Roya Nikkhah at the Times of London got another exclusive. I thought this weekend would be an exclusive preview of Prince William’s hissy fit over Harry’s Wednesday visit to the UK, but no. Instead, Nikkhah got an exclusive from Buckingham Palace, all about King Charles and how he’s driving everyone crazy because he wants to get back to work, despite the fact that he’s still being treated for cancer. The Times reports that Charles has been writing a lot of letters and thinking a lot about the legacy of his reign and whether he’ll be remembered as a “caretaker king.” I would say that his legacy will be remembered differently depending on the length of his reign, you know? It hasn’t even been two full years since QEII died (and everything fell apart soon after). Some highlights from the Times:
The king’s frustrations: “He has been frustrated, because there is still so much he wants to achieve,” says a source close to Charles of his three-month hiatus from public duties since his diagnosis. “He holds himself to very high standards of public service and genuinely feels he’s letting people and organisations down if he’s not out there doing all those public bits of his formal role.” A friend puts it more bluntly: “He’s a bloody caged lion, driving everyone round the twist if he’s stuck at home.”
The king’s schedule for the next two months, including D-Day: The royal calendar between now and the monarch’s summer holiday in Scotland looks packed, and there are set-piece moments that Charles is determined to attend, health permitting. Top of that list is his hope to travel to Normandy on June 6 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, with the Prince of Wales also expected to join his father in France that day to honour the fallen.
William is worried about his father: Prince William is understood to fret about his “workaholic” father’s pace. A source close to the prince says: “He wants to make sure his father is balancing his recovery. He knows his dad loves work, but he does worry about him.”
A royal soap opera: A friend of the King and Queen says: “This has been the year that nobody could have predicted in any way. Just when you think royal life gets predictable, they both have a crown on their heads, the family is settling into a rhythm, the second son is not letting off too many bombs — and then suddenly an absolute explosion happens to throw up all of your plans. That family just has more drama than an episode of EastEnders.”
The Caretaker King: Courtiers loudly harrumphed at the idea, biographers dedicated pages to rebutting the suggestion, but his shock cancer diagnosis did not help the image of a king stopped in his tracks. A friend says: “Monarchs are caretakers, they take care of the role of sovereign and the nation. The continuity of his interests from Prince of Wales to King can sometimes be interpreted as him not changing anything, but the change is hiding in plain sight. He has pursued things skilfully from his last role as heir, to King. Look at his speech at Cop28, delivered to presidents and prime ministers [in Dubai in December] — he is recognised as a world leader in that field. Look at the Coronation Food Project he launched on his 75th birthday. He is not just a figurehead. He is driving solutions to the issues that are facing society today, he is there pushing the fight for change, and with no disrespect to the late Queen, he is doing it in a way that she didn’t.”
His schedule: Charles’s summer schedule begins on Wednesday when he is due to attend the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the season. He may also meet with Prince Harry the same day, who will be in London for a service at St Paul’s Cathedral marking the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games. On May 20, Charles plans to be at the opening of the Chelsea Flower Show, where he is keen to visit the King’s Foundation show garden. On June 7 — the day after the D-Day trip to France — he hopes to be at the wedding of his godson, the Duke of Westminster, who will be married at Chester Cathedral in what will be the society wedding of the year.
Trooping, Garter, Ascot: On June 15, he is determined to be at Trooping the Colour, though aides say reports that he may ride on the parade “would be on the ambitious scale of what is possible”, with contingency plans for him to travel from the palace to Horse Guards Parade in a carriage. On June 17, he wants to lead the annual traditional procession of royal knights and ladies of the Order of the Garter at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, and on June 18, five days of racing gets under way at Royal Ascot. The King has taken on more than 200 royal patronages, including the Jockey Club with the Queen, and sources close to the King, who attended Ascot every day last year with the Queen, say he is equally keen on a “large-scale attendance” next month. Late June will see the pomp and ceremony of the Japanese state visit, and the first week of July will take Charles to Holyrood Week, the monarch’s traditional annual trip to Scotland for a series of engagements.
They’re positioning Charles as weakened-but-capable and hellbent on squeezing the last drop of power out of his position. This seems less like a rebuttal to vague republican critics and more like official pushback on Kensington Palace and William. This is Charles telling his son to settle down and stop worrying about “taking over” just yet. The summer schedule is interesting and Nikkhah actually broke some news there – Charles wants to fly to Normandy and he’s telling Huevo to get his ass in gear and travel there as well. Charles also plans to attend many days of Ascot and the opening of the Chelsea Flower Show, the site of Princess Kate’s thunder-stealing last year. As for William’s “concerns” about his father’s schedule… Charles wouldn’t have to do all of this while he has cancer if William was actually capable of stepping up and acting as Charles did when Charles was the heir.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.