Nine-year-old Prince George will have a big role at the May coronation of his grandfather, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
George, who is the King’s eldest grandson and second in line to the throne behind his father, Prince William, will be one of four pages of honour to attend the monarch at the May 6 ceremony.
He will be joined by 13-year-old Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, 12-year-old Ralph Tollemache and Nicholas Barclay, whose age has not been revealed.
The Queen Consort has selected her three grandsons Gus and Louis Lopes (both 12) and Freddy Parker Bowles (13), and her great-nephew Arthur Elliot (11) as her pages of honour.
The role of page of honour is usually a distinction granted to teenage sons of members of the nobility and gentry, and especially of senior members of the royal household.
British high society publication Tatler says pages of honour are traditionally expected to wear a “scarlet frock” with gold lace, “cuffs of blue velvet” and a white satin waistcoat laced with gold, along with white breeches, white gloves, black buckled shoes, a lace cravat and ruffles, according to the official outfit book issued by the Lord Chamberlain.
“They are also expected to wear a small ceremonial sword and ‘three-cornered hat… edged with scarlet feather’ with a ‘plaited bullion loop and button’,” it said.
It’s unknown, however, if the boys will be required to don such traditional outfits for the coronation at Westminster Abbey. The new King is reportedly keen to modernise the May 6 event – including slimming down its guest list.
Confirmation of the young prince’s official role came on Wednesday after reports his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, had been worried about the pressure it might put on their son’s shoulders.
They are “cognisant that he is old enough to understand what’s going on,” a royal source told People magazine. But they were also mindful that normal life would resume when George returned to school the following week, where the weekend’s events will likely be the talk of his classmates.
No official role has been revealed for George’s younger siblings, Princess Charlotte (7) and four-year-old Prince Louis.
The official invitations for the coronation were also unveiled on Wednesday – featuring a few surprises.
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They identified the King’s wife as Queen Camilla for the first time. Camilla, who until now has been described as queen consort, is given equal billing on the ornate mediaeval-style invitations.
The new title is another step in the remarkable transformation of a woman once derided as a home-wrecker because of her role in the breakdown of Charles’ marriage to the late Princess Diana.
Charles and Camilla met long before the future king married Diana in 1981 and their relationship continued throughout the tumultuous marriage. That made Camilla an object of scorn among Diana’s many fans, who rallied around the princess as her marriage collapsed.
But Camilla has won over much of the British public with her warmth and down-to-earth humour since she married Charles in a civil ceremony in 2005.
The late Queen Elizabeth II early last year issued a statement saying she hoped Camilla would be known as “queen consort” when Charles became king.
Camilla will be crowned alongside her husband on May 6.
The invitations feature the ancient motif of the Green Man in a nod to the monarch’s record of supporting conservation and environmental protection.
The Green Man is “an ancient figure from British folklore, symbolic of spring and rebirth, to celebrate the new reign,” the palace said.
“The shape of the Green Man, crowned in natural foliage, is formed of leaves of oak, ivy and hawthorn, and the emblematic flowers of the United Kingdom.”
The design, created by heraldic artist and manuscript illuminator Andrew Jamieson, will be printed on a recycled card with gold foil detailing.
-with AAP
