ITV viewers seething over huge pledge of allegiance blunder: 'Epic fail'
The public has been invited to ‘cry out and swear allegiance’ to the UK’s new monarch on Saturday, May 6, after King Charles III was formally crowned beside his wife Camilla.
During the coronation ceremony, the Archbishop of Canterbury invited people to say: ‘I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.‘
Ahead of the historical event, plenty of people weighed in on whether they would be taking the oath, with the likes of singer Billy Bragg outright refusing.
His sentiment was echoed by Loose Women’s Denise Welch who said she would rather pledge allegiance to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle than Charles.
However, plenty of those watching at home were keen to take part, and were left disappointed when ITV failed to present the words on screen, despite a promise to do so.
Viewers were invited to take the oath during King Charles III’s Coronation ‘The words will be on the screen.’
However, the words did not appear onscreen afterwards.
‘And there was me, ready to pledge my allegiance to the King, and @ITV failed to put the words up on the screen. Thanks #ITV for ruining it for the millions of us who were watching and wanting to do that!!!’ one person wrote.
Another penned: ‘@itvnews @ITV#Coronation … “pledge allegiance to the King, the words will be on screen” …. Except they weren’t! #fuming Epic fail @itv.’
‘@itv no words on screen for the oath of allegiance is pretty poor planning on your part #KingsCoronation’ someone else wrote.
Others also commented that BBC failed to show the words onscreen either, as one viewer wrote: ‘Was waiting for the words to come up on the screen as they said for the ‘all join in ‘ words and was nothing !’
The slip-up comes after a Good Morning Britain guest was heard saying ‘b***h’ off camera, without realising their mic was still on.
Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid were fronting the ITV special, but at some point when the cameras turned away from them, viewers heard a NSFW outburst.
Susanna had been saying: ‘Now many people would say she is and has been one of most vilified figures in Britain, today she will be crowned Queen.
‘The public mood towards Camilla, the Queen Consort, has definitely softened in recent years, she is now considered one of the most senior royals of course. Kate is at Buckingham Palace.’
As the camera then cut to Kate Garraway, a voice could be heard saying: ‘B***h, it is not good.’
Good Morning Britain had been hosting several guests over the segment, and while many viewers were left assuming the slip-up had been made by Susanna, the clip had already cut to Kate before it could be confirmed whose mic had been left on.
The confusion was later cleared up when author and journalist Petronella Wyatt owned up to the mistake.