QUIET QUEEN VS PASSIONATE PRINCE
Prince Charles was just three when his mother ascended the throne. Sixty-six years later the robust royal shows no signs of slowing down at the age of 92, even though her son has taken over several of her more physically taxing duties and is known as the “shadow king” in certain circles.
But this suits Charles just fine, insiders say. He’s always known he’d have a long wait. “He planned his life accordingly, and he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish half of what he has if he’d become king earlier,” one insider says.
That relative freedom allowed him to be vocal about the things he cares about, such as climate change, homeopathic medicine and architectural preservation.
His opinionated stances haven’t gone unnoticed, of course – he’s been accused of risking the monarch’s constitutional impartiality by meddling in government policy.
Over the years Charles’ infamous “black spider memos”, named for his spiky black scrawl, have often landed on the desks of ministers, pushing for the government to act on issues such as global warming and genetically modified (GM) crops.
“You’d never have a handwritten letter from his mother but you sure have them from him,” one regular recipient told The Telegraph. “He underlines a lot. There are quite a lot of exclamation marks, quite a lot of passionate language.”
It’s in stark contrast to the queen. Britain’s democracy depends on the monarch remaining apolitical – something she’s achieved during her long reign.
“She’s made it a rule to say nothing about anything,” historian David Starkey says. “Alongside Elizabeth the Changeless, [she] could be Elizabeth the Silent.”
Charles knows he’ll have to stop his “controversial lobbying” once he becomes king. “I’m not that stupid,” he says in the documentary. But then adds, “I always wonder what meddling is? I mean I always thought it was motivating.”
He believes he must use his status to help others. Anything else would be “criminally negligent”, he says.
This prince feels strongly about things, says Peter Hunt, the BBC’s royal correspondent. “Can all that passion just be switched off once the wait is over?”
Many feel Charles should step aside completely and let Prince William take over from the queen.
“He’s a very good advert for why the monarchy is a bad idea,” says Graham Smith, spokesperson for Republic, an anti-monarchy organisation. “The monarch has power, access and influence, and is completely beyond the reach of democratic accountability.”
“The reign of Charles III will be different to the reign of Elizabeth II,” Hunt says. “Just how different is what troubles his critics.”