Charles in charge HIS SECRET MEETINGS TO BE KING
The patient prince feels a change is in the heir!
Despite the blazing equatorial sun, Prince Charles looked as cool as a cucumber sandwich last week as he toured West Africa. And why not? He did, after all, have his secret weapon by his side – his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall.
The prince and his beloved Camilla – who call each other Fred and Gladys – showed they’re as besotted today as they were when they married 13 years ago as they greeted dignitaries, sipped wine and swayed on the dance floor during their eight-day tour of Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria.
And after they waved goodbye and returned to Blighty, another momentous occasion awaited them – Charles’ 70th birthday on November 14. By the time most people become septuagenarians, their working years are behind them. But Charles is still waiting to step into the role he has been training for his entire life.
As the guests arrive for his Buckingham Palace birthday bash, hosted by the woman he calls “Mummy”, the Queen, everyone will know that not only are they toasting their future king, but also that when his time finally comes, he will be the oldest heir ever to become monarch of Britain and the Commonwealth.
That means Charles is also destined for a short reign compared to his mother’s 66 years and counting, but “it’s not something that particularly bothers him any more”, reveals a palace source. “For a long time, the prince has taken a ‘what will be will be’
approach and it’s served him very well.”
It is, says a courtier, the presence of Camilla in his life that has finally brought Charles the happiness he thought he would never find.
As a child, the famously sensitive prince often felt his parents lacked affection for him. At one point, relations between him and his father Prince Philip, 97, became so strained, they communicated only by writing.
In 1970, aged 22, he met the “pretty, intelligent and strong-minded” Camilla Shand. The pair fell for each other and, according to biographer Penny Junor, Camilla would have married him at the drop of a hat.
But he never asked. Instead, he continued to play the field and by the time he realised she was the love of his life, Camilla had married cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles.
Ten years later, in July 1981, the heir to the British throne married Lady Diana Spencer in what would become one of the most disastrous royal unions in history. Princess Diana famously told biographer Andrew Morton that she wanted to back out before the wedding and just last month it was revealed Charles also regretted popping the question.
In veteran royal reporter Robert Jobson’s book Charles at Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes and Dreams, friends of the prince reveal he’d met Diana no more than 12 times before their engagement. He found her undeniably attractive, but in the weeks leading up to the wedding, when it was too late to pull out, he realised they were utterly ill-suited.
Diana disaster
During the couple’s doomed marriage, Charles’ popularity plummeted so low that many said he was not fit to wear the crown and, after Diana’s death in a 1997 Paris car crash, a number of long-serving staff at Buckingham Palace believed the public would never tolerate Charles becoming king.
It’s a testament to the prince’s quiet determination that Camilla – widely reviled by the public as the author of Diana’s misery – has slowly been accepted. She divorced her first husband in 1995, and she and Charles tied the knot in 2005 on the understanding she would never be queen.
“They have a lot of fun together,” reveals an aide. “On their visit to Devon and Cornwall this summer, some water was spilt as their helicopter took off. She flicked it at him and he flicked it right back. It would make him so happy if she were made queen and he will obviously do his best to make it happen.”
Another palace insider says Charles fully intends to give Camilla, 71, the title of Queen Consort when he finally takes the throne, explaining, “If anything, I think he has hardened his resolve. For
there to be any other outcome would, in his view, be to lessen his role as king. His marriage to Camilla is legal. She happens to be his second wife. Did any of Henry VIII’s wives not get the title?”
The Queen has also finally accepted Camilla into the royal fold. On her 90th birthday, the monarch quietly elevated Camilla to her most senior advisory body, the Privy Council. Her reason was that she wanted her daughter-inlaw to be at Charles’ side at the precise moment he learns of his mother’s passing and formally becomes king.
Certainly, at 92, the Queen knows she cannot go on forever and palace insiders say a handover of royal power is taking place right before our eyes.
“Charles is now a shadow king,” reports one well-placed source. “The Queen and Charles have been meeting in private for some time to discuss matters of state. No royal aides or private secretaries are ever present – it’s just the two of them. They both view these meetings as crucial for the smooth running of the country and the eventual succession.”
Some say if she reaches the age of 95, the Queen will officially allow Charles to take over the stewardship of her reign. And indeed, despite his advancing years, those
close to the prince say he’s working harder than ever. His tour of West Africa was as the official Head of the Commonwealth, a role the Queen passed on to him in April this year.
His increased workload sees Charles working 14-hour days, seven days a week, and insiders say he often works until 2am.
Indeed, in a new interview for the documentary Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70, Prince Harry reveals, “He will fall asleep on his notes to the point where he’ll wake up with a piece of paper stuck to his face. The man never stops.
“When we were kids, there were bags and bags and bags of work that the office just sent to him. We could barely even get to his desk to say goodnight to him.”
But reports Charles doesn’t see his grandkids, Prince George, five, Princess Charlotte, three, and Prince Louis, six months, have been dismissed as “poppycock” by his friends.
“He’s besotted,” says one old mate. “He goes gooey whenever he talks about them.”
Camilla confirms this in the new doco, revealing, “He will get down on his knees and crawl about with them for hours, making funny noises and laughing. He reads
Harry Potter and he can do all the different voices.”
Charles is also said to be “terribly proud” of how his sons, Prince William, 36, and Harry, 34, have coped in the wake of their mother’s tragic death. Their relationship has been strained in the past, with both boys blaming Charles for being absent through much of their childhood, but after Diana’s death, Charles has done his best to provide them with love and security.
Sons’s nub
Their mended fences were temporarily damaged last year, when William and Harry took part in a documentary commemorating the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death. Consciously or not, they did it without once mentioning Charles.
“It would have been nice if they had acknowledged his contribution to their upbringing,” says one of Charles’ friends. “He was and tried to be a jolly good father, after all.”
But by the time Harry tied the knot with the Duchess of Sussex in May, all was forgiven, with Charles stepping in to walk Meghan, 37, down the aisle after her father pulled out. “My darling old Harry, I’m so happy for you,” said Charles at the reception.
Throughout his life, the prince has made no secret of the passions that drive him, becoming an outspoken advocate of environmental causes. Just last week, he urged consumers to take action to stop polluting the planet with plastic – not just for his own grandchildren, but for youngsters everywhere.
“He is relentless – and being 70 won’t stop him,” says a close source. “His age doesn’t make him feel like it’s over or think, ‘Phew, the job’s done.’ Instead, it’s always, ‘What can I do to make a difference?’”
Yet even his family wishes he’d take more time off. As William says, “He’s the fittest man I know, but equally, I want him to be fit until he’s 95. Having more time at home with him would be lovely – and being able to play around with the grandchildren. Because when he’s there, he’s brilliant, but we need him there as much as possible.”