Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement to call elections on 4 July, while for months the expectations in London were for autumn elections, the Royal Agenda is also changing. On the contrary, forces the Windsors to postpone scheduled Royal engagements between now and the election date.
And the first to adapt today is William, the day after the surprise announcement, in the pouring rain yesterday, by Prime Minister Sunak at number 10 Downing Street. The heir to the throne canceled a scheduled trip today to “not interfere with electoral plans”.
In fact, it is customary for the royals in London to abstain from public commitments that could distract and influence the electoral climate. “After the prime minister’s announcement, the Royal family, in accordance with normal practice, will postpone official commitments that may appear to divert or distract attention from the polls,” announces a palace spokesperson.
After that yesterday King Charles received Sunak at palace for 15 minutes: the prime minister has in fact asked, as usual, the sovereign to allow him to dissolve parliament to call elections on 4 July. Therefore the Windsors’ agenda in the coming months until July will be much freer than originally planned by the Royal Household.
For Prince William who had returned to full duty after caring for his wife Catherine underwent surgery in January and is now being treated for cancer, it will be an opportunity to dedicate more time to the family. And not due to a personal choice (her abstention from Royal engagements in the weeks after Kate’s hospitalization had been attacked by some protesters at home) but due to an “electoral practice of the Kingdom”.
Even King Charles will be able to slow down the pace of a return to service operational in public which it has been since its first Royal engagement three weeks ago hectic to say the least with more than one commitment on the agenda every day. In short, a blessing desguised, the English would say.
But they remain marked on the king’s and William’s agenda anyway for the next few months at least three major events which – elections or not – the Windsors will not give up. The first will be the trip to Normandy on 6 June for the 80th anniversary of the Allied landing which decided the fate of the Second World War. A commitment abroad that will see us engaged in Normandy Charles and Camilla and also Prince William. Then, indispensable, the ceremony of Trooping the Color: It is the king’s official birthday celebrated this year in mid-June in London, at Buckingham Palace.
And at the end of June, the king will welcome him to the palace with a official reception of the Emperor of Japan Naruhito with his wife, the Empress of the Chrysanthemum Throne, Masako. In this case, since a state visit has already been postponed due to Covid, a further postponement would be unthinkable.
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