Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s biographer, Omid Scobie, author of “
Finding freedom, in 2020, criticized Buckingham Palace this week for allowing King Charles and Queen Camilla to walk on red carpets laid on the ground in a nature park in Kenya. This Wednesday, November 1, 2023, the royal couple joined the Nairobi reserve, which hosts an orphanage for baby elephants. And if Queen Camilla had put on her best hiking shoes, Omid Scobie squinted at a detail that shocked him.
A picture “quite ridiculous“
The royal journalist criticized the decision to roll out the red carpet in the wilderness, saying it made Charles and Camilla look completely “disconnected”. Sharing the said photos, he even dared to say that such staging was “quite ridiculous“. If we do not know who is responsible for this misstep, the hosts or the guests, Omid Scobie hit the nail on the head and estimated that Buckingham Palace aides should have opposed it.
And to add: “I have been on many royal visits all over the world and have seen aides request last minute adjustments or changes before the royals arrive at engagements (including red carpet judged unnecessary), so there is precedent for this.”
The mea culpa of King Charles III
However, King Charles III’s four-day trip to Kenya, which ended today, is considered a success. During this stay, the King and Queen took the opportunity to discuss a thorny subject, that of the United Kingdom’s colonial past. In a speech, the king informed the Kenyan people of his “greatest sadness and deepest regrets” It front of “heinous and unjustifiable acts of violence” perpetrated during this era. Hopefully the words will stick more than the images.
Even if this was a choice made by the hosts (and it probably was), the optics of the King and Queen walking on a red carpet to avoid soil at Nairobi National Park are pretty ridiculous and out of touch. A clued up Palace aide could have easily asked for it to be removed. pic.twitter.com/bnxoGwbgWC
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) November 3, 2023
F.A.