Last year, the Windsors made a big deal over the Princess of Wales’s second piano recital, her “Together at Christmas” event at Westminster Abbey. King Charles, Queen Camilla, and almost all of the left-behind Windsors made a point of coming out to the event. Many of the women wore matching burgundy coats, because the Duchess of Sussex talked about all of the fashion rules for royal women, so the burgundy coats were seen as some kind of “dig” at Meghan. This was happening at the same time as the Harry & Meghan docuseries aired as well, so you get the picture – united front and all that. One year later, and the front is no longer all that united. Harry’s memoir was a huge cultural moment, and the Windsors are currently trying to ignore Omid Scobie’s Endgame and the outing of two alleged “racist royals,” Charles and Kate. Hilariously, Charles and Camilla made a point of scheduling something out of town on the night of Kate’s third annual piano recital.

King Charles III will be 100 miles away on the day of Kate Middleton’s major winter project as the pair are swept up in a media storm over Meghan Markle’s race allegations.

Charles was named in the Dutch-language version of new royal book Endgame, released on Tuesday, November 28, as the royal who commented on the then-unborn Prince Archie’s skin tone; the Princess of Wales was said to have been present at the time. The names have not been officially confirmed, but were included in the Dutch-language version of Endgame in error, the book’s publisher said, and copies were pulled from shelves. Since the revelation, Charles and Kate have been engulfed in a frenzy of news stories, although the British press has largely been supportive of the royals while condemning author Omid Scobie.

The saga will almost certainly be the backdrop to Kate’s Together at Christmas Carol Service, at Westminster Abbey, in London, on Friday. The press release said that “other Members of the Royal Family” will be present, sparking a headline in the U.K. newspaper Daily Mirror about family unity.

However, hours later, Buckingham Palace announced that the king has an engagement the same day at his Highgrove Estate, in Gloucestershire, England, more than 100 miles away.

A Kensington Palace press release read: “Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales, and other Members of the Royal Family will attend the Together At Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey on Friday 8th December.”

On the same day, the king will attend what the palace described as a “Celebration of Craft” Reception, hosted by his charity The King’s Foundation at his Highgrove estate.

[From Newsweek]

Charles reportedly prefers to spend his weekends at Highgrove, so I can understand (logistically) why he wouldn’t stick around in London on a Friday evening just to attend Kate’s dumb event. Although it IS funny – he would rather celebrate local crafters at Highgrove than put on a united (racist) front with Kate, William and the left-behinds. I absolutely wonder if this whole controversy might be the beginning of the institutional cooling-off for Kate.

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