King Charles is not currently planning to visit riot hit areas as the monarch follows the late Queen’s example.
King Charles is not currently planning to visit riot hit areas (Image: Getty)
King Charles isn’t currently planning visits to riot hit hotspots as the monarch follows the late Queen’s lead in his response.
Royal sources have said Charles is being kept updated daily about the disorder which has plagued streets in England and Northern Ireland since three girls were fatally stabbed in Southport, Merseyside.
The Labour Government leads the response to the unrest, with Charles expected as monarch to stay out of politics.
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Anti-monarchy group, Republic, has criticised the lack of response from the King, with its leader, Graham Smith, claiming that when the nation is in crisis, the monarch is “nowhere to be seen”.
But Charles appears to be following a precedent set by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who didn’t send any messages when rioting erupted in summer 2011.
Queen Elizabeth II visited the injured victims of the Manchester Arena bombing (Image: Getty)
The Daily Mail’s former royal correspondent, Richard Kay, said the late Queen had been receiving updates about developments at that time.
He reported that plans were being put in place for an “appropriate” royal response to those riots, which came a few months before Her Late Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Mr Kay suggested that response would most likely come in the form of a “high-profile” visit by a senior royal to communities affected by the violence.
Prince William and Princess Kate, then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, visited Machan Express Coffee bar in the centre of Birmingham in August, 2011, which was ransacked during rioting in the area.
After riots in Toxteth in July 1981, Charles visited David Lewis Youth Centre in the same neighbourhood of inner-city Liverpool during a two hour trip a few weeks later.
Chalres did express grief and concern after the fatal stabbings in Southport, but to date he hasn’t addressed the rioting or anti-immigration protests which have erupted since.
Prince William and Princess Kate visited Birmingham after the 2011 riots (Image: Getty)
Historian and author, Sir Anthony Seldon, defended King Charles, telling the BBC now is not the time for the monarch to get involved.
He told the broadcaster: “The time for the King to speak, if at all, is when everything has calmed down again. The issues that have led to the riots are not going to go away quickly. We need to hear his considered thoughts then about societal harmony.”
Others have called on the King to speak out now. Historian Kate Williams told Times Radio this is the moment for Charles to talk about multiculturalism, the Commonwealth and commnity cohesion.
She told the station: “I think that if I were advising him I would suggest making that statement sooner rather than later.”
Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert at Royal Holloway, University of London, said in general, the monarchy does not comment on current political events.
King Charles, then Prince of Wales, at David Lewis Youth Centre during a two hour trip to Toxteth (Image: PA Images/PA Archive)
He wrote on X: “It chiefly acts through its ‘work’, i.e. Charles visited Tottenham several times after the 2011 riots (and was praised for that).”
Mr Prescott added that in “a slightly different way”, the late Queen visited those injured in the Manchester Arena bombing, describing the bomber as “very wicked”.
The expert said: “Once the riots have subsided, you might expect members of the Royal Family to visit places affected and perhaps to see them more in multicultural settings.
“We’ve perhaps already seen this a little more in this reign (not that Elizabeth II didn’t do engagements like this).”
Buckingham Palace has been approached for comment.
