The longest serving heir apparent in history Prince Charles, Prince of Wales became King of the United kingdom Thursday, as his mother, the longest reigning Queen, passed on at 96.
BASIC FACTS
- Prince Charles is now the King in Britain following the Thursday passage of Queen Elizabeth.
- The Prince of Wales was the longest serving heir apparent in the history of the United Kingdom.
- Charles also became the oldest Prince to become king of the UK, and Camilla his wife will be the Queen consort.
WHAT WE KNOW
Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales, has become king. Charles became king at 73, thus ending his long tenure as heir apparent. King Charles age and the increasingly declining influence of the monarch in UK and the world, may be a focus of his reign
Charles has spent the better part of his life as heir apparent and has become a familiar figure in his own right, even as he starts a new job at an age when most people have retired.
NOTABLE QUOTE
Speaking on the kingship of Charles, royal author Phil Dampier said, “Whatever happens, he’s not going to have a long reign and that’s going to be difficult for him,”
“But he’s known this for a long time, and I think people are now going to start to be looking at William and Kate for the future,” he told AFP.
CATCH-UP
King Charles, unlike his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, who played neutrality, has courted some controversy, holding strong views that appeared divisive.
The then Princess Elizabeth became queen at 25 to huge popular support in a Britain recovering from World War II, the public has had decades to form its opinion — good or bad — of Charles.
One of the earliest sour point in Charles life was his soured relationship with his wife and mother of the now heir apparent, Prince Williams the Duke of Cambridge and his brother Prince Harry.
According to one YouGov poll in May 2022, he had a 56 percent approval rating — well behind the queen (81 percent), his eldest son Prince William (77 percent), and William’s wife, Catherine (76 percent). Camilla — Charles’ second wife — trailed him at 48 percent.
Since the death of his father Prince Philip in April 2021 and his mother’s declining health, Charles has been noticeably more visible, tightening an inner circle around him with Camilla, his youngest brother Edward, William and Kate.
Charles became heir to the throne at the young age of three years and three months.
His first official engagements came in the 1970s and as heir, his role has primarily been to support his mother “in her role as a focal point for national pride, unity and allegiance”.
He has welcomed dignitaries on her behalf, attended states dinners, travelled as her overseas representative to more than 100 countries, and presented honours in her name.
The world knows him best not just for his fairy tale wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 but also their very public estrangement and divorce in the 1990s.
But while that has cemented public opinion against him for some, Charles has been largely rehabilitated since his marriage to Camilla — and proved correct about his early warnings on the environment that saw him initially labelled a crank.
An advocate for sustainability, alternative medicine and gardening — so much so he once admitted talking to his plants — since 2007 Charles has published his own carbon footprint.
He heads or is involved with more than 420 charities, including the Prince’s Trust, which has helped more than one million young disadvantaged people since it was created in 1976.
But in recent months his former senior aides have been embroiled in scandals about donations, prompting a police investigation.
The queen in 2022 settled years of speculation about what Charles’ second wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, should be called and gave her blessings for Camilla to be the Queen consort.
In keeping with the Latin maxim “Rex nunquam moritur” — the king never dies — there is no interregnum and the accession is immediate, Charles became king immediately.
TAKEAWAY
The UK and the commonwealth will miss the Queen. However, what remains to be seen, is how Charles will fit as the king of the UK and Head of Commonwealth. What style will he bring to the throne? What reforms can he achieve?
Two days before the unfortunate death of the British monarch, she appointed Liz Truss as the 15th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since her reign.
Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne aged just 25 in 1952 in the aftermath of World War II, joining a world stage dominated by political figures from China’s Mao Zedong to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and US president Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Her 70-year reign straddled two centuries of seismic social, political and technological upheaval.
The last vestiges of Britain’s vast empire crumbled. At home, Brexit shook the foundations of her kingdom, and her family endured a series of scandals.
But throughout, she remained consistently popular and was queen and head of state not just of the United Kingdom but 14 former British colonies, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
She was also head of the 56-nation Commonwealth, which takes in a quarter of humanity, and supreme governor of the Church of England, the mother church of the worldwide Anglican communion.
The Queen was Nigeria Head of State until 1963, when the independent constitution was amended for Nigeria to become a republic and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe the first indigenous president.
However, the Queen as Nigerian Head of State was more ceremonial than real, as the real power was with the Governor Generals who represented her. At independence in 1960, Azikiwe became the Governor General, taking over from James Robertson.
No doubt the Queen Elizabeth era saw many changes. However, what remains to be seen is if the golden age of the British monarchy has now passed, how an ancient institution remain viable in the modern era?
Will Prince Charles, now King Charles command the same respect or reign in his mother’s shadow.
