FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
LONDON – An invisible monarchy: The British royal family is disappearing before the eyes of its subjects, and if it is true, as Elizabeth said, that the crown “has to be seen to be believed,” one wonders if we are not just witnessing the sudden dissolution are the institution itself.
At the moment there is no one at the head of the House of Windsor: King Charles is a virtual image, Queen Camilla has gone on holiday and heir to the throne William appears and disappears to be at the side of Princess Kate, who is mysteriously recovering and hidden from everyone's eyes.
Today the plane took off with Camilla on board for the tropics, where the Queen will be on vacation for at least a week: an unexpected but not unforeseeable departure, considering that the King's wife is also 76 years old and Carlo's illness is less publicized She took over his role more than a month ago and has successively taken on 13 official engagements. Perhaps too much for a person who had never longed for a public life and wanted more than anything else to be close to the love of his life.
But Camilla's sudden withdrawal has widened the gap at the top. The sovereign, who is undergoing cancer treatment, has put his entire agenda on hold and will appear at Commonwealth Day next Monday only via video. In recent weeks, Buckingham Palace has been eager to show him on video and in photos to reassure his subjects: However, nothing is known for sure about his exact diagnosis, fueling speculation.
For Kate, they have taken on the dimension of conspiracy theories: on social media you can read everything from a coma to a suicide attempt. Nothing true, but in this case the lack of an image or update leads to the craziest fantasies. On the other hand, however, the most informed English commentators have leaked that the condition of Charles and the Princess is “serious” and that their recovery could take even longer than initially announced (for Kate, yes, it was said that it would). would only appear again after Easter).
The extent of the royal family's collapse was made clear by the image of the Windsors arriving at the funeral of Constantine of Greece last week: led by a grinning Prince Andrew, flanked by his (more or less) ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. The fact that two disgraced people like them appear publicly as standard-bearers of the monarchy says a lot about the state of affairs.
And the misfortune seems to be getting even worse: just a few days ago it was announced that the husband of Lady Gabriella, Charles' cousin, daughter of Prince Michael of Kent, mysteriously committed suicide with a shot in the head. A tragedy in muted tones, but one that casts a devastating shadow over the entire royal saga.
The subjects look on in amazement, as if they were waking up in disbelief from a fairy tale without a happy ending. And now there is a danger that the monarchy will dissolve not with an explosion but with a sigh.