The time has come for Charles III, the king who has had the most time to prepare for his coronation, always waiting, until Queen Elizabeth, his mother, died in September at the age of 96, after breaking all the records of ‘a reigning monarch in England. Charles III has spent his life training to be king and has had all the time to think about what his reign would be like, which has just begun at the age of 74. Kings don’t retire. In any case, they abdicate or are overthrown.
Nobody knows the ordeal of being the Prince of Wales, he said in a speech at Cambridge, his university, when he turned 30. Then he also stated that his “big problem in life is that I don’t really know what my role in life is”. He had to find one and he didn’t take refuge in the hobby of horses that his mother practiced so much, but spread his own ideas about modern architecture, organic farming, climate change and medicine alternative Always rubbing the politically correct and raising frequent controversies. He has been called a philosopher king, a lover of rural life, who would like to manage a chicken coop and a flock of sheep. A king of the pre-industrial society that could build bridges with the environmentalist trends coming.
He is a king with his own ideas who already knows that he will have to keep them for his personal thoughts, because his institutional role must adhere to tradition, to what the governments say and to represent a country that mostly accepts the monarchy as the cornerstone of the political system. A king who reigns, but does not rule, even if he is very well informed.
One has to ask why the British are mostly monarchical if they are such a practical people and so inclined to defend individualism and particular interests. Precisely because they have been able to make changes and revolutions that do not attack the principle of legitimacy. King Farouk of Egypt, a great vivifier and a creation of British imperial diplomacy, said that only five kings were guaranteed the throne: the four in the fight and the King of England.
The problems of kings do not affect governance. They are humans who do not rule, but who represent an apparently neutral institution and, moreover, the sovereign is the head of the Anglican Church. Ironic, given that the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is a Hindu, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is a Muslim of Pakistani origin, whose father was a bus collector in the capital .
The British monarchy administers complexity with the experience that comes with the passage of time. This is why they last and overcome crises, despite personal miseries. Tradition is not a problem, but an ancestral habit in a more conservative than adventurous society. So much so, for example, that Scottish independenceists would continue to be linked to the British crown in the event that one day Scotland became a State.
Few peoples are as sensitive as the British to the beauty with which time adorns things. There are many old statesmen, worn out and polished by the contradictions that have been challenging what had been a great empire for more than two centuries to its just dimensions. They like old universities, cold, without comforts, where hot water has practically just been introduced. There are many Britons who regard the monarchy as an absurd and obsolete institution. The percentage of young people who are unconcerned or opposed to a king who is by birth rather than by merit is higher than among mature Britons. In any case, acceptance of the monarchy is the majority, with more than 65% of supporters. But since the political class also shows signs of shortcomings and frivolity, the English stay with what they have, a system of appearances, colors, representativeness and the formal, but practical functioning of politics.
Charles III’s relations with his brothers are complicated. And those that maintain Guillem, the heir, and his brother Enric are few, if not non-existent. The specter of his mother, the village princess, Lady Di, has conditioned the relationships of the hard core of the royal family. Camilla Parker Bowles, the crowned queen, has come to the throne after a long period as the mistress of the current king. A reflection shared with friends is attributed to Charles III when, some years ago, he would have said: “They want him to be the first Prince of Wales in history who has not had a mistress!”.
All monarchs have a personality that they try to adapt to the times they live in. Charles III will have to preserve the British national identity that his mother symbolically represented with a cautious, but effective, professionalism. The links with the Commonwealth of Nations will be discussed and the integrity of the United Kingdom will have to pass the test of Scottish independence and the challenge that Northern Ireland will one day decide to press to join the Republic of Ireland.
I remember the month of July 1981, covering the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer for this newspaper. They passed through Fleet Street, the street of the press, in a carriage to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The festivities of that wedding lasted several days. The town and the tourists surrendered in his wake with balloons, confetti, streamers and commemorative flags. A lot of water has passed down the Thames and the British will now continue to sing “God save the king”. I can’t imagine a republican England.
