King Charles’ historical coronation ceremony – that will also crown Camilla as Queen Consort – is set to take place on May 6. As the world awaits to see the coronation, a royal author has claimed that could spark a ‘constitutional crisis’ because of Charles and Camilla’saffair and adultery.
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Divorced King
King Charles admitted in 1994 that he had been unfaithful to Princess Diana in their marriage. Mirror reported that this confession could become a nightmare for the King as per a Royal author – Anthony Holden.
The confession has the potential to spark a ‘constitutional crisis’ as with Charles’ history the coronation oath will need to be revised and the revision would expect parliamentary involvement. Anthony claimed:
The Church of England has never crowned a divorced man as King, let alone one who has publicly confessed to adultery – with the relevant woman expecting to be crowned Queen Consort.
The late Robert Runcie [the former Archbishop of Canterbury] told me this would require a revision of the coronation oath, which would require a new statute of Parliament.
Given the convention that Parliament does not debate the monarchy without the monarch's consent, this would require the Prime Minister to seek King Charles's permission. This, Runcie told me, would amount to a constitutional crisis.
Is the coronation in danger?
However, many experts have doubts about Anthony’s claims. Sir Vernon Bogdanor claims that since Charles and Camilla’s wedding was ‘followed by a Service of Prayer and Dedication, led by Archbishop Rowan Williams,’ nothing else really matters. He said:
This surely overrides anything Robert Runcie may or may not have said.
Meanwhile, a Lambeth Palace spokesperson has clarified that the current Archbishop of Canterbury is looking forward to the coronation, regardless of Archbishop Robert Runcie’s claims. The spokesperson said:
We cannot comment on accounts of a private conversation that Archbishop Robert Runcie may have had while he was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980-1991.
But clearly much has changed since that time - both in society and in the Church of England. The current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is looking forward to the great honour of crowning King Charles III and the Queen Consort in May this year.
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Mirror: King Charles' coronation could be invalidated because of affair, royal author says
