Eamonn Holmes has criticised moves made by the royal establishment to scale back the King’s Coronation next month.
He says key individuals not receiving invites such as Lady Sarah Ferguson suggests the royal firm are keen to avoid splashing out on a grand celebration.
The Duchess of York was left off the guest list for the May 6 crowning ceremony, something she is said to have been “expecting”, according to royal sources.
GB News presenter Eamonn Holmes says the move represents the wider outlook for the Coronation, and questioned the apparent reluctance from the monarchy to go big on the occasion.
Eamonn Holmes has criticised royal plans
PA / GB News
Speaking on GB News Breakfast, he said: “It’s a load of nonsense. You look at who is invited and who isn’t.
“Fergie is his ex-sister in law, she’s not invited. How stupid! What it’s going to cost to invite her? £100? Get her in.
“There’s loads of things, what stupid penny pinching. It’s just ridiculous because we’re going to be remembering this for years and years.
“If you’re going to do it, do it well.”
King Charles is preparing for his CoronationReutersThe Coronation is said to be a slightly scaled back occasion as a result of the crippling cost of living crisis, which is leaving many UK households forced to choose between heating and eating.
Royal expert Charles Rae said this is a matter playing on Charles’s mind, and he is keen to not go overboard on royal festivities as a result.
He told Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster: “There’s a cost of living crisis and he doesn’t want to be seen to be too extravagant.
“It’s been scaled down from what the Coronation was in 1953.
“I still think it will be a half decent spectacle, we’ll get all the soldiers, we’ll get the military out, we’ll get all the pageantry that goes along with it and the crowning.
“For great many people in this country, this is going to be a once in a lifetime chance to see a great piece of history.”
It comes as the King’s Coronation oath is to be updated to reflect the change in realms over which the British sovereign is monarch.
The full text of Charles’s oath is yet to be revealed, but it will play a key part in his Coronation ceremony.
But the Government confirmed in a written statement to Parliament that some of the wording will be amended because the number of Commonwealth realms has “evolved” since 1953.
