This morning was the opening of the British Parliament, a tradition in which the Queen lays out the agenda for the upcoming year as part of the State Opening of Parliament ceremony. This year, the Queen was unable to deliver the speech due to mobility problems, and her son Prince Charles stepped in to give the speech to Parliament.

There, he addressed numerous issues the Crown wishes to be addressed over the following year, including easing the cost of living for families and "leveling up" opportunities across all parts of the country. While most would agree these are fine sentiments, many felt that the Prince's messaging about easing the financial strain on his citizens was undercut by the fact he was wearing dozens of medals and sitting on a massive golden throne.

i simply would have made this announcement from any other room, wearing any other outfit https://t.co/2u1XNn6Vj5

— rax ‘leads with her crotch’ king (@RaxKingIsDead) May 10, 2022

Sitting on my jewel encrusted golden throne The cost-of-living in this country has gotten out of hand :( https://t.co/T4xtegKo27

— Femcuck Fatale (@ZeeZeeMooMoo) May 10, 2022

“But, mother, should I make the announcement from my gold throne with my jewel-encrusted crown, or without my jewel-encrusted crown?” https://t.co/x0jnAqnFiw

— Laura Gassner Otting (@heylgo) May 10, 2022

Though an amusing visual, Prince Charles' gold-encrusted speech to Parliament is part of English tradition. The speech is annually given by the Queen in the House of Lords, which houses the bejeweled throne for precisely this purpose.

Though the optics of The Queen's Speech, as it's dubbed, have not gone viral before, the fact that Prince Charles had to step in for Queen Elizabeth and the fact that Bloomberg UK isolated the clip where he talked about the cost of living for the proletariat may have contributed to the slew of reactions on Twitter.

Wildly unhinged optics. Gloriously absurd. Absolutely top-tier visual satire. https://t.co/PT2nz71wQI

— Cassie Evans (@cassiecodes) May 10, 2022

undeniable how much swag it takes to say this when you look like that lmao https://t.co/ZhxixXG4fO

— Bris Angel (@Cryptoterra) May 10, 2022

The optics here are exquisite. No notes. https://t.co/vT2fxgv7T2

— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) May 10, 2022

Still, Americans would do well to not cast too many stones at the English government, considering the optics problems our own government has had over the years.