Prince William's Coronation Will Be Different From King Charles': Royal Commentator

Prince William's coronation will likely be very different from King Charles III's when he succeeds the throne after his father, a royal commentator has suggested.

Russell Myers, royal editor at The Mirror, weighed in on the reports that just days after King Charles III was officially crowned at London's Westminster Abbey and held three days of festivities surrounding his coronation, the Prince of Wales is already planning his own coronation.

During an appearance on "Today Show Australia," the journalist agreed that it was a bit too soon for Prince William to begin planning the event.

"These reports about William planning his own coronation... I mean, we've barely caught up on the sleep we missed from the last one, so it does seem a bit soon, I will say that," Myers said.

But the royal expert suggested that when the time comes, Prince William, as the face of the modern monarchy, may have a coronation that would be more low-key and won't be as steeped in tradition as his father's.

"William does have an awful lot on his shoulders. Certainly, he and his family are going to have to be the flag bearers for the modern monarchy," Myers said, noting that there are only a few members left in the slimmed-down monarchy after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quit royal duties in 2020 and Prince Andrew was forced to step back from public duties over his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

"Now we have William talking about what it will mean to be the monarch in the modern world," he continued. "I mean, I do think that he will not have a coronation anywhere near like what we saw of Charles. You talk about the glitz and the glamor and mix it with the thousand-year-old ceremony. I can't see how he, as a modern man, will want to give that sort of indication of his personality."

His comments came after a report from The Sunday Times claimed that Prince William is "already thinking about his coronation — it won't be like his dad's."

"There is no way he will go down that route or anything like it," an unnamed source reportedly close to the Prince of Wales told the outlet. "He is really thinking, how do we make his coronation feel most relevant in the future? He is mindful of the fact that in 20 years' time, or whenever his time comes, how can the coronation be modern but also unifying to the nation and the Commonwealth? I think his coronation will look and feel quite different."

King Charles, 74, became the U.K.'s new monarch immediately upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on Sept. 8, 2022, but was officially crowned in a ceremony steeped in tradition at Westminster Abbey on May 6.

His ceremony was more modest than his mother's 1953 coronation in terms of the length and number of guests present during the service. His coronation was cut down to 60 minutes and was attended by an estimated 2,000 guests, while Queen Elizabeth's was three hours long and had 8,251 attendees.