If it had been scheduled on another day in early May, the gossip rags would be proclaiming that it was a snub to Archie that it wasn’t on his birthday.
Princess Anne held her first wedding on the day of Charles’s 25th birthday. Was that a snub? No, of course, not.
Sigh… At some point, after the public part is over, Charles, accompanied by The Duke of Albion (currently his sister) has to go to the Tower of London and make his way down to an underground pool, where he will donate a small amount of his blood to Nimue, thus continuing the bond that has existed since Arthur’s time. No swords (apart from the one worn by Princess Anne) will be involved.
And now, an amusing (NSFW) parody of His Majesty that would probably get me thrown in the Tower of London if I was in the UK right now.
I don’t get this reference.
Mark Hayden’s series - highly recommended.
King Charles isn’t living in Buckingham Palace right now, and isn’t expected to live there for 5 years.
Ironically when the late Queen acceded to the throne, she and the Duke of Edinburgh were very reluctant to move into Buck House (and didn’t for a couple of years). The place was dilapidated, had suffered bomb damage in the then recent War. They felt it was unsuitable for their young family. The Government balked at the cost. The impasse was broken when the Queen essentially said “fine we will buy a private house to live in, and I will commute”. I think the Government manage the expenses by declaring the palace as a military installation and paying it out of defense estimates.
One of the things that isn’t appreciated is just how uncomfortable the grand palaces are to live in.
Castles were originally military fortification, not comfy houses.
The “grand palaces” evolved from those, and while they might look pretty, they weren’t cosy. Also built before things like modern plumbing and electricity. If they have those things now it’s a result of renovations and changes.
Buckingham Palace was never a Castle and it was built to be like a large country Great House. Unlike Windsor for instance.
True, but it also dates back to the early 1700’s, thereby pre-dating electricity, modern heating/cooling, and indoor plumbing. No doubt at the time it oozed luxury but my beat-up 50 year old one-bedroom modest apartment has far more in the way of creature comforts than even a palace in the 1700’s. Upgrades aren’t cheap.
Windsor Castle was almost completely rebuilt in the early 19th century, largely at the behest of George IV, who spent around a million pounds (equivalent to about 817 million pounds as of 2008). Even the great round tower that dominates the castle today didn’t look like that much before 1820.
Buckingham Palace has been extensively renovated through the years, but for example most of the electrical wiring was done as part of repairs after WWII; the palace has miles of Vulcanized India Rubber (VIR) wire, a rubber coating over tinned conductor wires. Over time, the rubber gets brittle and crumbles away, leaving live wires exposed, which is a rather significant fire hazard. The interior drainage system consists mostly of lead and cast iron pipe, mostly buried in the walls and mostly dating to Victoria’s reign; over time, lead pipes start to sag and can burst. The roof is old, and many of the mechanical systems date back to the 1950s renovation (although the boilers are “only” from 1983). A ten-year program of reservicing started in 2017 with the most urgent repairs (electrical distribution and heating plant in the basement), then in 2019 they started on the East Wing. An earlier proposal to just empty the entire palace and redo everything at once was rejected because the palace would have been basically closed for six+ years.
The White House was gutted after World War II and a modern building was more or less built inside it’s shell.
I’ve seen pictures. Pretty cool to see. Of course, the White House is much smaller than Buckingham Palace!
I took a tour of the White House many decades ago. The ceremonial rooms in the main part of the house—which are the focus of tours—were awful, ugly, and gaudy. Also smaller than you might expect. I wasn’t impressed at all. The exterior architecture at least has a pleasing style. The interior decoration was a collection of the worst fashions of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The powers that be have been (for years!) going through the same contortions over what to do about repairing the Houses of Parliament. It’s damned if you do, whichever way you do it, damned if you don’t.
Or even that of the 1950;s.
(The late Duke was known to be a man who loved gadgets He was responsible for most of the modern devices put in place in the 1950’s. Like the intercom).
‘Gadget man’ Prince Philip enjoyed life full of madcap inventions worthy of Dragons’ Den - Mirror Online
The guest list should be interesting. What world leaders will attend? Will a certain wayward son & daughter-in-law be invited? Will there be enough space in Westminster Abbey for all living former UK Prime Ministers?
Ref the recent Truss affair, it’ll be sort of fun that one of the earlier acts of Charles’ reign will be to appoint a PM. That’s real I’m the King! stuff. Good for him.
The way the Tories are behaving these days he may get the chance to do it several times before things settle down again. Not so good for his Kingdom.
So, how many PMs did mum appoint? And at the current rate, how long before he surpasses her? Will that be before or after they’re forced to call an election?
I’m not at all savvy enough on the formal procedures to hazard a guess, but I’d suggest that as a political reality, the revolving door only has maybe one more turn in it before it becomes politically untenable to not have a fresh election.