King Charles is planning a “different” Coronation as the monarch opts against inviting some key royal figures, according to an expert.
The Queen’s ex-bridesmaid, Pamela Hicks, and the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, are among those to not have received the honour of being placed on the official guest list for the celebration.
Reports suggest the monarch is looking to slim down elements of the occasion, and the minimised guest list appears to be a key frontier in this endeavour.
Speaking on GB News, royal expert Hugo Vickers suggested Lady Pamela Hicks will not be “worried” by the lack of an invitation, and feels shunned royal figures will accept the reality of Charles’s “different” occasion.
Hugo Vickers says Lady Pamela Hicks won't be 'worried' by not receiving an invite
GB News / PA
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He said: “This is a state occasion and not a family occasion. A great number of members of the Royal Family that you would expect to be there won’t be there.
“Given that you can only have 2,000 people in the Abbey instead of 8,000, they’ve got to look to those who made the legislation in this country.
“I’m afraid the aristocracy are the ones who have gone out of the window.
“I’m not sure Lady Pamela Hicks is disappointed at all, she’s 94-years-old, it’s a very long service and she would have to be there the absolute latest at 10am.
King Charles has cut his Coronation guest list with many Dukes and Duchesses excluded from the eventPA“I don’t think she’s going to be worried about not being there, she can watch it on the television.
“The television cameras will cover this Coronation absolutely splendidly and it will be beamed all over the world which means billions of people can take part.
“Forget these 6,000 people who haven’t received invites who believe they have an inalienable right to be there, they don’t, it’s going to be different.”
Preparations for the May 6 event are ramping up and the Archbishop of Canterbury has received the specially-commissioned Coronation Bible which will be used by the King at his crowning ceremony.
Charles will be presented with the King James Bible – which is hand-bound in red leather and decorated in gold leaf – during the May 6 service and place his hand on it when he takes his coronation oath.
A Bible has been presented to the monarch this way since the joint coronation of William III and Mary II in 1689.
The earliest specially-produced Coronation Bible in the Royal Collection is from the coronation of George III in 1761 and since then a new Bible has been produced for each coronation service.
Archbishop Justin Welby commissioned Oxford University Press (OUP) to produce the work of Christian scriptures which was hand-bound and decorated by London bookbinders Shepherds, Sangorski & Sutcliffe.
The Archbishop said: “The Bible which will be presented to His Majesty the King is a reminder that Scripture is not just at the heart of the responsibilities he undertakes at the Coronation, but at the heart of Christian life.
“On this momentous occasion, the Bible will be the first and most important gift offered to the King.
“The Scriptures offer a guide and light to all – and I pray that His Majesty will continue to find them in these living words.”
Four copies of the Coronation Bible have been made.
