King Charles' Nightmare November

King Charles III will be under pressure from all sides in November as a tricky tour, a planned protest, a new season of The Crown and a new royal book hit in quick succession.

The monarch will turn 75 on November 14 and also has his first State Opening of Parliament as king on November 7, all on the back of a major international tour to Kenya from October 31 to November 3.

However, he will also likely come under fire throughout the month, including through a protest by campaigners from the anti-monarchy group Republic.

Perhaps the biggest concern looming on the horizon will come at the very end with royal book Endgame, by Finding Freedom author Omid Scobie, which promises to expose "the chaos, dysfunction, and distrust amongst the British royal family."

A State Visit to Kenya

Only time will tell whether the king faces opposition during his State visit to Kenya, the same country where Queen Elizabeth II learned her father, George VI, had died and she had become queen, in 1952.

That same year also marks a key milestone in one of the most traumatic periods in Kenyan relations with the U.K.—when the British declared a state of emergency in the early stages of the Mau Mau rebellion.

At least 11,000 Kenyan rebels were killed during the conflict, including 1,000 convicts who were hanged by the British administration.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission argues 90,000 Kenyans were either executed, tortured or maimed, BBC News reported.

Charles' visit marks 60 years of Kenyan independence from British rule, suggesting the difficult past will be a key theme of the visit.

A Buckingham Palace press release read: "His Majesty's first visit to a Commonwealth nation as King is therefore to the country in which Queen Elizabeth II's reign began, having acceded to the throne in Kenya in February 1952."

"The visit will also acknowledge the more painful aspects of the UK and Kenya's shared history, including the Emergency (1952-1960)," it added. "His Majesty will take time during the visit to deepen his understanding of the wrongs suffered in this period by the people of Kenya."

Kenya could be a challenge for the king in a world where race and colonialism are increasingly a key lens through which the monarchy is viewed.

However, if he gets this tour right, the visit could be a benefit to the monarchy in the challenges it faces over Britain's past.

The State Opening of Parliament

One major event in Charles' journey toward establishing himself as monarch will be his first State Opening of Parliament as king.

The monarch gives a speech at the start of each parliamentary year outlining the government's legislative agenda.

It is more than just a speech, however, and is full of pomp, ceremony and tradition, including the symbolic taking of a ceremonial "hostage," a Member of Parliament who must stay in the palace while the monarch is in Parliament.

Charles has done the speech before as a stand-in for Queen Elizabeth II when ill-health ruled her out of the 2022 state opening.

This time though will be different because a spirit, and potentially noisy, protest has been planned by Republic.

Graham Smith, its chief executive, told Newsweek: "The protest is definitely going ahead but the sticking points are location and the use of amplification.

"It's not impossible we'll be audible [in the Houses of Parliament]. That's not our main aim, I don't know whether it will be feasible but a meaningful protest needs to be loud. Restricting sound will be a bit daft.

"We will be hard to miss. We've currently got 400 people saying they're going to be there so I guess 200 to 400 will be there. The visual impact is always important and I think that will be unmissable."

'The Crown'

In the middle of the month, the sixth and final season of The Crown will drop on November 16 which for the last two seasons, spanning three years has meant palace anxiety about how Charles will be depicted.

Coincidentally no doubt, this period of royal worrying generally falls around the time of his birthday, on November 14, when this year he will turn 75.

The upcoming season will depict events leading up to Princess Diana's death followed by the years afterward, culminating in Charles' marriage to Queen Camilla in 2005.

This time around may turn out to be less critical of the king than the last two seasons which focussed heavily on the disintegration of his marriage to Diana in the 1990s.

And good news for Charles—show creator Peter Morgan has already indicated he did not read Prince Harry's memoir Spare, so don't expect to see Harry's account of the king not hugging him after breaking the news Princess Diana had died.

More generally the 1990s was, however, the era in which the king fell from grace in the eyes of the public, who polling suggested took the side of Diana over Charles and Camilla in the divorce.

At the point the new episodes pick up the story, the marriage is already thoroughly over and Diana has begun a new relationship with boyfriend Dodi Fayed.

Needless to say, it will depict the way the royals reacted to the death—and there was considerable backlash over their decision to remain in Balmoral for a period before returning to London to greet the public.

'Endgame'

Omid Scobie co-authored his first book, Finding Freedom, with Carolyn Durand but was very much the public face of the biography in interviews.

The New York Times bestseller was effectively the first installment of Harry and Meghan's perspective on the collapse of royal relations as told by their inner circle.

And it included allegations Prince William was a snob and an unnamed royal referred to Meghan as "Harry's showgirl."

Harry and Meghan have always said they did not give interviews for the book but the Sussexes did authorize Kensington Palace press secretary Jason Knauf to brief the writers.

Now, Scobie is releasing a solo project, Endgame, out on November 28, which according to publicity "pulls back the curtain on the Palace, exposing the chaos, dysfunction, and distrust amongst the British royal family, and what needs to happen to preserve a monarchy in crisis."

According to the press release, Queen Elizabeth II's "death dismantled the protective shield around the world's most famous family and saw a long-simmering crisis of confidence in the British monarchy begin to resurface.

"Now, with unique insight, deep access, and exclusive revelations, journalist Omid Scobie pulls back the curtain on an institution in turmoil—exposing the infighting, family deterioration, and outdated practices threatening its very future. This is the monarchy's endgame. Do they have what it takes to save it?"

If Endgame lives up to the reputation of Finding Freedom, it will be explosive and packed full of quotes from anonymous sources and insiders.

Scobie's first book came before any of Harry and Meghan's major bombshells and was the first strong indication that storm clouds were gathering over the palace.

It read: "When she [Meghan] first arrived in the prince's life, one senior royal referred to the American actress as 'Harry's showgirl.'

"Another told an aide, 'She comes with a lot of baggage.' And a high-ranking courtier was overheard telling a colleague, 'There's just something about her I don't trust.'"

Harry, according to the book, was upset that William asked him to slow down with Meghan and a friend was quoted as saying: "Harry could see through William's words. He was being a snob."

Endgame comes 11 months after Harry's own book, Spare, and just in time to take its place under the tree on Christmas Day, or Christmas Eve for those who, like the royals themselves, keep to the German tradition.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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