BIO FILLS OUT PORTRAIT OF THE KING-IN-WAITING
‘Passions and Paradoxes’ finds fresh insights into the long-serving Prince of Wales
@usatmpuente USA TODAY
When Prince Charles becomes King Charles III of Great Britain, he’ll be the oldest ever to be crowned and the one who waited the longest. And, as a new biography suggests, he may be the most improbable, even peculiar, monarch to ascend the throne in nearly 1,000 years and after 40 predecessors.
Britain’s second longest-serving Prince of Wales (he will surpass Edward VII’s record in September) has been waiting to fulfill his destiny for 65 years. You would think there could hardly be anyone left in the United Kingdom who is unaware of his strengths and flaws, his quirks and passions, his many entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors, his outspoken and opinionated approach to royal duty.
But you would be wrong, because Sally Bedell Smith, the acclaimed American biographer of Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his tragic first wife, the late Princess Diana, has found new details and insights about the life story and character of the man who will be king, and has wrapped them up in her new book Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life (Random House, on sale April 4).
Why should Americans care? For one thing, there is the Yankee yen for behind-the-scenes tittletattle about the lifestyles of the rich and royal. And there is the lingering interest, not to say obsession, in the U.S. for anything having to do with lost Diana.
It can’t be a bad thing to know as much as possible about the man who will be the next head of state of America’s closest ally, succeeding a long-reigning queen (65 years and counting) whose engagement with the U.S. over the decades has been at least as crucial to the “special relationship” as that of whoever happens to occupy 10 Downing St.
So, good news: Prince Charles really likes America. “He’s drawn