It’s still rather interesting that the Windsors’ D-Day commemoration plan was changed. Originally, King Charles was supposed to attend a tribute at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer AND then go on to Omaha Beach for the larger event with other world leaders. That was what Buckingham Palace briefed to reporters weeks ago. Then, rather suddenly, the plan changed this week and there was seemingly an effort to really minimize the change. Charles and Camilla skipped Omaha Beach and left William to do the heavy lifting as a “global statesman.” On June 5th, Becky English at the Mail made it sound like Charles is basically too weakened by cancer treatments to do much more than what he did:
Amid the sovereign’s slew of recent appearances, it is sometimes easy to forget that he still has cancer and continues to undergo a gruelling, weekly treatment programme. While I am told he is doing well and delighted that everything is very much ‘moving in the right direction’, he is still a patient facing a very current and serious health challenge. It would be utterly patronising to say that such public appearances require a Herculean effort on his behalf.
His Majesty has inherited his late mother’s great personal determination, energy and sense of duty. When I’ve seen him laughing, joking and charming his guests at recent events, you really wouldn’t know anything was wrong. Besides, he would insist on a word such as Herculean being reserved for those tens of thousands of brave men who stood contemplating that ‘terrible leap of faith’ for freedom 80 years ago, not knowing whether they would live to see the sun rise again.
But like every cancer patient, he has good days and bad ones: mornings that see him tramping across his estates, or evenings working on paperwork late into the night, but others that also leave him feeling tired and under the weather. All of which is perfectly normal and to be expected. Cancer treatment is, frankly, draining at times.
His staff work quietly to keep his worst work excesses in check, tweaking his diary appropriately (occasionally to His Majesty’s frustration).
While most onlookers wouldn’t have clocked it, he in fact arrived in Portsmouth to deliver his speech and meet veterans half-way through proceedings, whereas in a normal year he would have been there from beginning to end. And in Normandy has asked Prince William to deputise for him at the keynote international commemoration at Omaha Beach, alongside world leaders including Presidents Biden, Macron and Zelenskyy, while he will focus his energies on the British ceremonial event at Ver-sur-Mer for his first public visit abroad since his diagnosis.
‘Given his other commitments on the day, it was simply advised that the international event later in the afternoon could be a step too far at this stage,’ a source tells me. ‘His Majesty is, of course, delighted that the Prince of Wales will be attending to represent the nation in his place.’
It feels like some other narrative is being launched. The “where is Kate” issue has largely overshadowed the persistent murmurs that Charles’s health issues are much more dire than anyone has let on. I also sort of believe that barely-disguised “hypothetical” that Charles has bladder cancer. If true, there is genuine reason to believe that he will recover and yet… they also seem to be preparing for the worst. Incidentally, here’s a little excerpt of how CNN covered Charles’s absence on Omaha Beach:
The optics of seeing the Prince of Wales instead of his father [at Omaha Beach] will not be lost on those within the royal household, as well as royal-watchers. Nonetheless, CNN understands that it wasn’t a deliberate orchestration. Seeing the future monarch in the company of other heads of state is a powerful visual and speaks to the longer transition which will prepare the public for King William V’s reign.
So… CNN is just saying it outright, that there’s already a move to prepare the public for King William V’s reign of terror? I don’t know y’all. It feels like… something.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.