CHARLES IS READY FOR HIS ROYAL TAKEOVER!
THE SUCCESSION PLAN IS ALREADY IN MOTION!
Prince Charles has always been a forward thinker, working out his points of view and desired outcomes and then sticking to them, regardless of what his family, critics or the public say.
“He looks at everything in terms of years and decades,” says an aide. “He always has. Once he’s made his mind up on something, he’s immovable. He says, ‘They’ll come round, they’ll agree with me one day.’
“By and large, that’s true – most opponents eventually support him.”
Or as Charles (71) himself puts it, “I’ve gone on regardless of the endless criticism and carping and shouting and screaming, because I’ve always believed in the long term.”
No matter if it’s ecology, climate change, organic farming, architecture, the structure of the economy or the future of the royal family, the Prince of Wales has always aimed to be ahead of the curve.
Take the Duchess of Cornwall. It was always Charles’ intention to marry Camilla (72), and he put in motion a carefully designed plan to soften public opinion, which had turned against her after Diana, Princess of Wales’ revelation that “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”.
In July 1997, 11 months after he and Diana divorced, Charles arranged a 50th birthday party for Camilla at his country home. Her chauffeur was briefed to drive at near-walking pace as he arrived at the gates, to ensure waiting photographers could get clear shots.
It worked. “She swept into Highgrove with all the confidence of a Queen,” one paper reported. Charles let it be known that she was “non-negotiable” and the party was her “coming out”.
Then disaster struck. Diana died in a car crash in Paris six weeks later and Camilla instantly became “the most hated woman in Britain”, as another paper put it.
She kept her head down; the couple only met at each other’s houses (or palaces) and they waited. Two years later, in 1999, Charles tried again, hiring PR guru Mark Bolland, who devised Operation Ritz.
Favoured photographers were told that Camilla would be attending her sister Annabel’s birthday party at London’s Ritz Hotel and it was hinted that they might like to stick around. Charles arrived late, having attended a charity dinner.
Crucially, Charles and Camilla left together. Pictures of the couple made every front page in the UK – all with favourable captions and comments.
Gradually, Mark engineered more photo opportunities for the couple until Camilla became part of the royal furniture and was accepted by most people as Charles’ partner. On April 9, 2005 − a day when the famed Grand National horse race is held in the UK − they married in a civil ceremony.
The Queen (93) didn’t attend the service but she did go to the blessing, where she gave an equine-themed speech.
“My son is home and dry with the woman he loves. They are now on the home straight; the happy couple are now in the winner’s enclosure,” she joked.
“It was a happy day and united the family,” says one guest. “Even Camilla’s ex, Andrew Parker Bowles, was there, along with her children and Prince Charles’ children.
“The Queen didn’t actually mention Camilla by name at all, which might imply a bit of hesitation on her part about the marriage, but now they get on incredibly well. The Queen has even made the duchess a Privy Counsellor, so she’s one of her advisers. Charles got his way and opinions about his wife have completely changed.”
When Charles ascends the throne “it is intended that Mrs Parker Bowles should use the title HRH the Princess Consort,” as the palace put it and it’s very unlikely this will change.
“The prince pays attention to opinion polls when it comes to the monarchy,” says a former official. “They have consistently been against the duchess becoming queen and I doubt he’s going to want to start his reign on the wrong foot.”
Planning for the succession has been going on for years and in 2014 the Queen’s then-private secretary, Sir Christopher Geidt, received a second knighthood for “preparation for the transition to a change of reign”.
In 2008, Christopher was working for Charles as well as the Queen, and the prince asked him to begin the groundwork.
Key to the process was the Way Ahead Group, which was formed after the infamous annus horribilis of 1992, when
Charles separated from Diana, Prince Andrew’s marriage to the Duchess of York ended, Anne, Princess Royal divorced Captain Mark Phillips and Windsor Castle burned down.
In the aftermath, royal finances came under scrutiny and the Queen paid income tax for the first time, volunteered to pay the bulk of the castle’s restoration costs and laws across the Commonwealth were changed to allow a firstborn female to inherit the throne.
The group, comprising senior members of the royal family and their advisers, met twice yearly to plan the future of the monarchy.
“Effectively, it was run by Charles and Prince Philip,” says the official. “It brought stability and ensured that all members of the family worked together.
“But over time it met less frequently and a few years ago it became defunct.
“It’s well known that
Charles wants a slimmed-down monarchy to reduce the costs of running the show, but without becoming a Scandinavian-style bicycle monarchy. A revised, smaller Way Ahead Group is definitely on the cards.”
Andrew, Prince Harry and wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex are now out of the picture, so Charles’ main aim has been accomplished, although in difficult circumstances.
As Brittani Barger, of Royal Central, says, “The process of slimming the monarchy has already begun… I think when it’s all said and done, the monarchy will be Charles and his children and grandchildren.”
Or one of his children, at least. Charles is known to be anxious about the path his younger son has taken, “worrying about Harry in the same way he did about Diana,” according to one source, and will bring him and Meghan back into the fold if their bid for independence turns out badly.
William is already on the same page as his father and working side-by-side – reports of any strain between them are wide of the mark. Charles has even begun the process of handing over the Duchy of Cornwall, which will provide William’s income when he becomes Prince of Wales.
And William too has started to think about his reign. “How do I make the royal family relevant in the next 20 years’ time?” William said in 2016.
“You know, it could be 40 years’ time, it could be 60 years’ time – I have no idea when that’s going to be, and I certainly don’t lie awake waiting or hoping for it because it sadly means my family have moved on and I don’t want that.”
Similarly, Charles plans for, but does not anticipate, the royal future. “I think it’s vital to remember there’s only one sovereign at a time, not two,
so you can’t be the same as the sovereign if you’re the Prince of Wales, the heir.”
But he is ready. As Camilla put it, “I think his destiny will come, he’s always known it’s going to come and I don’t think it does weigh on his shoulders at all. It’s just something that’s going to happen.”
When the Queen dies everything will change, and all the while Charles will try to ensure everything stays pretty much the same, just smaller.
Unfortunately for him, the Queen’s demise may see some of her dominions, who have only known her reign, decide to drop their royal ties completely.
The director of the Global Policy Institute in London, Stephen Haseler, predicts, for example, that if Scotland ever votes for independence, the royals will be toast.
“My absolute conviction is that once the Queen goes, the Scots won’t wear Prince Charles, and they will go for a republican system within the European Union,” he says. Other territories, such as semirepublican Australia, may do the same.
“There are going to be a lot of royal visits by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Cambridges in the early years after he ascends the throne,” says an insider. “They’ll try to head republicans off at the pass with a charm offensive.”
As Jamie LowtherPinkerton, William’s former principal private secretary says, “All we can do is plan for the desired end state, which is William coming to the throne respected, credible and connected. Then there will be gorgeous George. People are much more interested in glamorous princes than in glamorous kings.”
And that could be the saving of the monarchy.