Yep.
But he’s a Prince. There’s a long history of Princes behaving badly in the UK monarchy - about two to three hundred years of it in fact. Gambling, womanising, affairs, debt - Charles is actually quite tame by comparison to previous Princes who were first in line.
But when these rapscallions became King, they get a lot more “support” to help them do the job. I suspect that they knew that was going to happen, and were just enjoying the greater amount of freedom afforded them when they were a Prince.
Charles is famously outspoken when it comes to modern architecture. So expect him to be scheduled to open a shiny modern metal office building within his first year. And I reckon he’ll do it with a smile and perhaps a jocular sly reference to his previous comments, whilst praising the building and its architects. This will then be used as proof that he’s suited to be King.
Sadly it really will be that simple to convince many people…
The thing is, there’s plenty of royalty left in Europe. But the rest of the crowned heads don’t make anything near the production of it as England. I mean arguably Juan Carlos in Spain stopped a coup, but they still don’t have as much pomp and circumstance as the UK.
I’m thinking ‘extra days off work and ignoring what the rest of the country is doing’. It’s how I dealt with the last four days. It’s gone rather well.
This coincided with the week of my birthday, which I usually take off anyway. So I got the whole week off for just 3 days of leave allowance. I spent it drinking whisky with friends and chilling.
I’ve got next week off too, because I need to burn through my holiday allowance somehow…
They can do as much performative grief as they like, so long as I get an extra day of holiday out of it.
He is 73 and looks healthier than most men his age in Britain where life expectancy for men is 81. Both of his parents lived into their 90s. Did you see his father at the end of his life? He’ll most likely be king for more than a decade.
Funnily enough, not all Commonwealth members are former colonies or dependencies. Rwanda and Mozambique, for example.
And @dnealy why don’t you wonder about how Wales or Scotland or N.Ireland will respond? Why specifically England?
ETA Her full title is, of course, as follows - and does not mention England! Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
(Her title changes depending which country you are in:)
It’s still strange to me they named him Charles. The one time the monarchy in England was overthrown was Charles I. After his son Charles II was put back on the throne, it seemed to me like a name they were avoiding as a bad omen, like John.
Independence, then Wales and Scotland invade England to reclaim lost territory. Cornwall takes advantage to also claim independence and sides with the Celtic nations. The EU starts to panic when Brittany decides that they don’t want to be part of France anymore.
It is likely she will resign later this year after the Jubilee celebrations die down. She is already starting to miss events due to her health. She might as well go while she is still able to give a speech. In the next few years she will inevitably reach a point where she can longer carry out her functions or appear in front of the public. She was never going to go before the Jubilee celebrations but once they’re over it will be the time to step down if she is going to do it. Times have changed since she became Queen and the previous Pope has set a precedent for retiring from an office that was previously expected to be for life.
Plus writing little letters of “advice” to government officials about crap like homeopathy. (Fucker gets the best possible real medical care, quackery for the proles.)
I don’t think she is on record as saying that, she doesn’t give interviews. She’s not actually on record as saying very much at all. Provide a source.
People also change their minds. It’s easy to say that when you’re healthy but perspectives changes when you’re not.
She’s also two years away from being having the longest reign of any monarch. She’s also 11 years away from second place (she wasn’t Queen of Jamaica until 1962), which is not unachievable.
Be careful what you wish for. I’m sure that they would love to bring the rest of the Angevin Empire with them to England. England could rejoin the EU as a department of France.
She sees it as a ‘job for life’ - literally. As an anointed Queen (anointed by God and she is very firm in her CofE faith) she takes her vow seriously: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
on his retirement as Archbishop of Canterbury in 2003, she explained to George Carey “that’s something I can’t do. I’m going to carry on to the end.” (my bold)
She did concede one possibility, though:
She did not contemplate abdication, she told her cousin Margaret Rhodes, “unless I get Alzheimer’s or have a stroke;”
That was rather part of my thinking. (Except, of course, we’d have to actually BE a departement of France - not really going to go down too well, is it.)
