Officials working on King Charles’s Coronation may give Prince William a “greater role” during the upcoming historic event, an expert said. Dr George Gross, Visiting Research Fellow in Theology at King’s College London, explained there isn’t a set role for Princes of Wales to play during the Coronation of a monarch.
However, given he is central to the Firm, organizers may decide to create a role for William, Dr Gross added.
He told Express.co.uk: “I suspect he’ll be more prominent [than other working members of the Royal Family] but there isn’t a set role for the Prince of Wales because there wasn’t always a Prince of Wales at the time of the Coronation.
“Going back far enough in history, there have been monarchs that weren’t even married at the time of their Coronation.
“So it’s not a written-in role, but I am sure he will have a prominent place.”
The prominence will likely consist in the Prince’s position in the procession, Dr Gross said, and in where he will sit.
However, he added: “And they have flexibility, they could write something in to give him a greater role, but it’s not necessary there in the service.”
While Prince William’s role will likely be more defined than that of other members of the Firm, his wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, has been tipped to watch the Coronation from the same place at Westminster Abbey where the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and then young Prince Charles sat in June 1953.
Dr. Gross said: “In 1953 [royal wives] sat in the royal box, that tends to be the tradition and I suspect that will remain the same, there isn’t a formal role for them.”
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Dr Gross’s thoughts on the much-anticipated Coronation come months after another expert, Constitutional commentator and author Catherine Pepinster, said she believes William may play a big role in the organization of the historic event.
While taking part in the webinar titled ‘Planning for the next Coronation, and the new Reign’ hosted by UCL’s The Constitution Unit, Ms Pepinster was asked who she believes will have the final call when it comes to the upcoming Coronation of King Charles should anyone disagreement emerge.
She replied: “If you look back to 1953, there were effectively two committees, there was the lead committee and then the second committee which carried out the work that the first one wanted to happen.
“The leading figure, the person who had the real clout in 1953, was the Duke of Edinburgh.
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“I am wondering if we might see the new Prince of Wales, Prince William, taking a similar role this time.”
She added: “I suspect we will be seeing Prince William flexing his muscles here and he will be somebody who is pushing, I think, to see the Coronation quite considerably modernised.
“But at the same time, I think the funeral of the Queen showed that people do respond to traditional events, with a dash of modernity, rather than throw the whole baby out with the bathwater.”
The Duke of Norfolk, she added, is another key figure who has been historically leading the planning of Coronations throughout the centuries.
King Charles will be crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Queen Camilla will be crowned next to him, wearing Queen Mary’s Crown – without the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
As previously reported by Express.co.uk, Buckingham Palace is working closely with No10 and the Foreign Office to finalize the guest list, which will include the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Those making it to the 2,000-strong list will have only a few weeks to provide an answer to officials organizing the Coronation.
Dr Gross is leading with Dr David Crankshaw, Lecturer in the History of Early Modern Christianity at King’s, research on the “British Coronations Project c.973–present”, a comprehensive analysis of what these events reveal about our past, our present and about ourselves.
