Campaign to boost Charles

BRITAIN: The Prince of Wales is all but certain to take over from the Queen as the next head of the Commonwealth.

Senior sources have confirmed for the first time that Prince Charles will almost definitely succeed his mother in the post that she has held for the past 65 years.

The news comes after a determined campaign by Buckingham Palace to make sure that the prince becomes the organisation’s next ceremonial head.

Although the Queen is indelibly associated with the Commonwealth secretariat, there is nothing in the organisation’s rulebook that states that it has to be headed by the British sovereign.

When the Queen dies, officials will have to move quickly to find a consensus among its 52 member nations.

While it has become increasingly apparent in recent years that there is no realistic alternative to Prince Charles, the Commonwealth has always been careful to pay lip service to the notion that it is up to all the member countries who takes over.

It has been suggested that the Commonwealth could have a revolving leadership or even drop the idea of having one at all.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal, secretary-general of the Commonwealth, stuck to the official line yesterday.

Member countries should be allowed to come to their own conclusion, she said.

However, a source told The Times that the job would go to Charles. ‘‘I cannot see the consensus coming to any other conclusion.’’

The schedule of the Commonwealth Day celebrations yesterday contained a subtle sign of how the prince is being groomed for the job.

Although the Queen, who is limiting her number of engagements at the age of 90, launched the baton relay that starts the countdown to next year’s Commonwealth Games, she decided not to attend an evening reception hosted by the secretarygeneral.

The prince and the Duchess of Cornwall went in her place.

As well as the baton relay at Buckingham Palace, the Queen also attended the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey with other members of the royal family.

Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta, gave a speech at the abbey in which he condemned countries that showed ‘‘a lack of respect’’ for gay and transgender rights.

He said that the experience of LGBT communities in some Commonwealth nations was a ‘‘blot’’ on the organisation.

Even among committed republicans, there is a weary acceptance that Charles, who has not always shown the same enthusiasm for the Commonwealth as his mother, will inherit her title.

As Malcolm Turnbull, the present Australian prime minister, said in Malta: ‘‘Who else is there?’’ - The Times