The eyes of much of the world will turn to London on Saturday for the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III.
It is the first coronation since Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953 — back when President Eisenhower was in the White House.
Eisenhower did not attend Elizabeth’s coronation, and President Biden will not attend Saturday’s event. The United States will be represented by first lady Jill Biden.
Beyond Saturday’s pomp and ceremony, however, Charles and the Royal Family face real challenges and big questions — including doubts that hover around the existence of monarchy itself.
Here are five awkward questions that loom over the coronation.
Will Charles apologize for colonialism?
The British monarchy is having to reckon with a changing world — one much different than it was when Elizabeth took the throne just shy of 70 years ago.
Calls from Indigenous leaders have intensified on the eve of Charles’s coronation, with many demanding the new king apologize and make amends for what the genocide they say the British Empire carried out.
In a letter made public May 4, organizations from Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines called on the British monarch to “immediately commit to starting discussions about reparations,” repatriation of remains and returning cultural artifacts.
Whether Charles becomes the first British monarch to apologize for his nation’s bloody imperial history is far from certain.
Professor Sanjoy Bhattacharya, head of the School of History at the University of Leeds, predicted there won’t be a “direct” apology from Charles.
“If any further apology comes, it may be via William and Kate, as roving ambassadors of the family firm, as well as much of the country,” he said.
He suggested that apologizing for past injustices is not seen as a “pressing need” by the Royal Family right now, noting that the royal honours — the medals given out by the Crown to Britons who are deemed to have distinguished themselves in various fields — still have the word ‘empire’ in many of their titles.
Will the United Kingdom break apart during his reign?
The state of the kingdom is far from united.
There have always been tensions between the constituent nations of the U.K. — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
But recent years have exacerbated the frictions.
The Scottish National Party (SNP), which favors independence, has transformed from a marginal force to a political powerhouse within the past generation.
The party has had problems in the very recent past — including the February resignation of its leader of almost a decade, Nicola Sturgeon — but Scottish independence could yet happen.
On the other side of the Irish Sea, nationalists who want Northern Ireland to be absorbed into an all-Ireland state — independent from Britain — believe a referendum will come there sooner or later, too.
It’s an understatement to say the status of Northern Ireland is contentious. The territory went through three decades of armed conflict known as The Troubles before a peace agreement was signed in 1998.
But more change may be on the horizon. The latest census results, released last year, showed more people identifying as Catholic than as Protestant for the first time in Northern Ireland’s 100-year history.
Northern Irish Catholics have traditionally identified as Irish, whereas Protestants have usually identified as British.
Colin Harvey, a professor at Queen’s University Belfast, told The Hill: “It is at least possible that the new King will see a transition to a new and united Ireland during his reign.”
How significant is it that Charles is less popular than his mother?
Elizabeth was such a fixture on the world stage that even occasional turmoil — the most notable example being in the immediate aftermath of Princess Diana’s 1997 death — failed to significantly dent her popularity with the British public.
Britons who opposed the monarchy had to reconcile themselves to the fact that as long as she was on the throne, change was unlikely.
A polling average maintained by YouGov showed public approval of Elizabeth consistently above 70 percent in the final years of her life. By contrast, the same polling company showed Charles’s average popularity across the first quarter of this year at 55 percent.
There are all kinds of reasons for the tepid view of Charles.
Virtually any British person in middle-age or beyond remembers the tawdry dramas as his marriage to Diana came apart. During his long wait for the crown, there were some suggestions that it would be better for the family to skip him and instead have Prince William succeed Elizabeth. And, in comparison to his mother, Charles likely suffers the effects of a more generalized loss of reverence for institutional authority.
The British public’s lukewarm attitude toward him could become a real problem if his time on the throne hits choppy waters.
How will he deal with Royal Family Drama?
With the coronation, the spotlight is also on both sons of King Charles — the “heir and spare.” Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle’s 2021 breakaway from the royal “firm” has resulted in two House of Windsor courts — one very much in the U.K., and the other in the heart of Hollywood.
The break in the familial relations following the release of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary, the former’s tell-all autobiography and their scores of media interviews will ensure the relations of the warring sides will be on full display.
Following the wall of silence from the royal family in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s documentary, Evan Nierman, CEO of crisis public relations firm Red Banyan, wrote in an opinion for The Hill that “If the House of Windsor continues to remain mute, it will continue to be on the losing end of this ugly PR face-off, which is not a good look.”
He added that “by refusing to counter punch, the Royals are feeding into the narrative that the palace is out of touch.”
Will the monarchy end with Charles?
The fundamental question faced by the monarchy is whether it is an anachronism in the modern world.
Part of the skepticism toward the British monarchy, in particular, clearly relates to its colonial history and the racism interwoven therein.
But on top of that is another question: Do 21st-century citizens of the U.K. really want to acquiesce in the idea that some people are, literally, born to rule over others?
For the millions of people who were “subjects” of the British Empire, the coronation is a reminder of an often-oppressive past. Many Britons also see the monarchy as an inherently undemocratic institution with no place in the modern era.
Among a large segment of the British population, the monarchy continues to represent tradition, stability, and ‘Britishness’ itself, but younger Britons seem markedly cooler toward the institution.
A CNN/Savanta poll released Friday asked British respondents whether they considered the Royal Family “a good source of leadership and guidance.”
Among the over-65s, a plurality — 45 percent to 34 percent — answered “yes.” But, in a worrying sign for Charles and his heirs, just 31 percent of those aged 18-24 said “yes,” while 55 percent disagreed.