At the age of 73 and after spending 70 years as heir to the throne, Charles has become King.
As a senior member of the royal family and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, the former Prince of Wales has been compelled to devote his life to service and uphold many long-standing traditions.
Following the death of the Queen, Charles III automatically succeeded the throne, but will not be formally proclaimed King until an Accession Council is held at St James’s Palace in London on Saturday.
While he might be following in the footsteps of his mother, if his public life thus far is anything to go by, Charles could take steps to modernise the monarchy even more after he is crowned.
Not going to be easy
After he has grieved, during a period of mourning, for his late mother, he is not going to get an easy ride as King.
In the past few weeks, a number of stories have broken about him.
1.
He reportedly accepted £1m from family of Osama bin Laden:
2.
Survivors of a child migrant scheme demand answers from Prince Charles:
3.
He was given a huge sum in cash in bags by Qatari politician according to a report:
Age
Charles confronts those challenges at the age of 73, the oldest monarch to take the throne in a lineage that dates back 1,000 years.
“He now finds himself in, if you like, the autumn of his life, having to think carefully about how he projects his image as a public figure,” said historian Ed Owens. “He’s nowhere near as popular as his mother.”
Camilla
His second wife Camilla, still divides public opinion, by his side as Queen consort.
Politics
He has been ridiculed for talking to plants and obsessing over architecture and the environment,
The media reported he had been involved in a spat with the government over its policy on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda – something the prince was said to have called “appalling”, leading to criticism from ministers and newspapers, that he was overstepping his duty as a royal.
“I always wonder what meddling is, I always thought it was motivating,” he said in Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70, a 2018 documentary.
Diana Legacy
Charles will long be associated with his failed first marriage to the late Princess Diana.
When Diana was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 there were vitriolic outpourings in the press against him and Camilla, and his public popularity sank.
Colonziation reparations
Jamaica has signaled it may soon follow Barbados in ditching royal rule. Both remain members of the Commonwealth.
“As the role of the monarchy changes, we expect this can be an opportunity to advance discussions of reparations for our region,” Niambi Hall-Campbell, a 44-year-old academic who chairs the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, said Thursday.
Harry and Meghan
His lack of relationship with his son and daughter-in-law does not need to be covered again here. The press has had a feeding frenzy over the couple’s split from the royal household.
Prince Charles firmly denied that he was behind the infamous alleged comment about the colour of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor’s skin back in 2018, but the accusation someone senior in the royals made the comment still lingers on
Garden
Charles is happiest in the garden at his Highgrove home in west England, will he even want to venture into London?
It seems Charles could see the funny side, though. Asked in 2013 on the BBC’s Countryfile whether he still conversed with his greenery, he said: “No, now I instruct them instead. You can’t make a joke, can you really, without people taking you seriously – it always comes back to haunt you!”
Andrew
The duke had paid millions out of court to Virginia Giuffre, a woman he claimed had never met, who was suing him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Queen was a staunch supporter of her son, but with the loss of his mother, Andrew looks set to remain in the royal wilderness.
Andrew is believed to have received an annual salary from the Queen’s £21 million a year private Duchy of Lancaster income.
The Duchy’s assets are held in trust for the sovereign, so are now under Charles’s control.
Questions will also be raised about Andrew’s home, Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, which is a Crown Estate property, and also houses his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York.
The scenes in Westminster Abbey in March 2022 at Philip’s memorial service left commentators aghast at the duke’s prominent role after his public controversies.
As Andrew walked alongside his mother, the Queen held on to his elbow for support as she moved carefully and slowly to her seat.
Even the Earl of Snowdon, the Queen’s nephew, appeared to do a double take as he turned to look.
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