King Charles and Queen Camilla are taking a historic action while Princess Anne is recovering from an unfortunate incident that took place on Sunday.
A public holiday has been declared for King Charles’s upcoming visit, as the “rare and historic” move has been marked with a day off.
The State of Jersey has declared Monday, July 15, a public holiday on the island, to allow people to celebrate the visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham remarked it was a “rare and historic” occasion.
The minister then said it would cost taxpayers around £700,000 in wages, for people to cover civil servants who took the day off.
It will be the first time a reigning monarch has visited the island since the late Queen Elizabeth II’s visit in 2005.
Deputy David Warr said it could cost small businesses, who will have to pay wages to their workers.
He said: “When we ask businesses to close down for a day over and above those already allocated as bank holidays, with virtually no ability to plan, we immediately place a significant, additional, unbudgeted cost burden on our local businesses.
“I’ve been approached by many local businesses, who feel that this Assembly is simply not listening to them.”
A public holiday has also been declared for Guernsey, when King Charles and Queen Camilla will visit on July 16.
The long weekend will coincide with the final of the Euro 2024 football tournament.
The day after the King returns from the English Channel archipelago, he is due to deliver the King’s Speech on July 17 as part of the State Opening of Parliament following July 4’s General Election.
The trip comes just five months after the King was diagnosed with cancer in February.
The British monarch, regardless of gender, is known informally as the “Duke of Normandy” in the Channel Islands, a peculiar historical hangover from the Crown’s jurisdiction over the now-extinct Duchy of Normandy, of which the islands were a part, and now exist as a sort of rump state.
Princess Anne sustained minor injuries and a concussion at her Gloucestershire estate on Sunday.
Buckingham Palace also confirmed the incident in a statement released on June 24, “The Princess Royal has sustained minor injuries and concussion following an incident on the Gatcombe Park estate yesterday evening. Her Royal Highness remains in Southmead Hospital, Bristol, as a precautionary measure for observation and is expected to make a full and swift recovery.”
