The King’s Coronation has been plunged into chaos after rehearsals overran significantly, prompting fears the nation will switch off and heap more pressure on the stuttering start to the monarch’s reign.
With little more than three weeks to go, organisers face a “race against time” to finalise details of the King and Queen’s historic crowning at Westminster Abbey.
A source said royal aides are working around the clock in their determination to ensure everything is perfect for the big day.
But a catalogue of major issues have emerged at the heart of planning for the May 6 event, with insiders revealing:
- Seating plans are still not arranged, owing to Prince Harry and Meghan who have still not confirmed their attendance despite the April 3 cut off point.
- Fears the King could stumble over his elaborate robes in front of a TV audience of 100 million.
- Rows over the Coronation route, with planners wanting a smaller procession to keep costs down to avoid scrutiny.
Confusion over whether women will wear tiaras into the church before the Queen Consort enters the Abbey
- Prince Andrew’s fury over a potential ban on wearing Garter Knight robes, following his exile from the Royal Family.
With just 25 days left, a feeling of panic has gripped the royal household as the clock ticks down for the once in a generation event.
Sources revealed how the King and Queen Consort have been diligently practising their roles in a “mock-up Abbey”, specially built inside Buckingham Palace.
During a fitting for his elaborate robes Charles is understood to have commented on how heavy they were, leading aides to privately express “real fears” that he could stumble on a walk up to the Chairs of State, where Charles and Camilla sit in the centre of Westminster Abbey after being crowned.
In recent days master craftsmen have been drafted in to build a ramp up to the two Throne Chairs so the King does not struggle getting to his seat.
One source remarked how indecision between the households had also led to rows over what tiaras the female royals would wear. They added: "Senior female royals were only informed of outfits this week prompting a rush to finalise fitting arrangements."
As The Mirror revealed last month, the disgraced Duke of York, who was forced to step back from royal duties after being embroiled in a sex abuse scandal which he vehemently denied, has still not been told whether he will be allowed to wear the grand velvet robes and glistening insignia denoting his position as a Knight of the Garter.
The Duke last year paid £12million in an out of court settlement to his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, and was subsequently blocked from appearing alongside the late Queen in her final appearance at the traditional Garter Day procession in Windsor.
Sources told how he was furious at being told aside from not having a central role he may be made to wear a simple morning suit for his brother’s coronation.
An insider said: “It’s all very frantic, complete chaos to be frank.
“There is a plan, which is supposed to be the blueprint of how the day should operate, but things are changing daily which is causing massive headaches.”
Other royal sources last night attempted to dampen down the anxiety, saying: “It’s fair to say it will go down to the wire, but there is huge confidence everything will go to plan on the day.
“This is naturally a huge event and the important point is everyone is pulling in the right direction.
“The King and Queen Consort want it to be perfect as does everyone involved which is why everything is being done to make it so.”
But a well placed insider with knowledge of the plans said there were concerns the coronation could add to the King’s woes, after the first seven months of his reign have been marred by protests and hiccups.
King Charles’s coronation service was originally planned to last 90 minutes - considerably shorter than the late Queen's coronation in 1956, which lasted for three hours and 20 minutes.
Plans seen by The Mirror now show the service beginning at 11am and finishing at 12.45pm, with the King’s procession setting off from the Abbey back to Buckingham Palace at 1pm.
Insiders have also revealed how the King was understood to be in favour of a larger procession, taking him and the Queen through the streets of central London.
But senior aides decided it would be too elaborate, while voicing concerns over the spiralling cost of policing the event in a cost of living crisis.
Our source added: “Everything should be planned to the minute and such overruns would be a disaster.
“The schedule from the programme, the carriages, balcony appearance and the RAF flypast is planned to the minute, so it’s all incredibly stressful.
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“If the service is too long, or too complicated, the television audience will turn off and that could be devastating.
“(We) want to create a sense of majesty and Charles and Camilla have seen months of protests by a growing republican movement.
In November they narrowly avoided being pelted with eggs as they arrived in the city to unveil a statue of the late Queen at York Minster.
A month later the King was subjected to another egg chucking incident during a walkabout in Luton.
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: "These claims are incorrect."
