He has not been beheaded like Charles I, he has not abdicated like Edward VIII, but he has been ousted. It's not that he was thrown from the balcony into the Buckingham Palace courtyard, it's that he wasn't even invited to come up, say hello and take a Polaroid for the story in which Carlos and Camila, Guillermo and Catalina appear with their three children, Princess Anne with her husband Prince Edward and his wife Sophie. At that time Enrique was already at Heathrow airport, he had checked in and was waiting at the boarding gate.
Any theory that the coronation was going to serve to lay the foundations for a reconciliation in the Windsors has been unfounded. In all, the schism is deeper than ever, to the point that The Daily Telegraph speculates, making blood, that Enrique might not return on an official trip to the country, and not see his family again until his father's funeral. . It was a come and go. He was only in London for 28 hours, during which he did not exchange a word with his mother or his brother.
Symbolically ousted, and also humiliated. Apart from not being invited to come out to say hello from the balcony, he was relegated to the third row in the abbey, the same one in which the other black sheep of the family, his uncle Andrés, sat in the opposite end. misfortune for accusations of sexual abuse of a minor, which he has settled out of court and has paid fifteen million euros to the alleged victim, and for his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, convicted of prostitution.
As Guillermo participated in the ceremony as heir and planted a kiss on his crowned father's cheek, beneath the two and a half kilos of solid gold he wore on his head, the feathers from his aunt Ana's hat obscured Enrique's view. , seated between Jack Brooksbank, husband of his cousin Eugenia, and Princess Alexandra, 86, niece of Elizabeth II (if it had been a football field, admission would have been half, with the notice that a column blocked the goal). He arrived at the abbey in a BMW with an escort twenty-two minutes before the start of the ceremony, without having seen anyone from the family, and entered next to Beatriz (Andrés's daughter) and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, with whom he has always done very good friends, to the point that they have visited him in exile in Montecito, a luxury development in Santa Barbara (California). During the parade, he wished luck to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the officiant, who married him and Meghan five years ago, and who persuaded him to put his pride aside and come to the coronation, even if he was to be relegated.
Enrique caught the American plane Thursday night from Los Angeles airport and landed at Heathrow Friday morning, the eve of the coronation, at eleven o'clock. The agreement with his father is that he enjoys official protection during his visits to the country, so he was picked up by a vehicle that took him to Frogmore Cottage, the country house in Windsor that he and Meghan renovated at a million-dollar cost with the intention of living there, before the “abdication”, the scared trip to California, the interview with Oprah Winfrey, the autobiography, the accusations of racism against the royal house, the criticism of Camila for “having sacrificed them” to improve her image, etc. All the things that neither his father, nor his brother, nor the conservative press nor the majority of English monarchists forgive them. They won't forgive them.
Now, yet another humiliation, Enrique has been the object of an eviction and, since he has settled in California, his father has demanded that he return the keys to Frogmore, which will be lent to Andrés, his partner in misfortune, who cannot pay the maintenance expenses of his current residence (no one has said if the money for the works will be returned to him or what financial arrangement he has reached). The Duke of Sussex could not wear his military uniform at the ceremony either (he was wearing a suit and medals on his lapel), punishment for having renounced all official functions on behalf of the family.
Enrique did not really want to come, and it is understandable that he rushed to the airport after the coronation, without changing and with the medals still on his chest. Under no circumstances did he want to miss the 3:45 PM British Airways flight to Los Angeles, and hopefully be in time to kiss his son Archie, who was turning four. There he was going to be much better received by Meghan.
Henry became third in line to the throne. Now neither the king, nor the heir, nor his father nor his brother want to know anything. They have thrown it from the balcony.
