Pomp, circumstance, tradition and a fragmented family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Carlos III and Queen Camilla
went out to the balcony for the first time on Saturday afternoon to greet their subjects, who threw the three cheers and sang "God save the King", "God save the queen".
It seemed unreal
to those who have followed the
royal
psychodrama of the House of Windsor.
A triumph for perseverance, a thank you to the "spin doctors", who worked in the long process of rehabilitating Carlos and Camilla to be palatable to the subjects, after their adultery and the death of Princess Diana.
On the balcony, covered in the classic red and gold skirting, the image of
a British but fragmented “slim” working monarchy
.
The subjects do not wonder who is there but if the missing ones have been forgiven.
The British kings arrive in their carriage at Buckingham Palace, after the coronation, this Saturday.
Photo: REUTERS
Wreaths on the balcony
With ermine cloaks, crowns on their heads, Charles and Camilla were surrounded by their pages, children of friends, grandchildren of one and the other in this unforgettable moment.
But only the "working" royal family accompanied them on this historic day.
There were William and Kate, the future heirs, little George, who will succeed them, Charlotte, who will be "the Harry" of his time as a substitute, little Louis, who will be lost in the line of succession like his current Uncle Edward. Duke of Edinburgh.
The elderly and experienced Dukes of Kent stood on the sovereign's left.
Camilla's grandchildren and her sister Elliot were added.
On the famous balcony, where the British celebrated weddings, jubilees, funerals and triumphs in war, neither Prince Andrew, prohibited by the pedophilia scandal of the Epstein Case, nor Prince Harry, who arrived in London for 24
hours
to attend the king's coronation as a son, on the most important day of his father's life.
Two war veterans.
Prince Harry and his uncle Andrew, relegated at the Coronation of King Charles III.
Photo: AFP
But there are no signs of reconciliation in sight for Harry with the Windsors, after
a fracture that seems impassable
.
Harry is not going to accept Queen Camilla easily, after the role of "harmful stepmother" she bestowed on him in her biography.
His only contacts are Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, the daughters of Prince Andrew, who are not part of the working royal family, and the Tindalls, children of Anne, the royal
princess
.
Displaced from the royal family
But
the banned ones are part of the history of the British monarchy
.
At George IV's coronation, her husband, the King, barred his wife, Queen Caroline, from entering.
She tried to enter the ceremony three times and was applauded by the public.
After the crisis of Edward VIII's abdication for love of Wallis Simpson, who came to be called the Duke of Windsor, the great fear of the
royals
was that he would appear at the coronation in 1953. The concern was such that Winston Churchill warned him that would not be welcome.
Wallys Sympson syndrome continues to worry the royal family.
He has become a recurring ghost.
The coronation on the balcony resembled a mini jubilee.
Eighty-one helicopters passed
, including the Merlins and the Apaches, which Harry flew in Afghanistan as a fighter.
Then came the Red Arrow Nine, the Royal Aie Force's aerobatic team.
Wearing the regalia of state and the crown of St Edward, the king first appeared on the palace's west terrace alongside the new queen.
Hundreds of soldiers gave him the royal salute in the palace garden.
Queen Camilla heard for the first time the cry that her ex-military husband, Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, had launched so many times, in other ceremonies: "Hip, Hip, Hooray", this time in her honor as the new British sovereign.
Then they received the joyous greetings of their subjects, to whom Carlos promised to "serve".
Sad kings?
But the question was whether the sovereigns enjoyed this reunion with their people from the balcony.
Throughout the ceremony in the abbey,
the king seemed somber, distant, exhausted, sad
.
He barely smiled and waved tiredly from the float.
It was probably his eternal backache.
Queen Camilla feared her heavy crown.
He made her uncomfortable and she didn't feel safe walking with her and her cloak in the abbey.
In the palace she was safer and smiling.
The famously frugal monarch wanted a smaller event, "less expensive" than Queen Elizabeth's.
Britain is in the midst of a cost of living crisis.
King Charles and King Camilla wave to the crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on Saturday.
Photo: AP
That is why the coronation was different from that of his mother in 1953: modest but also impenetrable with its rituals and unforgettable music.
The queen's ceremony lasted three hours.
Carlos intended to do his in 95 minutes and honor the armed forces.
Behind all the regalia and pomp, there are thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen who make it possible.
They are joined by a legion of cleaners, caterers and waiters who helped make the coronation happen.
To them the king wanted to say thank you.
"I have never been more tired in my life," acknowledged Lord Carrington, son of the former British chancellor, and now Grand Chamberlain and coordinator of the coronation rehearsals, calendar and agenda.
Many feel like him.
seventy years of waiting
In this thousand-year coronation, the royal family embraced old traditions and 21st century values in order to remain.
Carlos III waited 70 years to come to the throne.
Next to him is Camilla, the woman who never dreamed of becoming queen.
With this ceremony they have begun to define what their kingdom will be like, what their measures will be to apply their DNA, if the "Slim" monarchy is technically possible and how far they will get their children to reconcile for the stability of the House of Windsor.
His son William swore allegiance and touched his crown after kissing him.
The indication that the monarchy will continue, as hundreds of years ago.
London correspondent
BC
look also
Coronation of King Carlos III: after 74 years of waiting, his true reign now begins
Coronation of King Charles III: from the lavish ceremony of King George IV to the "post-Brexit" version
