Why King Charles' big family reunion ahead of the coronation will be tinged with bittersweet emotions

King Charles’ big family reunion ahead of the coronation will be tinged with bittersweet emotions for a simple reason.

• King Charles and Queen Camilla will soon be marking their first Easter since taking on their new titles and the royals traditionally all come together for a service.
• This year Easter Sunday falls on a date with huge significance to the entire Royal Family and it might bring up complicated emotions.
• This royal news comes as we revealed Queen Elizabeth’s surprising gift after her State Visit to Germany that King Charles likely won’t get.

Although many fans are looking forward to watching King Charles’ coronation and finally getting confirmation of who is invited to King Charles’ coronation, we still don’t know which royals will be at the ceremony. However, this isn’t the only time that the immediate and extended Royal Family could be glimpsed coming together in public soon. Traditionally, the Easter Sunday church service is a key moment in the royal calendar and this year King Charles’ big family reunion could be very bittersweet. 

Apart from during the pandemic, Easter Sunday has been a time of year that mirrors a traditional Royal Family Christmas in that we get to see many royals walking to church together in formal outfits. At Easter the service they typically attend is at Windsor Castle rather than at Sandringham where they spend Christmas. 

Last year everyone from the Prince and Princess of Wales to Princess Margaret’s daughter Lady Sarah Chatto were seen on Easter Sunday. In the past there’s also been a big royal presence at the service and this year will be King Charles and Queen Camilla’s first Easter Sunday as King and Queen Consort. They are devoted to their faith and this is an important moment for them, however, it will also be their first Easter service since Queen Elizabeth passed away. 

The bittersweet nature of the occasion will be even more pronounced as Easter Sunday falls on April 9 in 2023. This date is not only King Charles and Queen Camilla’s wedding anniversary but the two-year anniversary of Prince Philip’s death. This could make the 2023 Easter Sunday service an emotional experience for the Royal Family. 

The poignancy attached to this date likely also makes the happy occasion of the royal couple’s 18 year wedding anniversary a little more complex. It’s also likely that Easter will be the first time so many of King Charles’ nearest and dearest will be coming together since Christmas and perhaps the last time before the coronation. 

Currently it’s not known whether Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be at the ceremony or if they’d possibly make such a long trip for Easter a month before too. Following the release of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, and their Netflix docuseries, it’s been widely reported that a “rift” has grown deeper between them and their fellow royals.  

Prince Harry also declared in an interview that he “would like to get [his] father back” and “would like to have [his] brother back” in his life more.

It would certainly delight many fans to see him and Meghan reunite with King Charles and the rest of the Royal Family. However, if they aren’t at King Charles’ big family reunion at Easter that could potentially add another layer of poignancy to this bittersweet day.