Newsmakers | Charles, Britain’s contradictory new monarch

The role will be intimidating. His late mother was hugely popular and respected, but she has left a royal family with a tarnished reputation and strained relations, including lingering allegations of racism against Buckingham Palace officials.

Charles faced these challenges head-on at the age of 73, the oldest monarch to succeed the throne, with a lineage dating back 1,000 years, and his second wife, Camilla, still by his side, who is still in public opinion There are differences.

To critics, the new king was weak, vain, intrusive and unfit for the role of monarch.

He was ridiculed for his conversations with plants and his obsession with architecture and the environment, and has long been linked to the failure of his first marriage to the late Princess Diana.

Supporters say it’s a misrepresentation of the excellent work he’s done, that he’s just been misunderstood, and that he’s been ahead of his time in areas like climate change.

They thought he was thoughtful and caring for fellow Britons from all communities and walks of life. Since its launch nearly 50 years ago, his Prince’s Trust charity has helped more than a million unemployed and disadvantaged young people.

“The problem is you’re in a situation where you don’t win. If you don’t do anything…they’ll complain,” Charles once said in a TV documentary. “If you try to get into trouble and do something to help, they’ll complain too.”

Throughout his life, Charles has been caught between a modern monarchy, trying to find his place in a rapidly changing and more egalitarian society, while maintaining the traditions that give the institution its charm.

This tension can be seen in the life of his own son.

The eldest, William, now 40, is now heir and lives a life of traditional obligations, charitable work and military extravaganza.

Younger son Harry, 37, lives outside Los Angeles with his former American actress wife Meghan and family, starting a new career more in line with Hollywood than Buckingham Palace.

Brothers who were once very close are now almost at odds.

upbringing

On November 14, 1948, in the 12th year of the reign of his grandfather, King George VI, Charles Philip Arthur George was king from birth.

In 1952, when his mother became queen and he became heir at the age of 3, Charles’ upbringing has always been different from previous future monarchs.

Unlike his predecessors, who were taught by private teachers, Charles went to Hillhouse School in West London, where his father Prince Philip attended, before becoming a boarder at Chime School in Berkshire, where he became a Principal there.

He was then sent to Gordonston, a tough boarding school in Scotland, where Philip also studied. He described his time there as hell: he was lonely and bullied. “Jailed,” he reportedly said. “Colditz in a kilt.”

Breaking with tradition again, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, to study archaeology and natural and social anthropology, but later revised history.

During his studies, he was formally crowned Prince of Wales, a title traditionally held by the heir to the throne, in a grand ceremony in 1969, and he spent nine weeks at a university in Wales, where he said he faced the nation almost every day protests by activists.

The following year, he became the first British heir to receive a degree.

Like many of the royals before him, he joined the Armed Forces, initially in the RAF in 1971 and later in the navy, where he was promoted to the minesweeper HMS Bronington until her active duty ended in 1976.

As a young prince, he developed a dashing, athletic figure who loved skiing, surfing and scuba diving. He is an avid polo player and jockey in several competitive events.

In 1979, his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, whom he called “the grandfather I never had”, was killed in an IRA bombing, a loss that had a big impact on him.

“It seems that the foundation of everything we hold dear in life has been irretrievably torn apart,” he said later.

When he left the Navy in 1976, he sought a role in public life because the heir had no clear constitutional job, which he said had to “make up for it as he pleases.”

“That’s what makes it so fun, challenging and of course complex,” he said of his role in a documentary commemorating his 70th birthday.

Diana

For many in the UK and beyond, however, Charles will forever be linked to his doomed marriage to Lady Diana Spencer and his extramarital affair with the love of his life, Camilla Parker Bowles.

When he and Diana married in 1981 in front of an estimated 750 million TV audiences around the world, his bride seemed like the perfect choice.

All seemed to be fine at first, with sons William and Harry born in 1982 and 1984 respectively. But behind the scenes, the marriage went awry, with Diana accusing Camilla of ultimately breaking up in 1992, saying in a TV interview: “The three of us are in this marriage”.

Charles said he remained faithful “until it (the marriage) irretrievably broke down”. The couple divorced in 1996.

When Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, his public popularity declined after the media lashed out at him and Camilla.

His status has increased in the decades since, although he remains less popular than his mother. In 2005, he finally married Camilla, who gained more recognition and accolades for her easy-going style, which brought her into the public spotlight.

Diana’s shadow remained, however, and her life continued to fascinate the public. She’s been the star of a major movie and a Broadway musical in recent years, and the couple’s relationship is at the heart of Netflix’s hit series The Crown.

media contempt

As the tabloids scrutinize his relationships, it’s no surprise that his dealings with the media are often testy, and he makes no secret of his disdain for the paparazzi.

“I’m really not good at being a show monkey. I feel like I’m a very personal person. I’m not ready to perform when they want me to,” he said in 1994.

During a photo call on a ski holiday in 2005, he was overheard calling the media a “blood man” and of the BBC’s royal correspondent: “I can’t stand that man. He’s horrible.”

While the media wanted to focus on his private life, Charles wanted to speak out on social and spiritual issues and never shied away from expressing his views on what was deep inside him.

But by launching the Duchy Originals brand to promote organic food, talking to plants while growing them, and shaking hands with trees, some media dubbed him an oddball who “would rather be a farmer than a prince.”

He has also been criticized for his outspoken views on architecture, once calling a planned modernist extension to London’s National Gallery a “carbuncles” and being accused of being a “quack doctor” for his advocacy of alternative medicine.

Biographer Tom Ball said the prince was committed to issues such as the environment, but he was too stubborn to accept criticism.

“He’s a driven guy who definitely wants to do good, but doesn’t understand the consequences of a lot of his actions can cause a lot of trouble,” Ball said.

Criticism has eased in recent years, with newspapers turning their anger towards his son Harry, but it has not gone away.

Media reported in June that he had sparred with the government over its policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda – which the prince is said to have called “appalling”, leading to criticism from ministers and newspapers.

“If he wasn’t careful, those who disagreed with his provocative political intervention might also conclude that Britain’s constitutional monarchy is no longer worth keeping,” the Daily Mail said in an editorial.

caring about people

Supporters say it shows the new king is a serious man who genuinely cares about his people.

For some, he played an impossible role – if he was interested in social issues, he was either accused of political interference or risked being labelled a pampered prince.

“Why do you think I’ve done all this over the years?” he said in a 2021 TV interview on climate change. “Because I care about the next generation, and always do.”

In his diary, former left-wing Labour MP Chris Mullin recalled a visit to Charles Clarence House, where the then-Prince spoke to a gathering of politicians about his charity.

“They ranged widely, but he always came back to the same point: young people, especially the disaffected, the unfortunate, even the vicious,” Mullin wrote. “I admit I’m impressed. He can waste his life on idleness and self-indulgence.”

In the 1970s, as Britain’s economy struggled, he spent £7,400 in naval severance payments to fund community initiatives. Later, as riots and unemployment rose and cities ravaged, his Prince’s Trust began helping disadvantaged young people start their own businesses.

“If I didn’t pay attention to these kinds of things, I would be a dizzying idiot. I remember thinking I was sure I could do something to help,” he said.

For his biggest campaign cause — the environment — he can now take solace that global leaders have agreed to his demands that they address the climate change crisis.

At the 2021 COP26 United Nations meeting in the UK, US President Joe Biden praised Charles’ leadership and told him “everything is going well”.

Charles’ son William said: “He’s had a really tough journey on that and I think he’s proven to be well ahead of the curve.”

happy in his garden

Away from royal duties or campaigning, Charles is happiest in the garden of his West Highgrove home U.K.or, like his late mother, walks and fishes on the field estate of the royal Scottish mansion, where he also paints watercolors.

He loves hedges and has written a children’s book, The Old Man of Rocknagel. He also had a passion for the arts, especially the works of Shakespeare, opera and Leonard Cohen.

In private, aides said, he was funny and had a “wicked sense of humor” but was also short-tempered and demanding. They refused to accuse him of insisting on extravagance, although they said he believed he had to put on a big show when the situation called for it.

Some close to him said he was kind and hard-working, friends and foes alike said he was devoted to his duties, and spent most of his time working on his papers until midnight.

“This guy never stops. I mean the bags and bags and work bags the office just sent him when we were kids. We couldn’t even get to his desk to say goodnight to him.” William at said in a documentary commemorating his father’s 70th birthday.

His wife Camilla said that despite his long wait for the throne, the job wasn’t on his mind often.

When asked if the king was something he was talking about, she replied: “Not a lot, no. It’s just something that’s coming.”

These are the views expressed by Charles himself.

He said in 2010: “It’s a pity that it’s because of the death of your mother and parents, which is not very good to say the least, so it’s better not to think too much about it.”