Royal family
Here’s what the Prince of Wales insisted on when it came to his wife’s mother and the rest of the Middleton family for King Charles III’s coronation ceremony.
There was a lot of preparation that went into King Charles‘ coronation in May 2023 as it was the first to take place in the U.K. in 70 years. There were calls to modernize things as well, which the king himself was mindful of and did so by inviting religious leaders from different faiths to attend and participate in the ceremony.
There were also other changes made from Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation seven decades earlier that Prince William had a hand in and one of those involved the Princess of Wales’ (formerly known as Kate Middleton) mom, Carole Middleton.
Here’s what the Prince of Wales demanded for his mother-in-law and what else was done that day to keep William happy.
What Prince William was so adamant for his father’s coronation that involved Kate’s mother
More than 8,200 guests attended the late queen’s coronation on June 3, 1953, but numerous family members and some of her longtime friends were not invited.
Only two relatives of the Bowes Lyons, which was the Queen Mother’s family, were in attendance. And from Prince Philip’s side, the only person to represent the Mountbattens was Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten. But as the future king William was adamant that his wife’s family not be completely left out.
According to the book, Charles III: The Inside Story written by royal author and journalist Robert Hardman, William wouldn’t budge on his demand that Kate’s family be included in the day. It’s believed that if he couldn’t get all of the Middletons on the guest list, he was going to insist and lobby till the last minute for Carole so at least there would be one representative from Kate’s family. But the prince was adamant that his request was granted.
The Mirror noted that on adddition, William demanded the Middletons be seated in high-profile positions which Hardman says was “in direct contrast to some of the old guard of the extended royal family. This was a direct request from the Prince of Wales himself. Having all of them there was very important to him … he was absolutely insistent that his wife’s family be properly included.”
In the end not only Carole but also Kate’s father, Michael Middleton, as well as the princess’s siblings, James and Pippa Matthews, were on hand as well.
Some other seating arrangements were also made to please Prince William
Of course coronation organizers were more than aware of the rift between Prince William and Prince Harry., which only deepened after Harry and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries and the release of the Duke of Sussex’s memoir Spare.
Therefore, before the coronation it was announced that “Harry will be seated several rows behind the senior royals and at a position to ensure that there can be no direct shot of William and Harry together — meaning any potential sideways glances or furious stares are not broadcast on the world stage.”
The duke was seated in the third row along with his cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who are both junior non-working members of the royal family.
Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nicholl told True Royalty TV’s The Royal Beat: “It was a deliberate seating plan that would have been overseen and approved. Harry is not a working member of the royal family anymore. You couldn’t have put Harry alongside the Waleses for the reasons we all know. It would have been impossible.”
