CROWNING GLORY
The Queen’s heir crisis
WILL BRITAIN’S LONGEST-REIGNING MONARCH STEP DOWN?
For 65 years she has held down the job that Prince Harry insists no member of the royal family wants. But now it appears that the Queen is contemplating handing over the reins of power to Prince Charles by her 95th birthday.
“She would never abdicate – monarchy is a lifetime’s job,” says a courtier. “But with Prince Philip’s retirement from public duties, she will no longer have the man who has been her rock for so long by her side and, although she is very fit for a woman of 91, she is aware that she cannot carry the burden of her workload indefinitely.
“Charles already holds the record for the longest wait for the throne and is approaching 70 himself. It makes sense all round for him to take over as Prince Regent.”
The big problem, if his son is to be believed, is that not only does he not want the job, but the British public don’t want him either. One recent poll found that 51% would prefer Prince William to become king, with only 22% opting for Charles. More vehemently, more than two-thirds don’t want the Duchess of Cornwall as queen.
“It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the spate of programmes and articles marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana is responsible for this dip in popularity,” says one friend of the beleaguered couple.
“William and Harry are the public’s sweethearts after talking about their grief, while Charles and Camilla have sunk like stones. It has been a difficult and bruising month for them.”
Camilla’s biographer Penny Junor is more sanguine. “This seems an overreaction in a very emotional period,” she says. “Once all of this hysteria around the anniversary of Diana’s death has calmed down, it will be fine for Charles to inherit the throne.
“Sometimes you have popular kings and sometimes you have unpopular ones. If anyone ever deserves this role, it will be Charles. He will be the best-prepared monarch ever to come to the throne.”
Given that the constitution would have to be changed in order to overturn Charles’ right to the throne, it seems likely that she is correct – but the question of Camilla’s future role may be harder to resolve.
People have been reminded that this woman broke her own marriage vows for an adulterous relationship with Charles and shared responsibility for Diana’s terrible unhappiness.
At the time of their wedding, it was announced that Camilla would not become queen but instead hold the title of Princess Consort, a line that Charles’ team at Clarence House still maintains is true.
“It does seem improbable that she could be crowned in Westminster Abbey as ‘a great
example of virtue and piety, and a blessing to the kingdom,’” says a member of Charles’ staff. “The problem is that this is exactly what HRH would like. He loves her – and he can be very stubborn.”
The only evidence of this lies in a 2010 interview he gave to the American TV network NBC. After hesitating over his answer to the question of whether Camilla would be his queen, the prince said, “We’ll see, won’t we? That could be.”
For now, power sharing between the Queen, Charles and Camilla, William, Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge seems set to accelerate. The Queen has passed 25 major patronages on to the younger generation, while Charles is proving an acceptable substitute for his mother on the international stage.
He represented her on trips to New Zealand and Australia during her Diamond Jubilee year, while earlier this year he took her place as Canada marked its 150th anniversary.
“It is his destiny to become king,” says one friend. “He’s been patient, he’s worked towards it, he knows what to do and how to behave. A period as Prince Regent would put the final touches to his preparation.”
Even so, there are those who still believe Charles will never get the top job.
“No other monarch has ever reigned as long as the Queen – the thought of getting an ageing, grey-haired King
Charles is perhaps not the best option,” says Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe.
“Diana never said it publicly, but she told me she never thought Charles would be king. She always thought her son would be. The younger generation will decide now where the monarchy sits.”
So it’s back to Harry, the only young royal to speak out publicly.
“We are all involved in modernising the monarchy. We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people,” he says. “We will carry out our duties at the right time. The monarchy is a force for good. We don’t want to dilute the magic.”