King Charles has been forced to apologise to friends and family members who have not received invitations to his upcoming Coronation – according to reports. The latest confirmed family member who has been excluded from the event is Lady Pamela Hicks – one of the only two surviving bridesmaids from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s wedding in 1947. Lady Pamela – whose father, the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma was Prince Philip’s uncle – attended the Queen’s funeral in a wheelchair last September.

Her daughter, India Hicks, had said her mother had hoped she would be invited to the ceremony – making her one of the few people to have attended all three coronations.

Lady Pamela received the phone call today whilst celebrating her 94th birthday to confirm she would not be attending the event.

The call was made by a secretary at Buckingham Palace who informed her of the decision.

Writing on Instagram, her daughter India said: “One of the King’s personal secretaries was passing on a message from the King.

“The King was sending his great love and apologies, he was offending many family and friends with the reduced [guest] list.”

The palace official “explained that this Coronation was to be very different to the Queen’s” in 1953, when thousands more squeezed into the Abbey. “Eight thousand guests would be whittled down to 1,000, alleviating the burden on the state.”

India, who is a goddaughter of King Charles and was a bridesmaid when he married Lady Diana Spencer, insists: “My mother was not offended at all.

“‘How very, very sensible,’ she said. Invitations based on meritocracy not aristocracy. ‘I am going to follow with great interest the events of this new reign’.”

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