ROYAL HEIR IN NEW LIGHT
Book works to improve perception of Charles
The main problem with books about the Royal Family is that its various and sundry members serve only one vital role for Canadians. Their existence adds pomp and circumstance to our democracy, thus foiling any attempt to turn our politicians into princes and our Senate into a House of Lords. For that alone we should be grateful.
Beyond that, they are a sideshow of celebrity star power. Yet given a choice between the motley crop of American “stars” and the “royals,” I’ll take the latter, if only to be a loyal subject. And yes, that last statement is sarcasm. Indeed, what is most amazing about this door-stopper of a tome is that it reeks of sarcasm. Catherine Mayer did not intend her arch observations to be taken that way, but that’s how so much of it reads to me. (Full disclosure: my late mother was Irish Catholic, so maybe my view of the British is somewhat skewed, notwithstanding my birth in England.) Still, as Canadians we pledge allegiance to the Queen and will do so to her heir, Prince Charles, known throughout the book as His Royal Highness abbreviated as HRH. (Even his friends are forced to address him as ‘sir.’)
But they don’t affect us much beyond the comfort of not having to bend a knee to a politician or president or jumped-up rich people. We are a constitutional monarchy, ruled by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Acts of Parliament and how the Canadian Supreme Court rules. Any “royal” robes are worn by the Governor General and the provinces’ Lieutenant- Governors. We are respectful, but largely uncaring about the ceremony surrounding their presence.
There is nothing in this book and its exhaustive bibliography and index that we don’t already know about the Prince of Wales, including his disastrous first marriage and his desire to be Camilla’s tampon. Well, maybe his love of Romania and its “serf” villages comes as a bit of a shock. And there’s a delightful bit of Canadiana inserted, courtesy of the author accompanying Charles and Camilla on their 2014 visit to Nova Scotia during which Peter MacKay, then justice minister, mangled their titles and a military band played What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? Mayer has a journalist referring to Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a “robot” and Heritage Minister Shelley Glover “temporarily dismounted from a lofty career in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to render a different form of public service,” that of being the minister responsible for defending the costs of the visit. (About 800,000 British pounds sterling, or, charitably, about $2M in Canadian loonies, all of which Canada’s “hard-working taxpayers” to use Harper’s phrase, paid for.)
It is difficult not to view this book as a send-up, the literary equivalent of BBC Radio’s The Goon Show and the joke’s on the reader. That, though, may be just my take on this daunting read. Taken at face value, Mayer is nothing if not careful to document every flaky comment, every peccadillo and every good deed done by the Prince of Wales, from his 1982 speech about “carbuncle” architecture to today’s “man with a mission, a knight on a quest.” Mayer writes he wants to save both the planet and the monarchy and documents his search for higher meaning to life.
Perhaps Prince Charles sees himself as a modern Robin Hood, suggests the author, hoovering up as much money as possible for his pet projects, including the Prince’s Trust from a variety of benefactors. Even that caused controversy. “The biggest concern in the (Buckingham) palace was ... that it might be controversial. Directed to the undeserving poor — troublemakers and offenders — rather than the traditional virtuous recipients of royal beneficence.”
It is difficult not to assume the heir to the throne is nutso, but Mayer does a credible job of offsetting the more peculiar aspects of his thinking by referencing reams of good works. She spends the entire book trying to improve the public’s perception of Charles by showing that in comparison to his brothers and sister (and the unlamented uncle, the Duke of Windsor), he’s not so bad. Maybe as she suggests, Prince Charles is just ahead of the game in his promotion of organic produce and such pastimes as gardening.
“He goes into his gardens to talk not to the plants, but to the deceased,” writes Mayer “They are alive in his heart.” Also alive in his heart and head is homeopathy, alternative medicine, flying saucers and as the Prince himself jokes, “conversations with fruit.”
If genetics mean anything, the Queen will live as long as her mother, who died at 101. There is a chance Prince Charles, who has spent his entire lifetime preparing for a still-distant job, will predecease her. If not, his eventual reign will be a short one.
If you are a lover of all things royal, go ahead and read this book. The best that can be said is that it’s comprehensive, wellresearched and exhausting. Sadly, those qualities don’t make it less boring.
He goes into his gardens to talk not to the plants, but to the deceased. They are alive in his heart.