Royal wedding pushes Charles out of spotlight
Source: Agencies |
March 8, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
PRINCE Charles can be forgiven for feeling a bit grumpy these days.
Close to many people's retirement age, he's still waiting for the job he was groomed for: King of England. And he's preparing for the wedding that will make his eldest son William and Kate Middleton the fresh new faces of a monarchy sorely in need of renewal.
That leaves Charles, who once cut a dashing figure himself, something of a forgotten man.
He is sandwiched between his mother Queen Elizabeth II, treasured for her steadfast dignity and devotion to duty since her coronation in 1953, and Prince William, who carries a hint of the late Princess Diana's glamor wherever he goes.
"He's in a very tricky position," said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine. "By next year his mother will have been on the throne for 60 years, she's the only monarch many of us have ever known. When she came in, she was very young with two small children and there was huge empathy for her, but Charles won't get that when he comes to the throne."
Too much info
He said the failure of Prince Charles' marriage to Princess Diana - and the role that his current wife, Camilla, played in that doomed union - has given the public too much information about the man who would be king.
"We've heard his private telephone conversations," Little said, referring to embarrassing intimate calls that were intercepted and published, giving Britons a glimpse into Prince Charles' fantasies.
"The mystique is well and truly gone, so he will come to the throne with all that baggage. Charles has always been rather eclipsed, by Diana, and now by his older son, who is about to marry a beautiful bride. Charles just accepts that for the foreseeable future the spotlight will shine on William and Catherine, as we're going to have to start calling Kate."
Prince Charles' problems with Princess Diana are ancient history, and Camilla's tattered image as "the other woman" has to a substantial degree been repaired, but there has been lasting damage to the prince's reputation. He looks and sounds tired, generating little excitement with his public appearances.
Stylish bachelor
Prince Charles, 62, even seemed a bit out of sorts when Prince William and Middleton happily announced their engagement in November, commenting that it was about time since the young couple had "played house long enough."
It is hard to remember the halcyon days when he was seen as a stylish young bachelor linked to some of the most beautiful women in Europe. He dated a series of young aristocratic women and fashion models before proposing to Diana Spencer - whose elder sister he had dated - in 1981.
But he has also undertaken some serious work, said Noel Cox, a law professor and royal scholar at Aberystwyth University in Wales.
He said the heir to the throne has no defined constitutional function but that Charles has used the position to champion organic farming, traditional architecture and environmental causes.
Close to many people's retirement age, he's still waiting for the job he was groomed for: King of England. And he's preparing for the wedding that will make his eldest son William and Kate Middleton the fresh new faces of a monarchy sorely in need of renewal.
That leaves Charles, who once cut a dashing figure himself, something of a forgotten man.
He is sandwiched between his mother Queen Elizabeth II, treasured for her steadfast dignity and devotion to duty since her coronation in 1953, and Prince William, who carries a hint of the late Princess Diana's glamor wherever he goes.
"He's in a very tricky position," said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine. "By next year his mother will have been on the throne for 60 years, she's the only monarch many of us have ever known. When she came in, she was very young with two small children and there was huge empathy for her, but Charles won't get that when he comes to the throne."
Too much info
He said the failure of Prince Charles' marriage to Princess Diana - and the role that his current wife, Camilla, played in that doomed union - has given the public too much information about the man who would be king.
"We've heard his private telephone conversations," Little said, referring to embarrassing intimate calls that were intercepted and published, giving Britons a glimpse into Prince Charles' fantasies.
"The mystique is well and truly gone, so he will come to the throne with all that baggage. Charles has always been rather eclipsed, by Diana, and now by his older son, who is about to marry a beautiful bride. Charles just accepts that for the foreseeable future the spotlight will shine on William and Catherine, as we're going to have to start calling Kate."
Prince Charles' problems with Princess Diana are ancient history, and Camilla's tattered image as "the other woman" has to a substantial degree been repaired, but there has been lasting damage to the prince's reputation. He looks and sounds tired, generating little excitement with his public appearances.
Stylish bachelor
Prince Charles, 62, even seemed a bit out of sorts when Prince William and Middleton happily announced their engagement in November, commenting that it was about time since the young couple had "played house long enough."
It is hard to remember the halcyon days when he was seen as a stylish young bachelor linked to some of the most beautiful women in Europe. He dated a series of young aristocratic women and fashion models before proposing to Diana Spencer - whose elder sister he had dated - in 1981.
But he has also undertaken some serious work, said Noel Cox, a law professor and royal scholar at Aberystwyth University in Wales.
He said the heir to the throne has no defined constitutional function but that Charles has used the position to champion organic farming, traditional architecture and environmental causes.
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