Officials have announced he will be known as King Charles III, and will be the oldest person to take the British throne.
LONDON — Prince Charles has been preparing for the crown his entire life. Now, at age 73, that moment has finally arrived.
“He now finds himself in, if you like, the autumn of his life, having to think carefully about how he projects his image as a public figure,” said historian Ed Owens. “He’s nowhere near as popular as his mother.”Charles must figure out how to generate the “public support, a sense of endearment” that characterized the relationship Elizabeth had with the British public, Owens said.
“We know the monarch and certainly the monarch’s family – they’re not meant to have political voices. They’re not meant to have political opinions. And the fact that he’s been flexing, if you like, his political muscle is something that he will have to be really careful with ... lest he be seen as unconstitutional,” said Owens, who wrote “The Family Firm: Monarchy, Mass Media and the British Public, 1932-53.
Charles has said he intends to reduce the number of working royals, cut expenses and better represent modern Britain. Biographer Sally Bedell Smith, author of “Prince Charles: the Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life,’’ described him as being constantly overshadowed by others in the family, despite his destiny.
She helped Charles smile more in public by tempering his reserve and making him made him appear approachable, if not happier, as he cut ribbons, visited houses of worship, unveiled plaques and waited for the crown. Charles studied history at Cambridge University’s Trinity College, where in 1970 he became the first British royal to earn a university degree.
They announced their engagement in February 1981. Some awkwardness in their relationship was immediately apparent when, during a televised interview about their betrothal, a reporter asked if they were in love. “Of course,” Diana answered immediately, while Charles said, “Whatever ‘in love’ means.”“God, it absolutely traumatized me,” she said in a recording made by her voice coach in 1992-93 that was featured in the 2017 documentary “Diana, In Her Own Words.
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