King Charles' choices of pages of honour for his Coronation are predictable and he needs to "broaden his base", according to a royal expert.
The eight schoolboys who have been given the task of being pages at the historic event next month have been revealed - and among them is his grandson Prince George.
Other pages attending to both him and the Queen Consort by carrying their robes are Camilla's three grandsons and other sons of close family friends.
And according to royal expert and historian Dr Tessa Dunlop, when it comes to his Coronation, Charles should remember how diverse a nation his country is.
She told the Mirror: "Predictably Prince George, nine years old and second in line to the throne, makes the cut.
"In buckled shoes, a lace cravat and ruffles he will assist the King with his heavy robes in the Abbey alongside three fellow aristocrats and family friends including Lord Oliver Cholmondeley and Nicholas Barclay, grandson of the Colman's Mustard heir.
"Camilla's quartet of boys is recruited exclusively from the new Queen's relations: three teenage grandsons and Arthur, a great nephew who is the son of the former co-chairman of the Conservative party.
"There is nothing new in this. A cursory look at George VI's coronation in 1937 reveals an improbable image of a stiff enthroned King flanked by eight adolescent boys plucked from the folds of Britain's pre-war aristocracy and trussed up in satin breeches and stockings.
"But nearly 90 years later is it too much to hope that some of the schoolboys selected for this once-in-a-lifetime privilege might be recruited from beyond the narrow echelons of aristocratic England and the Royal Household?
"Lest we (or he) forgets, Charles is a monarch for all of Great Britain, which includes four nations and a rich ethnically diverse population. Not to mention the King's role as monarch to fourteen other realms. How included do they currently feel?"
Tessa pointed out that the late Queen had maids of honour picked from aristocratic families - but it was a different time.
She added: "True, Elizabeth II's maids of honours were likewise selected from the bosom of Britain's titled families but hierarchical 1950s Britain hadn't yet been hit by the rock & roll sixties and beyond, with fresh ideas about equality and inclusion.
"Presumably roles will be found for Camilla's two granddaughters and perhaps even a little something beyond a carriage ride for eight-year-old Princess Charlotte but it is poor form that this announcement has to play second fiddle to the page boys' confirmation.
"And yes when it comes to royalty, timing and appearances are everything.
"You may well shrug and say 'Why does it matter?' But our royal family is skating on thinner ice than ever before.
"In 1983 when polled 86 per cent of the British public were pro-monarchy, but according to British Social Attitudes that number had fallen to 55 per cent by 2021, with a fifth of people preferring the idea of a republic.
"These statistics suggest that Charles cannot take for granted the support of his subjects. A tainted Queen forced on us from on high is one thing, but a brace of exclusively privately educated public school boys occupying esteemed honorary roles in the Abbey doesn't bode well for a King who needs to broaden his base."
