C’wealth backs Prince Charles as next head: Report

◗ Leaders agreed that Charles, heir to the thrones of 16 Commonwealth nations, should follow the monarch in the non- hereditary position, BBC and Sky News reported

London, April 20: Commonwealth leaders agreed Friday that Prince Charles should follow his mother Queen Elizabeth II as the next head of the group, the BBC and other media reported.

Queen Elizabeth on Thursday told leaders from the 53 member states that she wanted her eldest son to succeed her in the symbolic figurehead role.

Leaders, gathered at Windsor Castle for private talks, agreed that Charles, heir to the thrones of 16 Commonwealth nations, should follow the monarch in the nonhereditary position, the BBC, Sky News television and the domestic Press Association news agency reported.

Following Queen Elizabeth’s public call as she opened the group’s summit on Thursday for potentially the final time, a series of Commonwealth premiers voiced their support Thursday for Charles as a figure of stability and continuity.

Queen Elizabeth, who turns 92 on Saturday, spoke of her own “extraordinary journey” since pledging to serve the Commonwealth when aged 21.

“It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity for future generations and will decide that one day, the Prince of Wales should carry on the important work,” she said, referring to Charles.

Queen has been the Commonwealth’s symbolic figurehead since her father king George VI’s death in 1952.

Some republican voices had been angling for change in future. for Elizabeth life