LONDON, Sept. 8 (BUS): With his mother, Queen Elizabeth, passing away on Thursday, Prince Charles is finally king of the United Kingdom and 14 other kingdoms, ending a wait of more than 70 years – the longest by an heir in the United Kingdom. British history.
The role will be tough. Challenging at the age of 73, Charles is the oldest king to take the throne in a dynasty that goes back a thousand years, with his wife Camilla at his side.
Supporters say he was ahead of his time in areas such as climate change.
They argue that he is thoughtful and concerned about his fellow Britons from all societies and from all walks of life. His charitable foundation, Prince’s Trust, has helped more than 1 million unemployed and disadvantaged young people since it was launched nearly 50 years ago, Reuters reports.
Throughout his life, Charles has been caught between a modern monarchy, trying to find his place in a rapidly changing and more egalitarian society, while maintaining the traditions that give the institution its appeal.
Born in Buckingham Palace on November 14, 1948, Charles Philip Arthur George was born into the twelfth year of the reign of his grandfather, King George VI.
At only the age of three when he became crown prince after his mother became queen in 1952, Charles’ upbringing was always different from that of previous future kings.
Unlike his predecessors who were tutored by private tutors, Charles went to Hill House School in west London before becoming a student at Chem School in Berkshire, which his father Prince Philip attended and where he later became president.
He was then sent to Gordonstoun, a difficult boarding school in Scotland where Philip also studied. He described his time there as hell: he was lonely and troubled. He reportedly said “a prison sentence”. Colditz with skirts.
Breaking with tradition again, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, to study archeology and physical and social anthropology but later turned to history.
While studying he was formally crowned Prince of Wales, the title traditionally held as the heir to the throne, in a grand ceremony in 1969, after spending nine weeks at a university in Wales.
The following year he became the first British heir to receive a university degree.
Like many royals before him, he joined the armed forces, initially with the Royal Air Force in 1971 and then with the Navy, and rose through the ranks to command the minesweeper HMS Brunington, before ending active duty in 1976.
As a young prince, he cut a dazzling athletic figure who loved skateboarding, surfing and diving. He has been a passionate polo player and has also ridden in a number of competitive races.
In 1979 his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten, whom he called “the grandfather I’ve never had”, was killed in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing, a loss that deeply affected him.
He later said, “It seemed as if the foundation of everything we cherished in life had been irreparably torn apart.”
Upon leaving the Navy in 1976, he sought a role in public life where there was no clear constitutional function for the heir, saying he had to “make it up as you went”.
“That’s what makes it so fun, challenging and of course complicated,” he said of his role in a documentary on his 70th birthday.
take care of people
Proponents say this shows that the new king is a serious-minded man and genuine concern for his people.
For some, he has an impossible role—either accused of political interference if he cares about social issues or risks being labeled a spoiled and lovable prince.
“Why do you think I’ve done all this all these years?” He said in a 2021 TV interview about climate change. “Because I cared about the next generation and always did.”
In the 1970s, with the British economy in tatters, he used his £7,400 severance pay to fund community initiatives. Later, with cities ravaged by riots and rising unemployment, the Prince’s Fund began helping disadvantaged youth start their own businesses.
He said, “I would have been a very blind idiot if I hadn’t paid some attention to this kind of thing. I remember thinking I was sure there was something I could do to help.”
Among his campaign’s greatest causes – the environment – he can now feel satisfied that world leaders have heeded his demands that they tackle the climate change crisis.
At the United Nations COP26 conference in Britain in 2021, US President Joe Biden praised Charles’ leadership, telling him that “everything goes”.
“He had a hard time with it, and I think it proved to be ahead of the curve,” said William, Charles’s son.
Away from his royal duties or campaigning, Charles is happiest in the garden at his home in Highgrove in western England, or, like his late mother, he walks and fishes in the wild farms of the Scottish homes of the royal family, where he also paints watercolors.
He enjoys taking walks and has written a children’s book called “The Old Man of Lochnagar”. He is also passionate about the arts, especially the works of Shakespeare, opera, and Leonard Cohen.
In secret, his aides said, he is jovial with a “wicked sense of humor” but also quick-tempered and demanding. They dismiss accusations that he insists on luxury, though they say he believes he should make a royal show when the situation calls for it.
Some of those close to him say he is kind and hardworking, and his friends and foes speak of his devotion to his duty, bringing his papers until midnight most days.
“The guy never stops. I mean, when we were kids, there were briefcases and work bags the office just sent him. We can barely get to his office to say good night to him.” William said in a documentary on the occasion of his father’s 70th birthday.
His wife Camilla has said that despite his long wait for the throne, the job isn’t something he’s been giving much thought to.
When asked if it was about being a king he talked about, she replied, “Not much, no. It’s just something that’s going to happen.”
These are the sentiments expressed by Charles himself.
“Unfortunately, it comes as a result of your mother’s death, and your father’s death, which is not nice to say the least, so it’s best not to think too much about it,” he said in 2010.