Abney-Hastings was chosen by His Majesty to carry one of the gold spurs of the royal regalia,[2] emblems of knighthood and chivalry[3] to be presented to King Charles III at his coronation.

In a statement provided to some media outlets, his private secretary Terence Guthridge / Barrister At Law said Abney-Hastings was "delighted" to be asked to bear the large golden spurs, part of the ceremony dating back to the coronation of Richard I (Richard the Lionheart), in 1189.

[6] Through his grandmother Barbara Huddleston Abney-Hastings, 13th Countess of Loudoun, he is directly descended from, and heir-general of, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III.

In 2004, the documentary Britain's Real Monarch repeated the claim that Michael Abney-Hastings, as the senior descendant of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, was the rightful King of England.

[8] He was invited to the coronation of King Charles III, notwithstanding the competing claim being occasionally discussed by some media sources.