If the success of the British monarchy rests in mystery, then it is at stake. In any case, there is not much to suggest that King Charles III. will be able to wear the crown with that stoic impenetrability that his mother was able to wear for more than seven decades.
The world and the staff at Buckingham Palace have long known more about the new king than they might like. You know his aversion to modern architecture; his enthusiasm for alternative agriculture. His passion for Camilla Parker-Bowles and his coldness towards his former wife, Diana Spencer.
What he stands for doesn’t have to mean anything bad for the royal family, however. For a long time, Charles’ commitment to environmental protection and his early warning about global warming was considered odd. It has long been attitudes that the young generation in particular has rewarded him with points. With his decades-long goal of saving the planet, the king may now save the British monarchy as well.
It won’t be easy. The popularity of the 73-year-old among the people is, to put it mildly, room for improvement. The Queen has always been at the top of the polls, always unchallenged, followed for a long time by her grandson Prince Harry. Charles’ daughter-in-law, Katherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, has been staying there for some time. Her husband Prince William is third.
And according to a recent poll by YouGov, Charles, the longest-serving heir to the throne in British history, is seventh with a popularity rating of 42 percent. And then there are the challenges that await outside the UK. They are by no means smaller. As recently as November, Charles and Camilla visited Barbados to attend celebrations marking the transition from the former colony to a republic.
At the Commonwealth meeting in Rwanda a few weeks ago, the current king admitted that it was “a matter for each individual Commonwealth member” whether they wanted to keep the Queen as head of state. Now the question is whether they want to keep him as king, as head of this old construct. Charles’ son William and his wife Kate experienced the wind blowing in the Windsors’ faces when they canceled a visit to Central American Belize at short notice in March. The protest there against the visit was too big.
At his first public appearance as king on Friday afternoon, there are still few signs of these challenges. Upon his arrival at the palace, he is greeted by thousands of cheering compatriots, shaking hands with countless numbers and accepting expressions of mourning. He thanks the people for their sympathy.
Soon, however, King Charles III. succeed in a balancing act. Maintaining mystery while being a social media-age monarchy, aloof and touchable at the same time. He has made the task more difficult for himself, often lifting the veil over the palaces themselves over the past five decades. Now, with the proclamation as king, a new era begins for him. He can no longer wear his heart on his sleeve, convention demands absolute political restraint from him. His mother showed how this works for 70 years.
Maybe that won’t be difficult for him after all. The past few years have made it clear that the new king can be radical for the survival of his own institution. Ever since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Charles has been shrinking the royal household’s staff. On the one hand for financial reasons. On the other hand, because too many protagonists mean too much risk. Prince Andrew is said to have banned the soft-hearted Queen from the front row following the child molestation allegations at Charles’s urging. The fact that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are no longer allowed to use and market their title as Dukes of Sussex after moving to the US west coast should also be attributed to Charles.
Not to forget that as a king he now has a power that he did not have before. “He can no longer conduct campaigns from the throne,” writes biographer Catherine Mayer. “But even if he can no longer campaign for something so loudly and energetically in the future, he has the weekly audiences with the Prime Minister.”
