The eldest son of the late Queen Elizabeth has never enjoyed the same popular acceptance as his mother, which may add to the challenges he will face as king.
THE Charles has been a rather controversial blue-blood over the years—from his extramarital affair while married to Princess Diana to his alleged political involvement, to his occasional blunders and scandals involving aides.
The late Queen Elizabeth’s eldest son has never enjoyed the same popular acceptance as his mother, which may add to the challenges he will face as king.
In the past, he has been accused of coldness against his popular first wife Princess Diana and despite the better treatment he has received in the media lately, the tabloid press does not miss an opportunity to present him as aloof and indifferent.
Meanwhile, the portrayal of his troubled married life with the late Diana in Netflix’s hit series The Crown is unlikely to make him any more likable decades after that tumultuous period.
The new king has even been accused of meddling in political life in many areas—from architecture and homeopathy to climate change.
And in 2021 his most trusted partner resigned for the second time in his career as a courtier amid controversy.
“I find it all devastating – from ‘The Crown’ to reality and everything going on,” royal writer Penny Junior had said in late 2021 when rumors of large cash donations to his charities emerged.
“None of this is good news. The Queen is very dear, Charles less so. I think it’s going to be hard for him no matter what happens, but all these revelations aren’t helping,” she noted.
“Three people”
The image of Charles was fiercely received wound when he broke up with Diana.
In her legendary interview in 1995, when she revealed how she felt about his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, Diana said that “there were three persons” in this marriage.
In 1992, the couple announced they were separating, but after the impact of Diana’s controversial interview on the BBC’s Panorama, they finally agreed to a divorce.
Giving her own version of events—and admitting her own infidelity—Diana revealed the problems she faced within the country’s most famous family, criticizing the royal family and questioning Charles’s fitness to be king.
In parts of the British establishment her revelations caused consternation, but they won popular sympathy, which was magnified after her death in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
Charles has long been blamed both for the extra-marital affair, to which the separation was attributed, and to some extent for his initially at least nonchalant handling of Diana’s death, when the royal family had been described as heartless and out of touch.
However, he gradually regained some popular support with many reluctantly accepting that Charles he found happiness next to Camilawhom he eventually married in 2005.
“Black Spider”
Charles has also been accused of directly lobbying politicians on many controversial public issues—from health to the environment.
In a series of letters between Charles and government ministers, which the British press had christened “letters of the black spider” because of his bad script, he lobbied on a number of issues.
The letters were made public in 2015 after a decade-long legal battle by The Guardian newspaper and sparked a backlash against the then-future king and concerns that he was overstepping his role.
However, in a 2018 interview to mark his 70th birthday, Charles insisted he had never directly intervened in party politics and stressed that he understood the difference between the Prince of Wales and the monarch.
Bribes?
More recently, Charles has been involved in bribery scandal.
A series of newspaper revelations claimed that Michael Fawcett, Charles’s “right-hand man” for decades, had offered titles of honor and even British citizenship in exchange for donations to Charles’ foundations.
The Sunday Times reported that a Saudi billionaire businessman was decorated and granted British citizenship thanks to aides of Charles after previously paying thousands of pounds into schemes strongly supported by Britain’s current king.
After the article was published, Fawcett temporarily stepped down as director of Charles’ charity The Prince’s Foundation and the relevant regulator began an investigation into the funding.
Charles himself stated that he knew nothing about the relationship of the Saudi prince with his foundation and the exchanges he received for his donations, implying that Fawcett is responsible for everything.
He was later cleared of financial mismanagement charges involving the sale of unwanted royal gifts, but an internal report found that various members of Charles’ services were responsible for “serious irregularities”.
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I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
