The Crown for which Prince Charles III has been preparing for his entire life, now at the age of 73, that moment has finally arrived. Prince Charles became King Charles III on Thursday following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The date for his coronation-the crowning ceremony for the new sovereign has not been set yet. But Charles is officially King Charles III now.
On Thursday The Queen died at Balmoral, a royal estate in Scotland at the age of 96.
Charles was the one who has been modernized the British monarchy by being the first heir that not educated at home the first to earn a University degree and the first to grow up in the ever-intensifying glare of the media as deference to royalty faded.
Image by: WPA Pool
Now as a king Prince Charles is also Britain’s head of state, as well as the head of state for other countries in the Commonwealth Realm that still recognize the monarch, including Australia, Canada, and the Bahamas. The Queen also named Charles 2018 the head of the Commonwealth of Nations, which is the United Kingdom plus a group of 53 countries that have cultural or political ties to it, including as part of its former empire.
Charles is the longest-serving heir apparent. The British monarchy has always been a tool of soft power, both within the country and without the country. After waiting 70 years in the wings Charles is likely to have his views on how he can use his soft power and influence. His public record may give some clues as to how he will rule, but so might the institution of the monarchy itself.
Prince Charles was on 14 November 1948 in Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather George VI as the first child of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Charles has been the heir apparent in 1952 after the death of his grandfather and the accession of his mother as queen Elizabeth II. Being the monarch’s eldest son, he automatically assumed the titles Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. Charles attended his mother’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953.
On July 29, 1981, Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul’s Cathedral. The married couple lived at Kensington Palace and Highgrove House, near Tetbury. They have two children Prince William now heir to the throne was born less than a year later and Prince Harry in 1984. The Couple has divorced in 1996. In the following year, Diana died as a result of a car crash in Paris. Then Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles his long-time partner in 2005.
There are several questions about what this leadership will look like, but as the experts said, Prince Charles has a lot of credibilities at least on this global issue. He may be the climate change king. But the prince will also have to grapple with where the institution of the monarchy fits with Britain’s place in the world, and with the very idea of Britishness.
As the experts point out, the British monarchy is a political institution, but it is also supposed to be above politics. The royal family takes this very seriously, even as they use their influence to try to further Britain’s aims.
The Director of history and policy at the University of London Philip Murphy said “The key ethos of the House of Windsor is that they are there by some chance of birth, and they have to perform these functions which, on the whole, are incredibly, incredibly boring, which they don’t get much out of personally, but they feel it is important to keep the system of government going,” “And therefore, yes there is a duty to the nation and the British people.”
