Like many people here in Britain, the Commonwealth and even the world. I am gearing up to watch the Coronation on Saturday 6th May 2023. I am unashamedly a Monarchist, but if you are not, I hope you are willing to bare with me and focus on the condition as I look at some of the the Truly unthinkable issues that could arise if the King had Fibromyalgia.
What is Fibromyalgia?
In case you have found this post and are unfamiliar with the condition, Fibromyalgia or Fibro as it is often called is a chronic illness syndrome. It is a collection of symptoms rather than a specific disease. You can familiarise yourself with my post: What is Fibromyalgia? Who are Spoonies? although people with the condition have some universal symptoms like pain and very low energy levels there are a myriad of co-dependent conditions and symptoms that often run alongside the core ones.
Fibro is Unpredictable
Here is the first big hurdle we would be facing. A coronation takes many months to plan, in fact under the code name Golden Orb this Coronation has been years in the planning. Thankfully the late Queen Elizabeth lived until a grand old age but that was never a given so the wheels were set in motion decades ago. The simple fact is that the King has to be fit for duty on the 6th of May. International heads of state, invited guests and the global media are all lined up. He would literally have to be in an intensive care hospital bed for this not to happen.
As anyone who lives with Fibromyalgia will tell you it is very difficult to plan anything. Even plans made two days in advance sometimes have to be cancelled. When I had overseas family visiting the area last year they had three days in our area. I made plans for the first day with a proviso that we may have to shift them to one of the subsequent ones. I can tell you, I went to bed the night before literally praying the next day would be a good one. I have heard from people who have been on holiday with their family and had to sacrifice whole days in hotel rooms as they were unable to leave.
The health of the Royal family is rarely discussed, rightly so because behind the public roles they fulfil they are human being entitled to privacy like the rest of us. I can’t remember when I last read of a celebrity passing that didn’t include the family ask for their privacy at this time. Unfortunately public grieving (well, public appearances scheduled between times of private grief) is part of the fabric when you are a member of the Royal Family.
If you remember when the Princess of Wales was expecting Prince George she suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum and it made the news as she had to cancel public engagements.
Emotional situations effect Fibromyalgia
On the day of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral I had a migraine and was sick. I certainly wasn’t a guest attending the Abbey, I was watching at home on the television like the majority of us. Thankfully by the time the processions began I was well enough to have the TV on, I just had to be kind to myself and look past the fact I was lying in bed watching it. It felt wrong though.
Even happier events can take an emotional toll. In the post How emotions impact Fibromyalgia I talked about the impact of watching Prince Harry’s wedding, it really surprised me at that point in my Fibro journey that something as simple as watching a wedding on TV could cause problems in my body. Of course let’s not get into the emotions that have been stirred since that event…
I’ve been discussing how emotions have impacted events I have simply observed. Imagine then the emotional toll of an event that you are central too. Anyone who has spent any time observing the King will know that he is an emotional person to begin with. Think back to the moment with the pen. I don’t think it should have been televised but the media has a low moral compass these days.
Let’s put ourselves in his shoes for a moment. He was very recently bereaved, undoubtably over tired and knew the importance of what he was doing, and the even bigger responsibility to not put a foot wrong as the republican minded people would use it as a reason to pounce.
On the King’s Coronation day there will be far more eyes upon him and at a time when many people have retired and having an easier life he is now fulfilling his life’s destiny and beginning the job he was born to do. Everything that has come before, setting up the Prince’s trust to help look after the most vulnerable, supporting agriculture, the arts and raising awareness of the natural world. Was all a gift. He could, as the majority of Prince of Wales before him just sit back, lead a comfortable life and wait for his moment. The King is emotional about the county he loves and this will be no doubt overwhelming on the day.
So what if the King had Fibro?
I am not naive to the fact that alongside the responsibility comes privilege. The King has resources many of us don’t like a personal physician and access to alternative therapies that are beyond the budget of many of us, not to mention plenty of countryside for gentle or vigorous exercise. But even allowing for this, Fibromyalgia can be cruel and I couldn’t imagine the pressure and the nerves of everyone else involved in the planning if indeed King Charles had Fibromyalgia.
The upside for those of us who do have the condition is that, knowing how big a spotlight the Royal family shines upon so many charities and good courses. Imagine the investment into research that could come forth. How many non-medical people know about Hyperemesis Gravidarum before it affected the Princess of Wales, unless you had been affected personal or knew someone who was? Of course the medical profession understand that far more than some of them understand Fibro, but that is a different story.
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