Exclusion of Pringle from delegation attending King Charles’ coronation is seen as a snub to His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition

Some residents are up in arms that the leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is not a member of the contingent that has travelled to England to witness the coronation of King Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms.

The grand ceremony is expected to take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6, and Antigua and Barbuda has sent what many persons consider a “large” contingent to the historic event.

Present will be Governor-General Sir Rodney Williams, the king’s local representative, and his wife, Sandra Lady Williams, as well as Prime Minister Gaston Browne and his wife, MP Maria Browne.

A team from the Police and Defence Forces and a contingent comprising NGOs and civil servants will also attend the coronation.

However, missing from this list is Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle, who, reportedly, did not receive an invitation to the momentous event.

Accordingly, a number of people have expressed anger and disappointment over what they perceive as a snub to, and disregard for, the Opposition Bench.

Franz deFreitas, the United Progressive Party caretaker for St. John’s City South, says it is a shame that the leader of the opposition is being treated in this way.

He is aggrieved that other persons have been selected to go on what he calls a free trip with taxpayers’ money, while His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition deliberately has been left out of the sizeable local contingent.

If Pringle was deliberately left out of the delegation because of partisan politics, deFreitas says, this situation should be made into a big issue.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96, her son Charles acceded to the throne and succeeded her as monarch of the United Kingdom.