King Charles: A monarch for our times
‘HIS VIEWS AND VISION CAN SHAPE UK’S FUTURE IN THIS CENTURY AND BEYOND’
PRINCE CHARLES has taken over as King Charles at a time when the world is witnessing great political uncertainty, visible effects of climate change, rising food and energy prices, and the most immediate and pressing global challenge of our times – a strong, stable, and equitable economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amid such crises, the newly crowned King’s long and dedicated public service record – from caring for the underprivileged to a fierce advocate for protecting and preserving our environment and cultural heritage and architecture – is a strong reassurance.
His tenacity and perseverance to pursue causes goes beyond empathising with the afflicted. King Charles has helped develop and scale real solutions to the pressing problems of our times.
Nowhere has this commitment been more evident, and garnered more appreciation and gratitude than in his decades-long efforts to create jobs for disadvantaged young people in the UK and the Commonwealth countries.
As Prince of Wales, the King founded the ‘Prince’s Trust’, a registered UK charity in 1976. The Prince’s Trust runs a range of training programmes, providing practical and financial support to help young people build confidence and become successful entrepreneurs – turning potential job seekers into job creators.
The Prince’s Trust was a much-needed initiative in 1980’s Britain, when unemployment was at a record high during the Thatcher years. The programme was ahead of its times when entrepreneurship was not the buzzword it is today. The King’s unique idea not only fomented grassroots entrepreneurship in impoverished and rural areas in England, Scotland and Wales, but had the potential to be adapted and adopted globally.
This became apparent when I, Lakshmi, had the privilege of meeting the then Prince Charles in April 1990, when my father, a former India president, had been invited to stay at Buckingham Palace during his state visit to the UK.
Over three days of interactions, I was captivated when the then Prince Charles explained how volunteer mentors were transforming jobless youth like Mohamed Dattoo, a British immigrant of Indian origin from a humble background, who had started and rapidly scaled his start-up.
Soon after, under the mentorship of the King and Indian industry stalwarts like JRD Tata and Rahul Bajaj, I set up Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), inspired by and modelled after the Prince’s Trust.
When the then prince visited India in February 1992, he formally launched BYST and spent time with our entrepreneurs and mentors. It was a small matter that he skipped a tour of the Taj Mahal to kickoff the BYST launch. In the past three decades, the King has harnessed the successful UK model and its Indian application to inspire and galvanise youth in Commonwealth and other countries and make it into a successful worldwide movement for grassroots entrepreneurship.
With global unemployment (driven by the pandemic) at an all-time high, this model’s ability to support over a million youth in UK and generate hundreds of thousands of jobs in India stands testimony to the efficacy of the King’s vision.
King Charles’ reign will be a success not only because as Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” particularly of his mother, the hugely inspirational Queen, but also because his views and vision have the potential to shape our future in this century and beyond. For, his entire adult life, the King has been using his time, energy and resources to put his own unique stamp on moving the needle forward for humanity.
Lord Bilimoria CBE DL is a cross bench peer in the House of Lords, chancellor of the University of Birmingham and former president of the Confederation of British Industry. Lakshmi Venkataraman Venkatesan is the founding and managing trustee of BYST and daughter of R Venkataraman, the former president of India.