No Angels for Charlie – Stars dodge coronation celebrations

“Snub the King” – “Snub the King” – headlined the American magazine Rolling Stone. The article examines why a surprisingly high proportion of the requested artists performed at the accession to the throne of King Charles III. taken with thanks.

According to multiple sources, Adele, Harry Styles, Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Robbie Williams and the Spice Girls, among others, have canceled all performances at the Coronation Concert in honor of the throne of Charles on May 6-7, 2023. Scheduling conflicts are often cited as the reason for the cancellation, but it is reasonable to assume that there is general unwillingness in the room.

This was by no means always the case. Even in June 2022, there was no shortage of big names celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. And in recent decades, world stars also like to perform for Charles (then Prince Charles), for example at the countless gala evenings for his charity organization The Prince’s Trust. At one such event in 1997, Geri Halliwell kissed Prince Charles on the cheek – a clear breach of royal protocol and etiquette. The mini-scandal made the front pages of newspapers and went down in pop culture history. Today, however, Ginger Spice does not like to kiss the king. On the contrary, the Spice Girls completely refused to participate. What happened?

In 1997, New Labor was in power, Cool Britannia and Britpop were the buzzwords, and sassy, ​​sexy British popular culture was a global export hit. The royals somehow fit in there too – as old-fashioned, but quite iconic, figureheads. Today, after several years of Tory mismanagement and acute Brexit blues, the festive mood is long gone. On the contrary, the institution of the monarchy as such is coming under increasing pressure.

Queen Elizabeth II was given the status of the country’s beloved grandmother; after all, the vast majority of the population was born after their accession to the throne in 1952. Therefore, the celebrations of her 70th anniversary last year went well. Charles, on the other hand, is at the beginning of his reign and sees the tolerance (let alone popularity) of himself and other exponents of his family wane. The facade of ceremonial and pageantry has long since collapsed. “Nowadays we want to know what kind of people they really are,” writer Michael Cragg explains the mood of the populace, “and the version of the royal family we recently got to know through the book Prince Harry and the Prince’s Dealings Andrew scandal shows us: the reality is terrible».

Allegations about Prince Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and an alleged sexual relationship with one of Epstein’s victims are still fresh in people’s minds. The drama surrounding Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series and Harry’s memoir is still burning hot. For an artist, performing at a royal event in 2023 would mean coming into contact with some egregious scandal.

“I don’t know what any connection has with him [Charles] should really bring an artist,” Rolling Stone quotes a head of a leading British music PR firm as saying, “the queen was fabulous and glamorous to some people. Not Charles – there’s no legacy from him anyone would want to associate with, […] unless he was a staunch supporter of the monarchy». But there are hardly any among the younger generation. On the contrary, a majority of Millennials and Gen-Z see royalty as a relic of the past, due to their wealth and position thanks to historically exploitative colonial structures.

Abroad, this is all too often overlooked. Britishness is often seen as congruent with monarchy. The multifaceted aspects of contemporary British culture are overlooked and the pervasive influence of the class system underestimated. For example, when abroad Adele is seen simply as “English”, locals see her as the proud Büezer girl from Tottenham, one of the most ethnically diverse areas of Britain. So there is no direct cultural proximity to the royal family.

In addition, Charles’s coronation comes in a year in which the UK’s cost of living crisis has reached dangerous heights. A lavish enthronement with much pomp and circumstance is badly received by the financially battered taxpayer.

So King Charles’ coronation celebration is likely to be a PR tightrope walk. It is important to honor tradition and justify the representative status of the monarchy, but at the same time not appear too pompous to acknowledge the plight of large sections of the population. What this means for the show acts remains to be seen. Currently confirmed are: Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Motown veteran Lionel Richie, music composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, Take That (but minus their most prominent band member – as mentioned at the beginning) and X Factor finalist Olly Murs.