The Prince of Wales's 70th Birthday: November 14, 2018

[Kingen]

The Swedish Royal Family hosts a state visit for the Italian President, so no one from Sweden either.

 

[Madame Verseau]

Is Norway going to come?

 

[principessa]

Austrian Federal President will visit the Netherlands so I guess that the Dutch Royal Family won't attend.

 

[Osipi]

I'm going to be honest here and state what I feel is my own opinion.

To me, the invitation and acceptance of foreign royals to this 70th party really doesn't really mean a hill of beans. Its nice if some attended that Charles and Camilla actually know and have a relationship with but to have "foreign royals" doesn't really mean the party is any better or more glamorous or more prestigious than having Charles' favorite gardener's assistant there that he likes to dig in the dirt with every chance he gets.

I hope Charles' birthday is totally about him and as he moves around the room, he's surrounded by people that mean something to him personally. He deserves it. ?

 

[Dman]

Great to hear that the Danish Crown Prince couple will attend the celebrations. Probably more royal houses will confirm their attendance later on.

I agree with Curryong that its such a shame that only the Wessexes bother to attend big celebrations of the other royal houses. Considering this it would be very generous if long list of foreign royals attended the 70th bday celebrations.

That’s only because The Queen only sends them. She don’t bother to send future King’s to those events.

I'm going to be honest here and state what I feel is my own opinion.

To me, the invitation and acceptance of foreign royals to this 70th party really doesn't really mean a hill of beans. Its nice if some attended that Charles and Camilla actually know and have a relationship with but to have "foreign royals" doesn't really mean the party is any better or more glamorous or more prestigious than having Charles' favorite gardener's assistant there that he likes to dig in the dirt with every chance he gets.

I hope Charles' birthday is totally about him and as he moves around the room, he's surrounded by people that mean something to him personally. He deserves it. ?

I hope the list of continental royals attending this party is substantial. For once, let’s get a nice set of car arrival pics of royals attending a worthy party for The Prince of Wales. We see all this stuff for the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish and Dutch...darn it, I want to see it for the British too. I’m tired of the British being the odd duck out when it comes to royal celebrations. The future King deserves a major Royal Celebration for his 70th.

 

[Denville]

Perhaps he does not want a lot of foreign royals whom he hardly knows, attendiing It is his party and he is surely entitlted to have the party he wants...

 

[Osipi]

I hope the list of continental royals attending this party is substantial. For once, let’s get a nice set of car arrival pics of royals attending a worthy party for The Prince of Wales. We see all this stuff for the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish and Dutch...darn it, I want to see it for the British too. I’m tired of the British being the odd duck out when it comes to royal celebrations. The future King deserves a major Royal Celebration for his 70th.

I'd prefer to see what you described reserved for Charles' coronation.

 

[W.Y.CII]

Probably Norwegian will be there too? It seems that they are relatively closer to BRF compared with other RF. Not expect to see Harald and Sonja but I guess the CP couple will join the party.

I am glad that CP Frederik and CPss Mary will be coming to Charles's 70th birthday celebrations. However, I do find it sad that, apart from the Wessexes, virtually no other member of the BRF (including Charles and Camilla) can be bothered to attend family celebrations of other royal Houses' notable birthdays, christenings etc. That became glaringly obvious at King Harald of Norway's eightieth. I think it's a great shame.

That’s only because The Queen only sends them. She don’t bother to send future King’s to those events.

I hope things will change during Charles reign. It's really strange to see the British is always absent in major celebrations or even funerals. Of course I think the Wessexs are doing great but, BRF always gives me a feeling that they are not interested in gathering with their colleagues while the others don't hesitate to send as many members as they can to join the party.

 

[Dman]

Perhaps he does not want a lot of foreign royals whom he hardly knows, attendiing It is his party and he is surely entitlted to have the party he wants...

He knows a great deal of his royal counterparts. It will just be nice to get glimps of a royal gathering for the future King’s Birthday. I hope we see the Greek royals too. Although it probably won’t happen, but it wouldn’t hurt for a major official portraits taken for the celebration too. Let’s party!

 

[Osipi]

To be honest, as far as portraits go, I don't think we can get any better than the ones taken for the Vanity Fair article. Those are exquisite portraits of Charles and Camilla and I don't think we could see anything better.

As its a private party, I doubt we'll see "official" portraits come out of it.

 

[Denville]

He knows a great deal of his royal counterparts. It will just be nice to get glimps of a royal gathering for the future King’s Birthday. I hope we see the Greek royals too. Although it probably won’t happen, but it wouldn’t hurt for a major official portraits taken for the celebration too. Let’s party!

If he knows them so well how come he hardly ever attends THEIR weddings or birthday parties? I dotn believe he is very bothered about the other royal families, and will be inviting his own friends and close family to his 70th...

 

[Dman]

I'd prefer to see what you described reserved for Charles' coronation.

No, just saying that we see tons of royals gathering for the other milestones, so what’s wrong with the continental royals gathering for a British milestone? 70 is a big deal, I would think folks would be excited for another royal gathering for The Prince of Wales’s Birthday. It happened for his 60th at Buckingham Palace too.

If he knows them so well how come he hardly ever attends THEIR weddings or birthday parties? I dotn believe he is very bothered about the other royal families, and will be inviting his own friends and close family to his 70th...

It’s The Queen who sends members of her family at these European royal celebrations...when she feels like it. Oddly she like sending those down the royal pecking order. I guess to give them something important to do.

But, yes, Charles knows his counterparts. Some of them was at his 60th.

 

[andrew]

He knows them very well.
I think there are several reasons why he seldom attends these official celebrations. One would be the schedules clashings. As we saw earlier the Duchess of Cornwall didn't attend Eugenie's wedding because of a previous engagement.
I guess the media would complain about the cost of these trips for "personal pleasure". And European royals tend to visit the British RF privately when they are in Britain.
And yes the British just do it differently....

https://goo.gl/images/QNknaJ

https://goo.gl/images/yeVxdj

He did attend some birthdays in past and almost all rhe weddings of the heirs to the throne.

 

[Denville]

It’s The Queen who sends members of her family at these European royal celebrations...when she feels like it. Oddly she like sending those down the royal pecking order. I guess to give them something important to do.

But, yes, Charles knows his counterparts. Some of them was at his 60th.

So if he knows them well, why isn't he inviting them to come to his party?

 

[Osipi]

Good thoughts Andrew and I agree with you.

One thing the Queen has always done is separate her role in the monarchy from her role personally. She's always supported celebrations with the other nations being invited to attend and be a part of it when its something pertaining to the monarchy such as her Jubilees are but when it comes to a personal milestone like their 70th wedding anniversary, she preferred that it not be a cause for public attention and preferred to keep the celebrations private.

This is her son's 70th birthday and to be honest, there aren't too many moms that are around to celebrate that milestone with their "baby". I would imagine that at the forefront of her mind with planning a party for him, it would be to make it as memorable for him as she can.

Its not about rank and file or how it looks for the monarchy which her son will inherit but if I can be fanciful and think as the Queen might think, be a party that makes her son happy and memorable.

This is a mom planning a party in a role as a mom. Work most likely gets a back seat to it. We, the public, are not probably anywhere near a concern how this party is going to be, look, be interpreted or measured by the Fail. Its not a PR stunt. Time enough for that kind of stuff in other areas.

It doesn't matter who attends or not as we see it. What matters is that Charles hits 70 running, willing and able as a happy person ready to take on the rest of his life and its my opinion, 70 is to be celebrated just because he still has his mother to throw him a party. Not many of us can say that.

 

[andrew]

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https://goo.gl/images/XDXHrf

https://goo.gl/images/HzZ8ZX

https://goo.gl/images/kGndKj

https://goo.gl/images/kHk81U

 

[Dman]

So if he knows them well, why isn't he inviting them to come to his party?

We don’t know the full guest list for the party. All we know that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark have confirmed their attendance.

You do know that all these European royals are family members, right? They know each other better than royal watchers know them.

 

[Denville]

Then Im surprised that Charles hasn't attended more of their weddings/parities etc and that they presumably aren't coming to his...

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Perhaps he does not want a lot of foreign royals whom he hardly knows [...] ...

He knows most royals his whole life long. Two weeks ago, during the traditional press moment at the end of a State Visit, King Willem-Alexander told he relationship with the Windsors was warm and close. He knew Buckingham already as a child, from visits over there. King Willem-Alexander revealed that this summer (in June) his family were guests of The Queen at Windsor Castle.

The Prince of Wales and the Prince of Orange: picture

 

[lucien]

Then Im surprised that Charles hasn't attended more of their weddings/parities etc and that they presumably aren't coming to his...

Charles HAS attended most Royal weddings,Denmark and The Netherlands come to mind to name a few,and he was present at two Inthronisations here in NL in 1980 and 2013 plus birthday bashes a.o then Queen Beatrix's 60th birthday plus numerous private visits out of the Court Circular.Furthermore many if not all attended his birthday bash at his 60th.But also,his youngest brother Edward and his Sophie are very well loved among their Royal counterparts and almost always present if there's a party in Royal Europe,certainly here as they are very close friends with our King & Queen..

 

[Andy T]

I'd expect several royals from the house of Greece to be present. I imagine we're likely to see Margareta of Romania (maybe Elena, too), Crown Prince Alexander II of Serbia, Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and some of Charles' closer German cousins, as well. For Spain, HM King Juan Carlos (and/or Sofia) may well be there instead of King Felipe and someone may come from Norway. Less likely are royals from Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Monaco, imo, but you never know...

 

[Denville]

Charles HAS attended most Royal weddings,Denmark and The Netherlands come to mind to name a few,and he was present at two Inthronisations here in NL in 1980 and 2013 plus birthday bashes a.o then Queen Beatrix's 60th birthday plus numerous private visits out of the Court Circular.Fu

so why are some posters claiming that the RF/Queen "only" sends the Wessexes to foreign royals' parties, implication being that she doesn't consider tehem very important or that Charles does not want to attend?

 

[Mbruno]

That’s only because The Queen only sends them. She don’t bother to send future King’s to those events.

Prince Charles actually attended the weddings of the Duke of Brabant, the Prince of Orange, and the Prince of Asturias. He was also present at the funeral service for Prince Claus of the Netherlands. In fact, it was only recently (mostly post-2004) that the Prince of Wales stopped representing the Queen in royal events in the continent.

 

[Denville]

Prince Charles actually attended the weddings of the Duke of Brabant, the Prince of Orange, and the Prince of Asturias. He was also present at the funeral service for Prince Claus of the Netherlands. In fact, it was only recently (mostly post-2004) that the Prince of Wales stopped representing the Queen in royal events in the continent.

so why is there this perception that Charles/the queen don't rate the Foreign RFs very highly and just send the Wessex couple to attend their events?

 

[Nico]

so why is there this perception that Charles/the queen don't rate the Foreign RFs very highly and just send the Wessex couple to attend their events?

That's not nice for the Wessexes ...
I guess it's just a generation thing. Charles is not stupid and pretty knows that's there is now a more or less huge age gap between him and the other European heirs. Sending the Wessexes is just a sensitive move i guess, avoiding any akwardness for the Prince of Wales, and reinforcing his role as the Queen's double at home.

 

[Mirabel]

so why is there this perception that Charles/the queen don't rate the Foreign RFs very highly and just send the Wessex couple to attend their events?

I keep reading that these days, Charles is virtually co-monarch and the major decisions are made by him.
So it's natural that he no longer attends these events, just as the Queen does not.

But I do think it's a bit insulting to keep deploying the Wessexes, as if all the more important royals have better things to do!

Why can't the Cambridges and the Sussexes attend once in a while?

 

[Denville]

well there we go, it seems as if people have the idea that Charles doesn't want to go, or doesn't think that the foreign royals are all that important and he or the queen send a relatively junior pair of royals to attned their functions....

 

[Mbruno]

I keep reading that these days, Charles is virtually co-monarch and the major decisions are made by him.
So it's natural that he no longer attends these events, just as the Queen does not.

But I do think it's a bit insulting to keep deploying the Wessexes, as if all the more important royals have better things to do!

Why can't the Cambridges and the Sussexes attend once in a while?

Most recent royal weddings and funerals took place when William and Harry were still very young. Now that they are married and full-time working royals, I expect them to attend overseas royal events more often, especially the Cambridges who have already made several official visits to the continent in the past years. I suspect the Sussexes on the other hand will concentrate more on Commonwealth tours.

 

[JR76]

Charles and Camilla were set to attend the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Daniel Westling in 2110, but had to cancel since he hurt his foot. Swedish media reported at the time that William, Harry and Catherine were also invited, but that they chose to attend the World Cup in South Africa instead.

 

[wyevale]

it's a bit insulting to keep deploying the Wessexes

Friendships have been formed ,quite close ones too, [as the interaction between Queen Maxima with the Countess of Wessex during the recent State visit proved].
I've no doubt the various royals would rather see a friend show up, than a virtual stranger [who may be 'higher ranking'] but who is unfamiliar!