Prince Charles adamant Camilla WILL be crowned Queen Consort
A SECRETIVE group tasked with planning Prince Charles’s coronation, the Golden Orb Committee meets discreetly out of respect for the Queen. But The Sun can today reveal the clandestine club is back in session — three months on from the funeral of Prince Philip. And they have some sensitive decisions to make as Charles plans […]
A SECRETIVE group tasked with planning Prince Charles’s coronation, the Golden Orb Committee meets discreetly out of respect for the Queen.
But The Sun can today reveal the clandestine club is back in session — three months on from the funeral of Prince Philip.
And they have some sensitive decisions to make as Charles plans a shake-up of the monarchy.
The heir to the throne wants to cut the number of royals on the payroll, which means denying younger brother Edward the title of Duke of Edinburgh, passed on from their late father.
But Charles is also adamant wife Camilla will become his Queen Consort — an upgrade from the planned Princess Consort.
The Golden Orb committee — made up of the great and good of the British aristocracy and named after the orb placed on the monarch’s hand during the coronation — works without interference from the Palace.
Officials last night denied it even existed, but its existence was confirmed in Whitehall documents accidentally released in 2016.
Heading the group, which recently convened at St James’s Palace, was chairman Edward Fitzalan-Howard, the Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of England.
Charles’s coronation at Westminster Abbey — which will take place six months after he takes over from his mother — will cost £50million and be watched by a global TV audience of more than a billion people.
Everything, therefore, must happen like clockwork.
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The first task for the assembled group at this latest meeting was deleting Prince Philip’s name from the order of service.
The late Duke of Edinburgh, who was 99 when he passed away, would have had a central role had the Queen died before him.
Another key item understood to have been on the agenda was where Harry and Meghan will be placed.
A source revealed: “It may sound trivial, like some sort of wedding seating issue, but these things are important.”
But where the royals sit is only part of the story. Exactly which of them will be there is now of more importance.
For Prince Charles has let it be known he would like the number of royals attending his coronation to be “trimmed slightly” from when his mother was crowned.
Back then, of the 8,000 in attendance, 39 were royals, including several of the Queen’s first cousins once removed.
Now, planning for the next coronation is looking very much like the blueprint for Charles’s wish for an overall slimmed-down monarchy.
How this might pan out was thrust into the spotlight this week after it emerged that Philip’s wish for his title of Duke of Edinburgh to go his youngest son after the Queen’s death is unlikely to happen.
When Philip died in April, his titles — including the Duke of Edinburgh — automatically went to Charles. And he plans to keep it.
‘Genuinely perplexed’
A courtier revealed: “The Prince is the Duke of Edinburgh as it stands and it is up to him what happens to the title. It will not go to Edward.”
This would come as a big blow to Edward and his wife, Sophie Wessex, who visited the Queen to comfort her shortly after Philip’s death.
A close friend of the couple told The Sun: “Both Edward and Sophie would be genuinely perplexed, very hurt and disappointed at being treated this way.
“They have both done nothing to deserve this sort of treatment from Charles, quite the opposite when you look at their impeccable service to the Crown.
“I do know that Charles has long-held concerns over the closeness that is implied between the Queen and Sophie. Effectively, he knows how it looks — an outsider like Sophie, despite a rocky start, has actually become closer to his mother than he ever will be.”
Another friend added: “This may be giving Charles some angst in terms of the Wessex popularity.
“Charles is obstinate and he would defy his late father’s expressed wishes if he felt it necessary.
“But for goodness sake let’s hope he won’t do that. He’s got enough on his plate keeping the family together without risking another royal faction moving away from the core.”
Edward was certainly expecting the nearly 300-year-old title — in line with both his parents’ wishes.
Former BBC royal correspondent Brian Hoey said: “Edward is the first royal prince since the Tudors to be made an earl and not a duke.
‘Practical, not personal’
“The Queen had no intention of allowing her baby son to be humiliated by being of lower rank than his brothers.
“So, at the time of his marriage to Sophie in 1999, she immediately made it known that eventually Edward would be awarded the title Duke of Edinburgh.”
Charles has declined to comment, with his spokesman saying any such talk would be “disrespectful to the Queen”. But the likely snub would simply be part of Charles’s masterplan as the new monarch.
With titles come not just responsibilities, but also costs.
The Royal Family already hoovers up nearly £90million a year from the British taxpayer.
At present, Edward and Sophie do not take money from the public to fund their day-to-day lives.
But were he to be upgraded to a duke that could change.
Robert Jobson, author of Charles At Seventy, explained: “It’s not personal, it is practical.
“The Prince of Wales has made no secret of his desire for a slimmed-down Royal Family.
“He believes for the health of the monarchy, having a costly extended Royal Family is not sustainable in the 21st century. He has nothing against Edward personally, although they are not as close as he is with his sister Anne.”
But the Edward issue is small beer in Charles’s grand plan. The issue of Camilla’s title is more controversial.
Clarence House’s official position is that she will be Princess Consort.
But its statement on the matter — given at the time of her marriage to Charles 16 years ago — left room for manoeuvre.
“It is intended that Mrs Parker Bowles should use the title HRH The Princess Consort when The Prince of Wales accedes to The Throne,” a palace spokesman said.
But royal sources are convinced that Charles has other intentions and harbours a desire for Camilla — whose appeal to the public has significantly grown over the years — to become Queen Consort.
As Queen Consort her role at the coronation would be significantly enhanced.
Expert Brian Hoey said: “Prince Charles wants his wife to be crowned alongside him with precisely the same formality that accompanied the crowning of his grandmother, the late Queen Mother.
“At the Coronation in 1937, Charles’s grandmother sat on her throne in Westminster Abbey with her husband, George VI, and wore the Queen Consort crown.
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“That platinum crown, with its 2,800 jewels, is still available and in immaculate condition.”
In fact, there have been three Queen Consort crowns — the two others were worn by Alexandra of Denmark, wife of Edward VII, and Mary of Teck, George V’s spouse.
Which raises the possibility that Camilla could have her own crown made — another sensitive item for the Golden Orb’s next meeting.
