Britain has a new king Charles III will now lead the world’s most famous monarchy… …and arguably its most successful Queen Elizabeth II transformed Britain’s royal family And earned a firm place in the nation’s heart The new king has an extraordinarily large pair of shoes to fill It will be a very, very difficult job But we will survive, it’s all in the breeding you know The world is already looking at Charles.
.. …the longest-serving heir apparent in British history… …and the oldest British king to assume the throne How will he lead a successful modern monarchy? Charles has to do two things, he has to keep his family together… …and he has to keep the dignity of the monarchy burnished We’ve seen Charles enough as heir apparent to know.
.. …that he is going to do some things differently when he becomes king The greatest book written on the monarchy… …still the greatest book written on the monarchy is a book written… …by a former editor for The Economist called Walter Bagehot… …and the book was called “The English Constitution” It came out in a fortnightly magazine in 1865.
.. …and the essential point that Bagehot makes in that is that… …Britain is divided between two sets of institutions: the efficient institutions… …which do the work of government and dignified institutions… …and the most important of those dignified institutions is the monarchy Generations of British monarchs have studied Bagehot’s writings His influence has even made its way into Netflix’s hit show “The Crown” There are two elements of the constitution, wrote Walter Bagehot in 1867 Bagehot still contains lessons for Charles today.
.. …like the importance of religion for the British monarch In 1956 a third of the British public professed… …the belief that the queen had been specially chosen by God Almost 70 years later… …being accepted as a monarch in Britain isn’t quite so easy Britain’s population is wildly different now.
.. …to when Charles’s mother came to the throne Britain was a kind of a stodgier place It ate five times more cabbage… …when Elizabeth came to the throne than it does now It’s much more international It’s much less white than it used to be and it’s much less religious So Charles has to appeal to everyone in Britain.
.. …and that is a very different Britain to the one that his mother took over Charles’s coronation will be a civic ceremony but also a religious one As king, he’s now head of the Church of England, the country’s state church As heir, Charles made a point of supporting a range of different faiths He visited places of worship as his mother did.
.. …and he did more, openly learning from other religious texts Like other sacred texts… …the Koran offers some profound and perceptive understanding And now he has a new title Charles is now Defender of the Faith The monarch is the defender of the Anglican Church Now, Charles, at one point, relatively radically said that he wanted.
.. …to be known as Defender of Faith In other words, defender of religious belief in general, as opposed to of Anglicanism The fact that Charles even considered… …describing himself as Defender of Faith… …is a clear sign that he intends to be an inclusive monarch… …and one who is conscious of the great variety of the nation over.
.. …which he is going to be ruling Charles may not go so far as becoming Britain’s first official inter-faith king… …but he is likely to continue the strong support… …he showed for other faiths as a prince Spiritual leadership isn’t Charles’s only new responsibility He’s taken over as head of a large family.
.. …and with big families can come division Families fall out, families disagree And that’s certainly true of our current royal family But I think for all of the personality clashes… …the queen was respected by the various members of that family… …and she tried to hold it together I think the new king will find it difficult to be as unifying a force as his mother Keeping the family together will be very difficult.
.. …particularly because of his relationship with his youngest son Falling out is one thing, but wayward royals have tested the public’s patience… …and risked bringing the idea of monarchy itself into disrepute Elizabeth’s popularity enabled her family to weather repeated scandals… …with little questioning of the concept of royal rule Even political critics weren’t immune to her charms Many, I would say most, Australian republicans are Elizabethans as well But Charles isn’t as popular as his mother A very good measure of just how popular Elizabeth was.
.. …was the fact that we basically have no republican movement in this country I think Charles will be less successful than his mother in rallying opinion It will be difficult for Charles to be able to do what Elizabeth could do because she’d been there for so long… …and because she did her job with consummate skill Charles is a more controversial figure He’s got more pronounced opinions on things.
.. …and he has had a difficult training His marriage to Diana was an exceptionally controversial one And I suppose in love? Of course, Whatever in love means So it will take time for him to earn the right to get people to say… …that I may not be a monarchist, but I’m a supporter of the new king With Charles as king people may be less forgiving.
.. …when the next scandal hits… … Charles has plans to save the monarchy from itself I’m pretty sure that the new king thinks… …that he needs to slim down the monarchy I think that he has been very embarrassed… …about the behavior of some members of the family… …and indeed by his own youthful behaviour And I think also he’s quite conscious.
.. …of the issue of value for money that the public is willing to tolerate Britain currently has seven senior working royals… …funded by profits from the Crown Estate to attend engagements for the Crown In 2021 the royal family cost British taxpayers £86.3m A slimmed-down royal family would mean a smaller wage bill.
.. …and leave less room for scandal There are constant leaks from Clarence House… …that Charles is going to pursue a more slimmed-down royal family In Sweden the royal family has been drastically slimmed down… …pretty much just to the heir and the spare and there are hints… …that this is exactly what Charles is going to do here Watching the bottom line might endear Charles to a nation of shopkeepers But time will tell how thrifty a man.
.. …who allegedly has a valet iron his shoelaces can really be Charles may have a household full of help… …but being king has its restrictions as well The received wisdom is that the modern monarch has to be inscrutable… Charles has come very close to looking like he’s doing too much already As Prince of Wales, Charles often spoke his mind Famously passing judgment on subjects from farming to architecture.
.. …raising more than a few eyebrows What is proposed, seems to me like a monstrous carbuncle… …on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend He has even been accused of meddling in politics Most notoriously in the infamous “black spider” memos, a series of letters… …he wrote to government ministers In them, he expressed views on political policy.
.. …that some interpreted as an attempt to influence Westminster The monarch’s job is to unite the country Queen Elizabeth II was careful never to say anything controversial in public… …or get caught expressing political views in private It’s a role Charles hasn’t always played Fundamentally, they’ve got to be like a royal mum to the nation They can put heart in the politicians when they come to talk to them.
.. …but they can’t actually tell you what to do… …because just as it annoys you when your mother tells you what to do It’s not just annoying, but potentially for the royal family, disastrous If Charles were to take his right to warn too far, it could trigger a constitutional crisis It’s a scenario that’s captured the public imagination.
.. …even inspiring a popular play and film Empowered by ancient decree I do use my royal prerogative… …to dissolve the parliament at once This is a fictional scenario but it’s based on a grain of truth… …Charles’s apparent eagerness to speak his mind in public Organic farming delivers the highest quality, best-tasting food.
.. …produced without artificial chemicals or genetic modification If, despite a warning from the prime minister given in the weekly audience Charles as the king continued to voice opinions… …publicly on matters of political controversy, then I would expect… …the next step might be for the prime minister to write to the monarch.
.. …reminding him of his constitutional duties as sovereign… …and, in effect, having given an oral warning… …this would now be a written warning and it would be a very serious next step It happened before In 1912 Herbert Henry Asquith, the prime minister, was forced to write a letter…
…to George V telling him to keep his opinions to himself On that occasion, the monarch listened So long as the monarch expresses any concerns… …that they might have in private to the prime minister… …that’s not crossing any political or constitutional boundary It’s only when the monarch begins to express opinions publicly.
.. …on matters of political controversy that might cause the government difficulty… …that that behaviour becomes unacceptable But there are signs that Charles is ready to adapt to the demands of his new role I think he’s less of a wildcard now than he was He is married to a woman he loves He’s been training for this job for a very, very long time.
.. …and he has a strong set of opinions… …in the background, but an enormous willingness to do the right thing… …to keep this institution thriving In 2018 Charles told a BBC documentary… …that the idea of him continuing to meddle was “complete nonsense” There may be a new face on the throne.
.. …but familiarity will also be a hallmark of Charles’s reign I think, like all these things, there’s a great need for cool heads King Charles III is the continuation of a tradition… …an unbroken form of government going back nearly 400 years… …since the previous Charles was on the throne Under British law, the monarch never dies As one reign ends, the next monarch’s reign instantly begins As Charles knows, probably better than most.
.. …when it comes to the British monarchy …
