I’m a royal expert – here’s how the monarchy can not only survive but thrive after the coronation
IT WAS a ceremony that could have come from any era of the last 1,000 years.
The newly crowned King is kissed tenderly by his son and heir — whose vow to be his “liege man of life and limb” left a previously solemn-looking Charles watery-eyed.
But just four hours after the sacred ceremony his heir, Prince William, put a highly polished video of the Coronation on social media.
The incredible one-minute video included behind-the-scenes shots of his wife, Catherine, and their three children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte — at the heart of this historic service and who were the unintentional stars of the show.
It is just another example of how William is modernising the royal family to save its future.
He and Kate know they desperately need to get the TikTok generation interested in the Firm, or risk becoming irrelevant.
Recent polls seem to show the younger generation don’t dislike the royal family but they don’t really care about them. Generation Z — those aged 18 to 24 — are apathetic about the monarchy, and that is a real problem.
The royal family must not be complacent because the events of the weekend were a brilliant success.
Everybody who loves the monarchy turned up or tuned in to the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Saturday.
It reflects the hard core of dedicated monarchists who are prepared to stand in the rain and cheer.
About 20million did not travel to London but instead stayed at home and watched it all on telly.
But that does not reflect the whole country.
Those early TV viewing figures mean that up to three-quarters of the country may not have watched it at all.
The Firm can no longer rely on books, garden parties and spurs and funny walks.
Royalty is fascinating, but not to everyone.
Putting out slick, shareable videos on their Instagram feed is a clever move by William and Kate to try to engage a generation that has a very short attention span.
William and Kate and their communications team — led by social media guru Lee Thompson, lured away from American TV network NBC — are engaging with younger people in the way they understand. And it’s working.
The first Coronation reel posted to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ 14.8million followers of their social media around 5pm on Saturday has racked up two million likes.
It was shared to TikTok, where it has been widely viewed.
Yesterday lunchtime the Wales’s team released another behind-the-scenes teaser video showing William rehearsing for last night’s Coronation concert in Windsor.
While William and Kate are the stars of the future and are a glamorous couple, the fact is they are not young. He is 40 and she is 41.
When Charles and Diana were the most glamourous couple in the world in the 1980s they were not middle-aged like Kate and William.
We often forget that Charles was 32 and Diana was just 20 when they married — and they really did engage with young people back then.
Diana didn’t need to know if she was trending. She was the trend.
At 74, Charles is the oldest man in British history to accede to the throne.
And at some stage he and his second wife Camilla, 75, will have to take life at a slower pace.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are the royal family’s new stars.
They are attractive and naturals with the public, as we witnessed when they wooed the crowds on the Long Walk in Windsor yesterday.
Kate even gave a little girl who burst into tears a hug, while William drank beer with fans.
But they are not the new Charles and Diana. They are the new Queen and Prince Philip, but in reverse.
William and Kate are not so much the People’s Prince and Princess — they are the People’s Family.
Their children, quite frankly, are brilliant. Louis in particular is a little star. Everyone loves him.
George was immaculate on the day and his father and grandfather will be so proud of him. He is still only a little boy. He did so well.
Charlotte was every inch a Princess. She could have stepped straight out of Walt Disney’s world.
She played her part with total class.
The royal family for Gen Z are right there.
They are going to be the marketing tool that keeps the royals attractive to a new generation. In the last two years we have had two funerals, a Jubilee and a Coronation — plus the Harry and Meghan saga.
But in the coming years there will be no major events on that scale to keep interest in the royal family.
So they must engage with the people, old and young.
Comedian Adam Hills was one of 20 Australians invited to attend the Coronation at Westminster Abbey.
He was saying, “This will probably be the last King of Australia”, as he believes his homeland and New Zealand will become republics unless the royal family does something drastic.
Royal Family for Gen Z
The Firm doesn’t want to lose Australia and I think the King and Queen Camilla should go there next year with William and Kate.
They should go for a whole month and take the children on a massive PR campaign.
It’s not the first time it has happened. The Queen went with Charles and Anne in 1970.
They could leave Princess Anne as a counsellor of state to look after things here.
Anne was one of the unsung stars of the Coronation. She rode out like a Queen.
The Commonwealth is going to become more and more important if the royal family is to have more influence.
And they do want to have that influence because they don’t want it to end on their watch.
I think Australia will have an elected head of state before William is crowned — unless they pull out all the stops.
The royal family was perhaps at its most vulnerable in 1936, the year of three Kings. George V said Edward VIII would ruin the royal family within a year — and he did.
George VI, the stammering King, came in and called his family “We Four”.
With the help of the Queen Mother and his daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, “We Four” saved the monarchy.
In Catherine, William has a wife who is as strong and as attractive as the Queen Mother.
And with their children, “We Five” will ensure the monarchy is not only safe, but thrives.