Here it is, the “balcony” moment at Buckingham Palace, following the coronation at Westminster Abbey. The newly crowned King Charles and Queen Camilla staggered out to the balcony, and this was the end result of months of careful planning and thousands of leaks to friendly media allies: the king not flanked by his heirs, but flanked by page boys, with the all-white working royals pushed off the far ends of the balcony. They stood as the flyover happened, miraculously because there was a real danger that the flyover would be canceled given all of the rain.

At the end of the day, it just felt like a giant disappointment. The palace had openly briefed everyone that Prince Harry was not invited on the balcony because he had committed the cardinal sin of marrying a vivacious Black woman. So you would have thought that Charles would emphasize the dynastic line which did show up for him – William and his children. But no, they were shuffled off to the side with the Wessexes/Edinburghs. Such a weird visual. Then Charles and Camilla staggered back out to pose on the balcony, just the two of them. They are very… self-absorbed.

More people did come out – the Mall was wall-to-wall from the looks of it, even though it was raining for most of Saturday. While Charles was probably relieved with the turnout in London, the “coronation parties” outside of London didn’t have much turnout, if social media is to be believed.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.