Bittersweet reflections of a king

CHARLES R: THE MAKING OF A MONARCH

I, along with millions, will be glued to the Coronation today – although I’m ashamed to say my main focus won’t be the event itself, with all the pomp and circumstance, but the frocks. Shallow, I know, but there’s nothing I enjoy more than scoring hats out of ten and marvelling at the sartorial inventiveness of the British upper classes. It also happens to be my daughter’s birthday, and since her father is one of the lucky few to be invited we shall keep our eyes peeled for him in the crowd.

This documentary is also about the struggles of royalty, but of course in a very different context. Seven decades of rare footage, photos and interviews with the King, from his earliest days as a chunky little toddler (left), playing with his toys and running around the garden with his grandmother, to the rather serious, sensitive man we know today. I don’t know why, but the whole thing for me was slightly tinged with sadness. The young Charles being put through his paces at various draconian training schools, being forced to undergo hearty outdoor activities by his disciplinarian father, footage of the young Queen looking heartbreakingly fresh-faced and girlish. And always, always, this sense of a life lived for others, for duty, rather than for himself.

Of course, as he prepares for the Coronation today, reflection is inevitable. Here he remembers his own mother’s big day (he was four), how he had to wear uncomfortable clothes and how she practised wearing the crown at bathtime because it was so heavy and she had to get used to the weight of it.

He talks about his own struggle to come to terms with his identity, his place in the Royal Family and his desire to justify it all. How did you define the role of Prince of Wales, he is asked at one point. ‘I made it up as I went along,’ comes the honest reply. Lesser men might have walked away from the challenge – and indeed they have. Who can begrudge him these bittersweet reflections as he prepares to take that next step in this extraordinary journey?