Prince Charles: The man who will be king … like, when George Jetson is president
Queen Elizabeth II turns 90, and her Charlie-in-waiting has yet to start the job he was born for
By Tim Townsend
All eyes in the Land of Hope and Glory will be on Elizabeth II Thursday as Britain celebrates the queen’s 90th birthday. Elizabeth, on the throne for 64 years, is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. Last year, as her tenure eclipsed that of her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria, the queen carried out 341 engagements. In other words, she’s not going anywhere.
On Thursday, Elizabeth will have lunch with the president of the United States, and light one of 900 celebratory beacons that will dot the country in her honor. Pubs will serve warm beer for an extra two hours.
Perhaps among the boozers will be Prince Charles, “the man,” as Time put it in 1978, “who will be king.”
As it turns out, the magazine’s editors may have been a bit hasty. It’s not that his countrymen didn’t wish Charles well. Marge Davies, a cleaning woman in Oxford, was rooting for him. “Charlie would really be good for the country,” Davies told Time. “We need someone like him.”
Jack Diment, a porter and World War II veteran, was also on board: “He is a thoroughly good bloke.”
Nearly a decade earlier, Life wrote a similar story, “The Ascent of Prince Charles,” on the occasion of his investiture, at age 20, as the Prince of Wales. He considered the ceremony meaningful, the magazine reported, “with some tomfoolery about it.”
In 1969, Charles was “a serious, likable college student stuck with a burdensome responsibility which he is willing but not overly eager to fulfill,” according to Life. “A nonregal-looking fellow with Gable-sized ears, English-rose cheeks, longish red-brown hair and, more often than not, a lopsided smile.”
In his early years, Life reported, there were “long, uncomfortable stretches when he was overpowered by shyness and the lonely understanding that simple communication with him was difficult for others.”
Asked by the BBC when he realized he was heir to the throne, Charles said, “I think it’s something that dawns on you with the most ghastly inexorable sense. I did suddenly wake up in my pram one day and say, ‘Yipee!’”
Time’s editors did hedge their bets on the timing of his future ascent to the throne. Given the queen’s robust health, “chances are that it will be some years before Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes King,” they wrote.
Charles is now 67, a couple years past retirement age, and he has yet to start his real job. He did suspect when he was 29 that it would be some time before he was crowned king. He spoke of a “30-year apprenticeship” (which is now going on 40 years).
A new book on the royals called Game of Crowns, contends there is a secret plan — codenamed “London Bridge” — in place to ensure that Charles’s son William avoids a similar life as perma-heir.
The plan calls for Queen Elizabeth to “step aside,” allowing Charles to be king for 15 years, after which he would abdicate, clearing the path for William and Kate to take the throne in their mid forties. (Game of Crowns also claims Charles had an affair with Barbra Streisand in the mid-1990s, so, you know, keep your mind open.)
Time helpfully pointed out in 1978 out that decades of waiting to fulfill one’s birthright may be daunting to a young, energetic royal heir. In fact, it had happened before: “Queen Victoria’s son was a frustrated debauchee by the time he ascended the throne as King Edward VII at the age of 59.”
As Charles approached his 30th birthday, he told Time he had learned his role. “There are a lot of things in life which need doing that you may not like the idea of doing. This is the whole idea of duty.”
A decade earlier, Life had reported that when asked whether wearing the crown would make him feel “like a different human being,” Charles said he hadn’t put one on his head since he was 4-years-old, at his mother’s coronation, “and that one fell down over my head.”
