King Charles III
I posted twice on Queen Elizabeth II. The first appeared in September 2015 – it was titled, “The Queen of Quiet.”
The second appeared in June of this year – it was titled, “The Queen – Is She a Leader?”
Now though it’s the dawn of King Charles.
“Poor Charles,” has long been the lament. He was always somewhat geeky and gawky. He was always putting his foot wrong. (Anyone other than me remember “Tampongate”?) He was always odd in his private pursuits. (He worried about climate change before the rest of us had heard of it.) He was always beset by family issues. (His cold, distant parents; his disastrous first marriage; his wretchedly wayward brother, Andrew; his errant son and daughter in law, Harry, and Meghan.) He was always the man in waiting – waiting for his mother to die before he could take a full-time job.
Charles though has been underestimated. At age 73 he is neither stupid nor foolish. He is well and happily married and has a good relationship with the man who will be king, his son, William. His interests – including climate change, now at the top of the global agenda – are thoroughly contemporary. And he has every intention of streamlining the monarchy better to suit it to the 21st century.
Moreover, Charles III will be replacing Elizabeth II when the context is favorable. He can never replace his mother – or for that matter his former wife, the peerless, ageless Diana – in the hearts of the British people. But he is becoming king when Great Britain badly needs a younger royal to succeed the ancient one just passed.
Prime Minister Liz Truss has not been in office a week. She is inexperienced and untested. This at a moment when Britain’s economy is seriously straightened – sky high inflation, labor unrest, the uncertain impact of Brexit, and a war in Europe fueling an energy crisis that, among its many costs, includes a cold winter ahead.
This is not, then, a good moment for the British people. But if he has a feel for what his people need at this time in their history, it could be a good one for the king.
The transition from Elizabeth to Charles is not likely a crisis for the monarchy. It is more likely an opportunity for the new leader of the House of Windsor.