When the Prince and Princess of Wales were in a northern England resort the other day, they focused their energies on an issue that has long been a priority for them: the mental health of young people. The charities at the end of the visit to Scarborough were warm and welcoming and Prince William spoke of how “crucial” it is to provide mental health services in the community. “For Catherine and I, today’s legacy is about coming together and working together and showing what can be done when a community comes together,” he said, according to the Telegraph. “It’s something we’d like to continue and I hope it’s more widely represented across the country.” Headlines from the visit suggested that it represented a “new way of working“and a try”to break from [the] traditional royal engagement pattern.” William and Kate talk to staff during a visit to the Rainbow Center in Scarborough on November 3. The Rainbow Center is an organization that offers an open door to the community and support to anyone in need. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images) During the visit, which was piloted as a “community impact day”, the royals met with people from organizations that will be supported through funding announced by their Royal Foundation. The money – £345,000 – has already been raised and reportedly came from both local contributions and their foundation. But as much as there were attempts to frame this as a new way of doing royal business – and separate from more formal visits not accompanied by such funding announcements and community leadership – it was also in keeping with royal tradition, and had at its core a more existential question that had long hung over the monarchy. “Royal visits, whether they are within the country [or] abroad, now and have been engaged in the last two hundred years much more to make the monarchy visible in a way that makes it relevant,” Judith Rowbotham, a social and cultural scholar and visiting research professor at the University of Plymouth in southwest England. , he said in an interview. “So what you always see is a change in the way the incumbents, if you like, a younger generation in the royal family, will always introduce a nuance, a twist to the presentation, but it’s just a presentation. It’s not a change in substance .” Since the death of Queen Elizabeth in September and the ascension of King Charles, observers have been looking for clues as to what this next reign might bring. Charles’s visits and appearances have come under particular scrutiny. They hit the headlines again this week as he and Camilla, the Queen Consort, rushed to a mixed reception in York, where they threw eggs at Charles as they walked through the northern English city where he unveiled the first statue of Queen Elizabeth after her death. However, even then, the new king and queen consort were not facing anything completely unfamiliar to members of the royal family. WATCHES | Eggs thrown at King Charles:
Eggs thrown at King Charles and Camilla in northern England
Four eggs were thrown at King Charles and Camilla, his wife and Queen Consort, while he was on tour in the north of England. Someone narrowly missed the King, who continued his duties. “On the one hand [they were] they laughed, with … eggs thrown at them. On the other hand, they just carried on, setting the tone for everyone else – just ignore it,” Rowbotham said. “And it’s not the first [time] that Charles or various members of the royal family historically as well as during the last reign and the beginning of this reign have been subjected to public expressions of disapproval as well as approval.’ Royal visits since Charles came to the throne, Rowbotham said, “are very [showing] the monarchy is still here.” “Yes, Elizabeth the Second is no longer with us, but the institution is…. He’s different, he’s changed and yet he’s still the same.” In light of this, there is little evidence that the more traditional royal visits will disappear, but there is also an obvious hope that the ‘community impact days’ will provide a longer-term legacy than what might come after these most visits that see the royals land in any place for a few hours. King Charles, second from left, and Camilla, the queen’s consort, right, present a scale replica of the statue of Queen Elizabeth they later unveiled during a visit to York, England, on Wednesday. (Danny Lawson/Getty Images) “Instead of visiting deprived communities, giving them a day in the sun and then hoping that money will be raised as a result, The Prince and Princess of Wales want to reverse the process by using the gathering in a visit to generate money, which they can then announce and disburse when they get there’ Telegraph contributor Gordon Rayner wrote. “It’s a bit of a bet because he’s actually going to put a sum of money on the value of royal visits. It’s a bet [William] he’s more than happy to take it.” What’s particularly interesting these days, Rowbotham said, and what the royal household will be watching, along with the royals themselves, is the public’s reaction to them during visits, not just in the mainstream media, but and on social media. “We saw for example the king and queen holding the hands of a little boy who is blind and therefore couldn’t see them, but he was excited to meet them when they took his hands,” said Rowbotham. “It has been picked up by the mainstream media, but it was first released by photos taken by members of the public.” Similarly, Rowbotham added, “The Princess of Wales visited a maternity health center and ended up giving a little boy her own poppy, again this was not picked up mainly by the mainstream media but by photographers using their own phones.” Kate poses for photos with the public during the visit to Scarborough. (Charlotte Graham/Getty Images) Also, Rowbotham found it interesting that “so much of the commentary since Charles came to the throne has been more sympathetic and approving of the monarchy and the royal family, with some notable individual exceptions, but as an institution and the leading Labor figures . “ “It may well turn out to be a honeymoon period,” he said. “Who knows.”
Remembrance of the fallen
King Charles attends the Remembrance Sunday service in central London on Sunday. (Toby Melville/The Associated Press) When King Charles attended the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in central London on Sunday, he laid a new wreath that paid homage to the wreaths of two monarchs before him: his mother Queen Elizabeth and his grandfather King George VI. Charles began laying Elizabeth’s wreath on her behalf at the annual service in 2017, representing one of the most obvious and high-profile signals of the gradual transition which had been unfolding in the upper echelons of the House of Windsor for several years. Now as monarch, Charles has installed a newly designed wreath of his own to honor those who have lost their lives in military service. Wreath poppies are set in an arrangement of black leaves, of the Royal Family she said on her websiteand the ribbon has his racing colors: red, purple and gold. Charles lays a wreath during the Remembrance Sunday service on Sunday in central London. (Toby Melville/The Associated Press) Camilla, the Queen Consort, watched the service from a nearby balcony and a wreath was first laid on her behalf by a knight from the royal household. That wreath has its racing colors, which she inherited from her grandfather, and echoed the wreath of the last queen consort, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the royal family said. Commemorations for the royal family began with Camilla attending the opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Thursday. Camilla, the Queen Consort, plants a cross as she attends the 94th Field of Remembrance service at Westminster Abbey in London on Thursday. (Henry Nicholls/The Associated Press) The Queen Consort placed a cross on the Field of Remembrance during a short ceremony which attracted more than 1,000 veterans to the Abbey grounds. Senior members of the royal family also attended the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance on Saturday night.
Is it losing its luster?
Imelda Staunton takes over from Claire Foy and Olivia Colman to play Queen Elizabeth in season 5 of The Crown. (Netflix) After weeks of anticipation, along with long controversy over mixing royal fact and fictionSeason 5 of The Crown began airing on viewers’ screens this week to decidedly mixed reviews. However, some themes seemed to emerge, including a sense that this season may lack some of the luster of previous seasons of the award-winning Netflix drama which offers a fictionalized version of real events that unfolded at the House of Windsor during Queen Elizabeth’s reign. . reign. “Season 5 is filled with great performances, especially from actors in recurring roles, but it just isn’t enough anymore,” wrote Nandini Balial at RogerEbert.com. “Writer and creator Peter Morgan’s vision, like the monarchy circa 1990, is showing signs of strain.” “I can forgive The Crown for discovering the facts – but not for being so horribly clumsy,” was the headline above an opinion column by The Guardian’s former royal correspondent Stephen Bates. The Telegraph gave season 5 two stars out of five and noted that “Peter Morgan’s Netflix drama began as a love letter to the late Queen. These days, he wields his poison pen.” On this side of the Atlantic, the New York Times found that “Season 5 doesn’t have the life, the gritty snap, of The Crown at its best.” Others were more impressed. “The palace intrigue of The Crown will captivate you,” Good Morning America headlined its review, and said the final season is “more daring and addictive than ever.” This composite photo…
