What do we really expect from an eclipse?
Whenever one is announced, the same questions return: What will happen? Who will fall? What will change?
Perhaps that is not the best way to approach them.
Eclipses do not write destiny, nor do they force specific events to occur. More often, they simply illuminate what was already happening, even if we had not yet seen it clearly.
They have that uncomfortable habit of switching on the light just when some would rather continue talking in the dark.
From a symbolic perspective, the solar eclipse of 12 August and the lunar eclipse of 28 August 2026 unfold against a particularly striking backdrop: the Leo–Aquarius axis.
And if there is one sign that understands the stage, it is Leo.
Leo represents theatre, performance, the figure standing at the centre, recognition, and the need for someone to carry the weight of the production. Aquarius, positioned opposite, observes from a different vantage point. It asks whether the leading figure is still the right one, or whether the time has come to redistribute the roles.
Meanwhile, Pisces continues to wrap reality in music, poetry and mist. Not because it intends to conceal it, but because its way of understanding the world is shaped by symbol, emotion and intuition.
But when eclipses arrive, Virgo tends to appear with a folder tucked under its arm. It leaves nothing to chance. It checks dates, arranges documents and puts everything in its proper place. And when the whole structure begins to give way, it becomes much harder to keep confusing the narrative with the facts.
And, as though that were not enough, Mercury has just turned direct again.
Mercury does not invent the news. It opens drawers.
The Full Moon brings everything fully into view.
And whatever had been hidden behind the Limoges china eventually finds its way onto the table.
So rather than asking whether the eclipses will change the future of the British monarchy, perhaps we should be asking a different question.
What if they are simply revealing a transformation that has long been unfolding behind the scenes?
Because one thing is to retain the sceptre.
It is quite another to remain at the centre.
It was then, as I reviewed the charts, that one of them returned to my mind again and again.
the first eclipse invites us to consider who occupies centre stage, the chart of Charles III becomes particularly interesting.
Not because it announces an inevitable outcome, but because it reflects a moment of transition.
It is worth remembering that eclipses do not compel anyone to make decisions. What they often do is illuminate processes that have been unfolding for some time and are now beginning to emerge.
In a monarchy, symbolism carries as much weight as the facts.
Gestures govern too.
The Crown represents not only a person, but an institution. That is why small changes in the distribution of responsibilities may take on a significance far greater than they first appear to have.
The Full Moon at the end of August arrives after the stage has already begun to change. What matters is not that it moves the pieces, but that it makes it far more difficult to ignore the fact that they are moving.
Mercury is moving direct once more. Information circulates more freely, and light reaches corners that, until recently, remained in shadow.
This does not necessarily involve great secrets.
Sometimes it is enough for certain conversations to move from backstage into the public arena.
The eclipse chart also highlights the tension between Jupiter and Pluto, an aspect that invites reflection on the exercise of power, networks of influence, and the need to redefine who truly bears the weight of a structure.
This is where the figure of Charles III becomes especially significant.
Beyond the specific events that may unfold, there is a sense that the monarch is beginning to come to terms with a different reality. He does not necessarily lose authority, but a period appears to be opening in which sharing responsibility ceases to be merely an option and becomes an institutional necessity.
Perhaps the most representative image of this eclipse is not that of a king leaving the stage.
It is that of an institution beginning to redistribute the weight of the performance.
That shift, almost imperceptible at first, inevitably leads us to William.
If until now we have been watching the centre of the stage, we should also look towards the person standing a few steps behind.
For years, the heir has lived with a paradox. He must prepare himself for a responsibility that he cannot yet exercise fully. He must learn without taking over. He must remain present without eclipsing the person on the throne.
But there comes a moment when that period of waiting begins to shift.
Not because someone disappears from the stage, but because the production itself demands a different cast.
Eclipses often coincide with those moments when a structure begins to redistribute its functions. Not always through dramatic events. Sometimes a gesture, a different schedule, a delegation of responsibilities or an increasingly frequent presence is enough to make us realise that something is changing.
In William’s chart, the eclipse appears to speak directly to this idea of transition. Rather than announcing a destiny, it invites us to observe a process: the gradual movement from a position of waiting towards a more prominent institutional role.
Every family knows that moment.
The moment when someone ceases to be merely “the son of…” and becomes the person who begins to shoulder part of the burden for everyone else.
That moment rarely arrives all at once.
It is built gradually.
Responsibility after responsibility.
Decision after decision.
Until one day everyone realises that the transition had begun long before anyone uttered the word succession.
Perhaps that is the true message of this eclipse.
It does not speak only of the future of a king.
It speaks of how institutions, like families, need to prepare the next chapter before closing the previous one.
And that new balance inevitably leads us towards another essential figure in this story.
Kate.
Not every transformation involves occupying a new position.
Some simply ask us to inhabit the place we already hold in a different way.
Perhaps that is one of the images that best represents Kate’s present moment.
As institutional prominence begins to be redistributed, she does not appear to be seeking centre stage. Her role is different. It involves adapting to a setting that is no longer quite the same.
And adapting never means remaining still.
Uranus has a curious habit: it bursts in like a bolt of lightning.
It gives no warning.
It asks no permission.
And when the flash fades, we discover that the cast is no longer the same.
Sometimes a personal circumstance, an unexpected decision or a change within the institution itself is enough to force the role we had been playing to be rewritten.
That does not imply a loss.
Nor a victory.
It implies adaptation.
And few qualities are as important within a centuries-old institution as the ability to adapt without losing a sense of continuity.
Perhaps that is why Kate’s chart speaks less about power than about balance.
About finding a new way to support what already existed as the cast begins to shift.
Because not every eclipse asks us to move forward.
Some simply ask whether we know how to walk when the ground shifts beneath our feet.
And any redistribution of power has consequences for those who share the stage — Camilla included.
Remaining does not always mean occupying the same place.
Sometimes eclipses do not change people.
They change the balance between them.
The performance continues.
But the cast is no longer quite the same.
Eclipses do not write history.
At most, they raise the curtain for a few moments, allowing us to glimpse a scene that has long been taking shape backstage.
Then the lights dim again.
The performance continues.
Perhaps that is why I prefer to understand astrology as a symbolic language rather than a fixed script. It helps us observe processes and understand the moment that people and institutions are living through, but it should never allow us to forget that behind every chart there are real lives.
In the case of Charles III, behind the king stands the man.
A man who continues to undergo a complex course of treatment, and whose progress depends on many factors that no astrological chart can replace or predict with certainty.
Eclipses may point to a period of redistribution, adaptation or succession within an institution.
But they do not dictate the outcome.
Perhaps, in a few months’ time, we will discover that some of these images captured, with considerable accuracy, what the British monarchy was going through.
Or perhaps we will find that history took a different path.
Because astrology is not a substitute for reality.
It invites us to observe.
Nor do eclipses write the ending.
They simply have that uncomfortable habit of switching on the light.
The rest…
is for us to see.
Cristina Marley 2026
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