For years he was nicknamed Droopy, for his forlorn expression and prominent ears that reminded one of Tex Avery’s famous sad little dog.
Strange fate of that prince with a singular personality, lonely, misunderstood, infinitely less popular than his mother, whose death he waited for seven decades to be able to enter the light. Born on November 14, 1948 at Buckingham Palace, Carlos Felipe Arturo Jorge, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, became heir to the crown at the age of three years and three months, in February 1952.
Today, the finally Charles III of England faces an immense task, which he probably does not have time to accomplish. From his first official activities in the 1970s, his obligation as Prince of Wales was “to support her majesty the queen in her capacity as a central element of national pride”.
In his name, throughout his life, he received dignitaries who arrived in the United Kingdom, participated in state dinners, traveled to a hundred countries, presented thousands of decorations, opened events, paid tribute to heroes, wrote and recorded countless messages of encouragement or congratulations. Last May, replacing his mother already very weakened by age, he delivered for the first time the speech from the throne before Parliament, one of the most important constitutional functions of the kingdom.
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In May, taking over for his mother, already greatly weakened by age, he delivered the throne speech for the first time before Parliament, one of the kingdom’s most important constitutional functions.
His accession to the throne after 73 years of patience – a record in the thousand-year history of the British monarchy – was immediately after the death of the sovereign, by virtue of the ancient Latin maxim Rex nunquam moritur (the king never dies). ). But who is this new monarch who, since then, has only shown the public gestures of impatience and intolerance?
It is only known that, from his taste for watercolor to the strange fascination for Transylvania, Carlos III resorted to various passions to occupy his wait. If his defense of ecology is today regarded as avant-garde after being ridiculed, his tendency to express his personal opinions, his lack of humor and his arrogance raise questions.
a difficult character
A misplaced inkwell on the day of his proclamation before the British dignitaries and a poorly closed pen, which stains his fingers, were enough to drive him crazy, venting his anger on his subordinates in front of television cameras around the world. He thus displayed that disagreeable trait of character which irritated his mother and angered his father, Prince Philip of Edinburgh.
He also expressed his intolerance with an unprecedented comment the day he received his prime minister, the conservative Liz Truss, responsible for having caused an extraordinary financial crisis for the first time as king: “Here again? Oh my God!” says Tina Brown, author of the book The Palace Papers.
Her mother always condemned her dauphin’s tendency to take a position in public. He did it in 1985, when he had openly criticized the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher in defense of the most fragile sectors of the kingdom. And later, when he flooded Tony Blair’s government with letters proposing controversial measures on the country’s progress, particularly on ecology, organic farming, global warming and traditional architecture.
Her mother always condemned her dauphin’s tendency to take a position in public. He did so in 1985, when he had openly criticized the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.
Carlos never concealed his dislike for the “extremely demoralizing” British political world, he says. He did not show any signs of discretion in the international arena either. Describing the George W. Bush administration as “horrible” in his capacity as godfather of the Center for Islamic Studies at the famous Oxford University, he also had not concealed his hostility to the Iraq war in 2003, due to the risk of provoking the rancor of the Muslim world.
In 2014, during an official visit to Canada immediately after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the future monarch confided to journalists that “Putin was a new Hitler.” An admirer of the Dalai Lama, he compared Chinese leaders to “wax mummies” and in 2015 he boycotted the banquet his mother had organized with great pomp in Buckingham in honor of President Xi Jinping.
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Although it is true that his ideas seem appropriate for the world of the 21st century, his position in the British parliamentary monarchy forces him not to intervene in the political arena and, above all, never to make his opinion known.
For that reason, his protocol violations are intriguing. Because Carlos III, aware of his legitimacy, hardworking and diligent, who will be officially crowned next May, is probably the best prepared royal heir on the planet. “It is so. Although due to those cruelties of fate, Carlos III will go down to posterity more as the eternal second that he was than as the king that will be ”, warns Mathilde Aubinaud, professor of communication in the field of leadership.
Confronted with his new obligations, the new monarch can only feel intimidated. In the way that her mother envisioned and executed the role, Elizabeth II will be hard to match. A true monument carved in marble for the events of the 20th century, the late queen made one dream.
His story in the tabloids
Carlos’ story, on the other hand, will be written through the tabloids’ crisp chronicles of financial scandals, the death of his first wife Diana after a stormy divorce, and the mutual hatred and tripping between their sons, Harry and William, their wives, and the media riots involving other members of the Windsors (the most recent being the Netflix documentary harry & meghanin which the crown and part of the British press are questioned by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, due to racist behavior and discrimination by British royalty against the racial origin of his wife, the Duchess of Sussex).
To be in line with a more egalitarian society, Carlos III must also adapt to a less sumptuous framework of life
To be in tune with a more egalitarian society, Carlos III will also have to adapt to a less sumptuous living environment, even though over time he has become one of the richest individuals in his country.
Will she be able to continue to feed her Jack Russells on a silver platter like her mother did to her corgis? Order his staff to serve him seven poached eggs every morning so he can choose one based on cooking time? Or force your staff to carry their own toilet paper (Kleenex Velvet) and toilet seat every time you go?
Probably not. On the contrary, it is certain that he will continue to skip lunch, food that he considers “a luxury”, eating biocultivated vegetables and legumes exclusively in their real orchards and consuming fish, meat and dairy products in small quantities.
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According to the list of 70 data published in 2018 by Clarence House – residence of the Prince of Wales – on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Carlos III does not drink coffee or chocolate, only Darjeeling tea with honey and a drop of milk – Darjeeling is a designation of origin of a kind of tea that is produced in a region near the Himalayas. Due to its excellent quality it is known as the ‘champagne of teas’ – while his favorite dish is risotto with lamb and wild mushrooms, also from his farms.
The Windsor family will be one of the greatest challenges of the new king. Under his aristocratic and courteous manner, the former Prince of Wales got rid of all those members who dared to stray from the marked route.
His brother Andrés, mixed up in the pedophilia scandal starring the financier Jeffrey Epstein, his ex-sister-in-law Fergie, after she was discovered in a moment of intimacy with another man on the French Riviera, and even his own son Enrique and his wife, Meghan Markle. Not to mention an endless list of second-rate royal dukes who were brutally removed for challenging his authority.
He has the soul of a Borgia. He knows that the poison or the dagger will come mostly from his own blood. He will even have to keep an eye on his own heir, William, the favorite of the British.
“He has the soul of a Borgia. He knows that the poison or the dagger will come mostly from his own blood. He will even have to keep an eye on his own heir, William, the favorite of the British, formatted by his grandmother and much more conventional, ”says Belgian Marc Roche, one of the journalists who knows the royal house best. british.
But, in summary, asking what kind of king Carlos III will be does not seem very pertinent. After all, in 10 centuries the kingdom of England has known alcoholic, depraved and insane monarchs – when they were not all three at the same time – without the survival of the crown having been durably affected.
Each monarch defines his kingdom. His mother, without wanting to, reproduced the scheme of his father, King George VI, leaning on the same pillars: the palace, the army, religion and the nobility.
Carlos III intends to establish a break by forging a role in promoting ecology, tolerance and empathy with the people. A project that should allow him to become a good sovereign. Although, considering his age, he should only be a transitional king.
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LUISA CORRADINI
THE NATION (ARGENTINA)
On Twitter: @LANACION
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