bitchy | King Charles is telling everyone that the Sussexes are banned from the balcony

Over the weekend, Buckingham Palace was desperate for a “reset” following the success of Prince Harry’s Spare, so they announced the itinerary for the three-day coronation-fest in May. We need to come up with a punchy nickname for this too, like we did with “Jubbly” and “Jubbly Shambles.” Until we come up with it, we have to call it the Coronation Weekend, a three-day extravaganza for King Charles III. The itinerary: on Saturday, May 6, the actual coronation at Westminster Abbey. On Sunday (May 7th), there will be two big events: the Coronation Big Lunch and the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle, which will include “the Coronation Choir, made up of amateur singers and members of Refugee choirs, NHS choirs, LGBTQ+ singing groups and deaf signing choirs across the U.K.” There will also be a drone show called Lighting Up the Nation. The Coronation Big Lunch is KC3 telling the nation to have lunch with their neighbors and make it into a street party. Then on Monday, May 8, is a day of service called The Big Help Out.

I honestly didn’t know that they were going to do the coronation Jubbly-style, like it would be a multi-day affair with a concert and sh-t. Charles really is following the model of his mother’s Platinum Jubbly though, down to preemptively “banning” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from the Buckingham Palace balcony. The Windsors and the British media made a huge deal about the “balcony ban” last year, even though Harry and Meghan only decided to come to the Jubbly when they were personally invited by QEII. The Windsors made a special effort to “punish” them with the balcony ban, and it looks like the balcony will stay All White for the coronation. That’s the signal the Windsors want to send, this is their own PR, this is BP briefing the media:

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Duke of York are ‘unlikely’ to join the King and Queen Consort on the balcony during the Coronation, The Mail on Sunday understands. Last night Buckingham Palace confirmed that the newly crowned King and Queen will appear at Buckingham Palace after the ceremony in May.

As with the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last year, the line-up of Royals alongside them will be restricted to working members of the family. That will exclude Prince Harry, Meghan and Prince Andrew, who no longer carry out official duties. Prince Andrew stepped down from his official role after allegations of sexual abuse in November 2019. He has always denied the accusations.

There is no indication from Buckingham Palace that Harry and Meghan would be barred from attending the event on May 6, which falls on the fourth birthday of their son Archie. Yet even if the couple do attend, a senior Royal insider said that it would be ‘unlikely’ that they would be included in major public appearances, including the balcony moment.

[From The Daily Mail]

Again, Prince Harry has said clearly and repeatedly that he has not confirmed his attendance at the coronation, and that his attendance is contingent upon a sit-down with his father and an apology to him and his wife. Instead of dealing with Harry’s very public terms, Buckingham Palace is now briefing the British media about how Harry and his Black wife won’t be allowed on the palace balcony. It says a lot about how Charles wants to start his reign. Then again, Charles’s first act as king was briefing the media about how he called Harry and banned Meghan from Balmoral. So this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.