Charles III… A Life Finally Crowned

The coronation of King Charles III on May 6 in London dedicates an unpopular monarch who spent his life awaiting his fate amid the vicissitudes of his private life.

Charles III was born on November 14, 1948. He was three years old when his mother became queen after the death of King George VI. As the eldest son, Charles became heir apparent, and was four years old when he attended his mother’s coronation.

At nine years old, his mother chose him to be Prince of Wales. When he was young, this sensitive child was sent to a boarding school. He suffered silently, as he was often abused by other students, especially at Gordonstoun Boarding School in Scotland, which his father, Prince Philip, had chosen to strengthen this shy son who did not understand him.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth II, to whom he had learned to bow at an early age, was very preoccupied with her duties. When Charles was five, he said of a mother he shook hands on her return from a six-month state trip, “She was more distant than he was indifferent.”

At the age of twenty, he was made Prince of Wales in a lavish televised ceremony.

He was at the time pursuing his undergraduate studies at Cambridge, where he studied anthropology, archeology and history. Since 1970, he has shown an interest in pollution and plastic waste, in an introductory speech that showed this unwavering interest in the future of the planet.

– Diana and Camilla –

During this period, he met Camilla Shand at a polo match, and she was descended from the bourgeois class close to the royal circles. Camilla was easy-going, funny, and loved nature just like him. And then they had a love that would be interrupted by the Prince’s participation in the Royal Navy after a few months.

In 1973, Camilla married officer Andrew Parker Bowles.

In 1981, he married Charles Diana Spencer without love, and she was twenty years old while he was 32.

After the birth of Heir Apparent William in 1982 and Harry in 1984, Charles III was returned to the arms of Camilla, who separated from her husband in 1995.

After years of heated disagreements that were reveled in the British press, Charles and Diana divorced in 1996. A year later, Diana died in a car accident in Paris.

Charles’ popularity fell to an all-time low.

But the crown prince, whose mysterious role is to prop up the crown, has made a life for himself. Charles III is passionate about the environment, sustainable development, alternative medicine, rituals and religions. He has been given the title of activist prince, and some fear a future king who will not respect the strict political neutrality expected of a monarch.

For years, the crises of this wealthy man’s private life have overshadowed his actions, in the media.

In 2005, he married Camilla in a civil wedding in Windsor borough. The Queen did not attend the wedding, but she did organize a reception for the couple.

In recent years, Charles III has increasingly replaced his mother, traveling to nearly 100 countries, meeting many of the greats of this world, and shaking millions of hands.

His two sons talked about a father who worked a lot, and sometimes slept at his desk at night.

He was always sure of the correctness of his opinions, so that he never liked to be contradicted. He also gets angry quickly, sometimes from a simple pen that leaks ink. And Queen Consort Camilla says that his patience is running out quickly, noting that “he wants to get things done by yesterday.” But it also talks about a grandfather who reads Harry Potter to his grandchildren, and imitates the voices of the characters.

Also, says former British ambassador to France Peter Ricketts, “He’s a friendly guy, very nice to people.”

After his mother’s death in September, he vowed to serve the crown for the rest of his life. Since then, Charles III has moved cautiously between tradition and the modernization of the monarchy, which has come under heavy criticism in recent months from his son Harry, who will attend the coronation ceremony, but without his wife, Megan.

The king remains less popular than his mother or his son William, and he does not arouse much enthusiasm among young people, according to opinion polls.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams says, “It’s hard to be inspiring when you’re 70 and you’ve been around for so long amid so many ups and downs.”