It’s in Hillsborough or Belfast in Northern Ireland this Tuesday, it was in Scotland the day before, it was also in London. The same scenes are repeated every time Carlos III travels since the ascension of the monarch. This one, often accompanied by his wife, the queen consort Camilla, goes ahead of the crowd, shakes the outstretched hands, allows himself to be touched… and even kissed.
This surprised even the press specialized in monitoring Windsor, as shown by the following tweet that recounts the sequence that occurred last Friday in front of Buckingham Palace.
The protocol validates the handshake.
The image, it is true, surprises when the customs of a supposedly forced dynasty are known, its love for distance and its respect for the etiquette that imposed even the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, to walk two steps behind his wife. Queen Elizabeth II. From there to think that Carlos III inaugurates his reign by repealing the protocol, there is only one left. Stéphane Bern, author, journalist and expert animator well known to the royal families, however, does not deceive us.
“As far as the Queen is concerned, there were no plans to shake hands or kiss her, but she agreed to the 25-year jubilee rides of her reign in 1977. As for the protocol, it only specifies that we do not touch. the monarch but if he holds out his hand to you, of course you can shake it ”, observes this Tuesday with BFMTV.com who frequented the members of the royal family.
The monarchy’s official website also notes that in the presence of a member of the royal family “some people prefer to just shake hands in the usual way.”
Greetings from Carlos III
The protocol, on the other hand, says nothing about the kiss to the sovereign. A silence that leaves you full freedom to define the limits of what is acceptable. However, Charles has never disdained this kind of display of affection, Stéphane Bern comments: “As he is Prince of Wales, he allows himself to be touched, kissed. He was kissed by young girls even when he moved in with Diana.”
For our interlocutor, this relaxation “responds to the nature” of the new king. And it allows him to establish a more personal relationship with his subjects: “It imprints his style on him, that he wants to bring him closer to the people.”
The memory of miracle-working kings
Physical contact between the monarch and his people is nothing like a contemporary invention. In the Middle Ages, the kings already lent themselves to the exercise, because according to popular belief -and the idea that the monarchs had of the divine nature of their mission- feeling the sovereign could cure incurable diseases, perform miracles, propitiate good fortune. A tradition that the 20th century historian, Marc Bloch, collected under the concept of “thaumaturgical kings”.
The sight of Carlos mingling with a crowd eager to touch him revives this custom. Stéphane Bern confirms it, quoting another historian: “In fact, we are in the two bodies of the king, by Ernst Kantorowicz: there is this physical body but also what it personifies, that is to say the sacred power, because the monarch is crowned in Westminster. So even though Carlos III has not yet been anointed with the sacred oils, the coronation should take place in the spring.”
“It is something irrational. Today people no longer think that touching the king will bring them luck, but they have that desire to create a bond with him”, summarizes the presenter of secrets of history.
Closed mouth
However, this proximity is not without symbolic danger. If you get kissed too much, you run the risk of losing your aura. But Stéphane Bern dismisses this danger: “As long as he remains silent, Carlos will not trivialize himself. Elizabeth II was omnipresent -in banknotes, coins- but she did not say anything. The risk of trivialization is above all the word”. “The monarch is very present and very silent. Very mysterious,” he concludes.
Broken as he was from a very young age with the stakes of the role he was now assuming, Carlos III was well aware of the need to stick to this duty of reserve. Last Friday, during his first speech as king, he also promised to “defend constitutional principles within the nation”, stressing again: “I was brought up to respect a sense of duty and tradition.” Honor is safe.
Source: BFM TV
