'We haven't received anything': Queen's godson Lord Carnarvon reveals he has not been invited to the coronation
4 May 2023, 09:54 | Updated: 4 May 2023, 09:59
Lord and Lady Carnarvon have revealed they have not been invited to the King's coronation this weekend.
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The couple were part of the select group at the Queen’s intimate committal service in St George’s Chapel just seven months ago.
But they have now been completely dropped from the guest list for the King's coronation.
The move by the royals marks the first time an Earl of Carnarvon has not been invited to the crowning of a British monarch.
Charles' 'slimmed down coronation' has already seen the ceremony shortened to just over an hour as well as the guest list being cut from 8,000 to 2,000.
"No one’s sent me an email or [made] a phone call saying, 'You’re not coming.' We just haven’t received anything," George Herbert, the 8th Earl, said, according to MailOnline.
"You can’t always be part of everything," he added.
"We were honoured to be part of the late Queen Elizabeth’s funeral at St George’s Chapel.
"It was the people who had connection with the family as friends or people who’d worked on the [royal] estates.
"It was an extraordinary day, but very, very sad. The end of a great era."
The Queen's godson - who is best known for living in the real life Downton Abbey - is not the only one to have been forgotten about ahead of the coronation, with several Dukes also among those who will be forced to instead watch from home.
They include the Duke of Rutland, whose grandfather carried the orb in the procession into Westminster Abbey at George VI’s coronation and the Duke of Somerset, whose title is the second oldest dukedom in the country.
Lord Carnarvon later added: "Everyone would love to be going to a glorious state occasion.
"My grandfather did like putting on the ermine and all the gear from time to time. He was a theatrical type of person, but times have changed since my grandfather’s – and my father’s – time."
His grandfather, the 6th Earl, was one of many to attend the late Queen’s coronation in 1953.
