At 70, Is Prince Charles Ready To Be King?

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To celebrate the 70th birthday of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, the palace has released an official family photograph together with revelations about some of  the prince’s ‘secret’ preferences that add to the efforts by the crown to soften his image and lay the groundwork for the inexorability of his reign, given not only his age but especially that of his mother, the queen.

Charles’s landmark birthday has reinvigorated the controversy between monarchist and anti-monarchist, royal experts and journalists who defend or attack him over his fitness for the job of replacing Queen Elizabeth.

After all, Charles, who has been Prince of Wales since 1958, has been waiting to be king, longer than any royal predecessor and as he recently said, there is the “alarming realization that I have reached the biblical threshold of three score years and 10, with all the scars that go with it.”

He has  passed Edward VII’s record as the longest-serving heir apparent in British history and when he inherits the throne he will be the oldest person to do so.

On the other hand, the question of the abdication of the 92-year-old queen who continues to be in perfect health and holds Britain’s record for the longest reign, is not on the agenda. She has also made it clear that she has no intention of surrendering her crown.

At the same time, given the physical limitations natural to her age, an ‘informal’ passing of the baton has been happening: Charles has been replacing the queen in an increasing number of royal functions. After all, as Philip Collins of The Times says: “He has been waiting to inherit the role for which his whole life has been a prelude.”

The new photo shows the future British king with his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, his sons, William and Harry, their wives, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, and his grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and baby Prince Louis.

Among the new ‘intimate’ details, we learned that he talks to turkeys – specifically his rare breed Crollwitzers –  that he likes pheasant crumble pie and naming the red squirrels he invites to run around inside his Scottish retreat at Balmoral.

Those and other very peculiar pursuits such as flint-knapping, hedge-laying, cheese-making and forestry, were revealed in an article published  for a special birthday edition of Country Life Magazine,  for which the prince was a guest editor.

“We may be the last generation fortunate enough to experience the wonderful people, skills and activities of our countryside,” he wrote in a long editorial warning that the countryside and its people cannot be taken for granted.

In an hour-long documentary shown in the U.K. this week also released to celebrate the birthday and intended to exert a positive influence in public opinion toward his accession to the throne, the future Charles III promised to give up his role of "political dissident" to be a sovereign above the partisan fray.

“The idea somehow that I’m going to go on exactly the same way, if I have to succeed, is complete nonsense,” he said to ensure his commitment to respect the political neutrality of the Head of State when he becomes king.

It’s well known that unlike his mother, who has maintained scrupulous neutrality during her record lifetime service as head of the kingdom, Charles – who also bears the titles of Earl of Chester and Carrick, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay, Baron de Renfrew and Lord of the Islands – has made public his sympathy for the disinherited population, his interest to promote ecology and organic farming, his worries about global warming and his preference for traditional architecture.

Through the years, he has sent letters to the different governments advocating positions on those subjects that sometimes are controversial and tend to defy political currents.

His message about his intent to not get involved in politics, has been particularly important now in the turmoil of Brexit, which has increased the importance of the monarchy as a fixed point – a guarantee of continuity and national consensus.

In a “Manifesto for the man who will be king’," Collins of The Times writes that “though Charles was wise to clarify this week that he will not meddle in politics when he becomes the sovereign, he should not be shy of being a reforming king. He has his eldest son to think of and his own example to reflect on.”

In a column about ‘Why pray silence from Passionate King Charles II ?’, Karren Brady in The Sun recommends to "Stop maligning Charles and start supporting him." In her defense of "the longest serving heir to the throne" she calls him "a good man, dedicated  to the job and mature enough to know how to do it well." She also remarks on the fact that he has "brought up two fantastic sons that any parent would be proud of."

On a more familiar note, Prince Charles is celebrating his landmark birthday at a banquet hosted by the queen at Buckingham Palace and attended by family, close friends and European royalty. He also was part of a tea party where he met 70 other septuagenarians.

More details here of 70 facts about his life.

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To celebrate the 70th birthday of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, the palace has released an official family photograph together with revelations about some of  the prince’s ‘secret’ preferences that add to the efforts by the crown to soften his image and lay the groundwork for the inexorability of his reign, given not only his age but especially that of his mother, the queen.

Charles’s landmark birthday has reinvigorated the controversy between monarchist and anti-monarchist, royal experts and journalists who defend or attack him over his fitness for the job of replacing Queen Elizabeth.

After all, Charles, who has been Prince of Wales since 1958, has been waiting to be king, longer than any royal predecessor and as he recently said, there is the “alarming realization that I have reached the biblical threshold of three score years and 10, with all the scars that go with it.”

He has  passed Edward VII’s record as the longest-serving heir apparent in British history and when he inherits the throne he will be the oldest person to do so.

On the other hand, the question of the abdication of the 92-year-old queen who continues to be in perfect health and holds Britain’s record for the longest reign, is not on the agenda. She has also made it clear that she has no intention of surrendering her crown.

At the same time, given the physical limitations natural to her age, an ‘informal’ passing of the baton has been happening: Charles has been replacing the queen in an increasing number of royal functions. After all, as Philip Collins of The Times says: “He has been waiting to inherit the role for which his whole life has been a prelude.”

The new photo shows the future British king with his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, his sons, William and Harry, their wives, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, and his grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and baby Prince Louis.

Among the new ‘intimate’ details, we learned that he talks to turkeys – specifically his rare breed Crollwitzers –  that he likes pheasant crumble pie and naming the red squirrels he invites to run around inside his Scottish retreat at Balmoral.

Those and other very peculiar pursuits such as flint-knapping, hedge-laying, cheese-making and forestry, were revealed in an article published  for a special birthday edition of Country Life Magazine,  for which the prince was a guest editor.

“We may be the last generation fortunate enough to experience the wonderful people, skills and activities of our countryside,” he wrote in a long editorial warning that the countryside and its people cannot be taken for granted.

In an hour-long documentary shown in the U.K. this week also released to celebrate the birthday and intended to exert a positive influence in public opinion toward his accession to the throne, the future Charles III promised to give up his role of “political dissident” to be a sovereign above the partisan fray.

“The idea somehow that I’m going to go on exactly the same way, if I have to succeed, is complete nonsense,” he said to ensure his commitment to respect the political neutrality of the Head of State when he becomes king.

It’s well known that unlike his mother, who has maintained scrupulous neutrality during her record lifetime service as head of the kingdom, Charles – who also bears the titles of Earl of Chester and Carrick, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay, Baron de Renfrew and Lord of the Islands – has made public his sympathy for the disinherited population, his interest to promote ecology and organic farming, his worries about global warming and his preference for traditional architecture.

Through the years, he has sent letters to the different governments advocating positions on those subjects that sometimes are controversial and tend to defy political currents.

His message about his intent to not get involved in politics, has been particularly important now in the turmoil of Brexit, which has increased the importance of the monarchy as a fixed point – a guarantee of continuity and national consensus.

In a “Manifesto for the man who will be king’,” Collins of The Times writes that “though Charles was wise to clarify this week that he will not meddle in politics when he becomes the sovereign, he should not be shy of being a reforming king. He has his eldest son to think of and his own example to reflect on.”

In a column about ‘Why pray silence from Passionate King Charles II ?’, Karren Brady in The Sun recommends to “Stop maligning Charles and start supporting him.” In her defense of “the longest serving heir to the throne” she calls him “a good man, dedicated  to the job and mature enough to know how to do it well.” She also remarks on the fact that he has “brought up two fantastic sons that any parent would be proud of.”

On a more familiar note, Prince Charles is celebrating his landmark birthday at a banquet hosted by the queen at Buckingham Palace and attended by family, close friends and European royalty. He also was part of a tea party where he met 70 other septuagenarians.

More details here of 70 facts about his life.