot ANNOUNCING that he’s cancelled a secret, unannounced surprise engagement to an unnamed organization.
I kinda like the UK way of doing things. It fits perfect with my favorite meme
“Feel cute, might ____ later, idk.”
The PM felt cute that day and decided to schedule a national election because, reasons (I really didn’t look that deeply into it honestly)
Not having set election dates and election cycles is mind boggling for me, it doesn’t fit into my orderly mind, honestly.
He expects to lose the election. Supposedly has a job lined up in the US (Silicon Valley).
The announcement of the election gives William the perfect excuse to do nothing, and to cancel imaginary “surprise” and “unannounced events” to his heart’s content. Presumably, the government decided the date of the Japan visit, so it’s up to them to avoid any awkwardness for their guests. There is such an air of ungraciousness permeating UK government and royal family these days, while the poor subjects are coping with cost of living crisis exacerbating the crises with housing and health.