The modernization of the monarchy or the future of the Union and Commonwealth will be the main challenges
He is the British heir who has waited the longest to ascend the throne, as well as the oldest monarch to first sit on it. While his mother put on the crown almost surprised and while he was still very young, the now king Carlos III has had all his life to prepare, although this does not mean he faces an easy challenge. The first days of his reign have been planned almost minute by minute for years. But the path beyond is full of challenges, including the modernization of the monarchy or the future of the Union and Commonwealth.
Carlos III is king from the moment his mother died, according to the maxim ‘Rex nunquam moritur’ (the king never dies). “Continuity is assured and nothing changes in the Constitution,” said Catherine Haddon, a historian at the Institute of Government, who believes her first major challenge will be to convey exactly that sense of continuity in a country where the majority of its citizens have known only Elizabeth II as monarch while giving “an impression of change, of what kind of king he will want to be and where he will lead the royal family”.
It won’t be easy. The British know a way of being a monarch, the one that Elizabeth II has been playing for seven decades. Carlos III will have to convince them that there may be others. The institution bases its legitimacy on public trust and the new king, much less popular than his mother -or his son Guillermo, the now heir- will have to win her over.
In recent times, the British have been able to glimpse what Charles’s reign will be like, especially since he took on more official responsibilities following the death of his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, in April 2021. It was the twilight of an era. The royal family, and possibly the entire country, was then aware of the fragility of the queen, who was about to turn 95, and accelerated the transition process that had begun a few years ago.
Carlos started to be more and more present and above all he was more visible at the most relevant moments. One of his first official duties was to accompany the Queen as official consort to the ceremonial opening of the British Parliament in May, something he had already begun in 2016, when his father retired, but this time with a more active role. role. Even then, he had represented the monarch on trips abroad — aided by the Dukes of Cambridge, William and Catherine, and, until they relinquished their titles, also those of Sussex, Henry and Meghan — since the Queen stopped traveling to Spain in 2015. Abroad. .
The Queen’s gradual withdrawal from public events due to her advanced age has made the transition a gradual one. For example, in recent years the investiture and adornment ceremonies, which the Queen considered to be one of her most important obligations, were usually performed by Charles, her son William or her sister Anne.
That transition is also appreciated in his character. While his mother was careful not to express her opinion in public and hardly anyone knew about her likes or interests – horses and dogs aside – the new king has felt the need since he was a child to express his opinion in public. on the issues that concern him. passionate about things such as organic farming, climate change or architecture. The letters he has sent to successive governments over the years expressing his point of view and trying to influence certain issues are famous, sometimes even controversial, such as when he tried to get the National Health System to fund therapies that could be scientifically proven. discredited alternatives such as homeopathy.
One of her mother’s great virtues was that many Britons could identify with her: her secrecy allowed everyone to believe that deep down the Queen thought just like her. It’s not the same with Carlos. His enthusiasm for Islam or the protection of the environment resonates with conservatives, while his defense of images of the past, such as fox hunting, dislikes progressives. “Over the last 20 years he’s been trying to change that public image,” Haddon defends, “and we assume he wants to continue his mother’s tradition, but we don’t know how it will develop, so over time will it be a test important to our Constitution, which hinges on the idea that the monarch stays out of politics to play a neutral role in times of crisis. Carlos himself acknowledged in an interview on the BBC in 2018 that the duties of the heir and the monarch are very different, and that it was “nonsense” to think that he would continue to do exactly the same if he took the throne.
Carlos also plans to reduce the number of members of the royal family holding official functions, something that has already been seen in recent years. While Elizabeth II employed three of her cousins, her children—Princess Anne, Prince Edward and his wife Sofia of Wessex, and Prince Andrew until he fell out of favor due to his ties to American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein—in addition to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Sussex, Carlos plans to focus on his immediate family: his sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. However, with the departure of Enrique and Meghan, all responsibility falls to the new Prince of Wales, his wife Catalina and their small children. There will be more work, but also – or so the reasoning seems – less costs and less chance of scandal.
Will Carlos have the same unifying role his mother has played for seven decades? This will be one of his major challenges for the new monarch in a United Kingdom where secessionism has increased in recent years. During the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, nationalist campaigns defended Elizabeth II as “Queen of Scots”. It’s not so clear that the secessionist parties are defending Carlos with the same fervor, and the timing of the succession could fuel Republican sentiment.
Something similar is happening in the Commonwealth. The king is, in addition to the United Kingdom, head of state of 15 of the 54 nations of this union, which originated in the former British Empire. But the head of the Commonwealth is not hereditary and its members only accepted in 2018 that it was transferred to Carlos at the express wish of Elizabeth II. However, many wanted it to rotate to shake off the institution’s colonial past, seeing it as a missed opportunity to modernize.
Challenges will not be missing. The most important thing has already begun: the survival of Elizabeth II’s long and long shadow.
Source: La Verdad
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