In what has been described as a ’50-year apprenticeship’, King Charles has championed his causes and concerns, from better education and opportunities for young people to pollution and the climate crisis. He has lobbied UK ministers with letters described as a “black spider note” over the etched graphic, rallied business leaders and urged action on the international stage. Royal watchers say that if King Charles’ court is to succeed in the face of formidable challenges, one of its most critical traits will have to be restraint. He said in 2018 that as king he would stop talking about issues he feels strongly about because he is “not that stupid”. In his address to the nation on Friday night, he said: “I now solemnly pledge to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation.” He said his new life would mean he wouldn’t be able to devote as much of his time and energy to charities and causes he cared so deeply about. Sir Jonathon Porritt, who co-founded the Prince of Wales’ Business and Sustainability Programme, and advised the prince on the environment, said: “He will never back down from ideas and passionate beliefs, but the way he will bring them his role as a constitutional monarch will be completely different. “I have a feeling that history will judge us lucky that we had someone with a very deep perspective on these issues, because he thought about them more than any other politician I’ve met.” Despite King Charles’ pledge to operate within “constitutional parameters”, Ed Owens, a royal historian and commentator, said King Charles was still at risk of falling out with his government over climate change. He said: “Charles is not going to abandon the climate change platform because it is such an integral part of his public image and he will continue to speak about it. We now have Jacob Rees-Mogg in the Cabinet as business and energy secretary, who has expressed skepticism about the fight against climate change. It’s potentially extremely problematic.” King Charles presides over a royal household in quiet turmoil. At the Queen’s platinum jubilee finale in June, just seven members of the royal family – King Charles and the Queen Consort and Prince William and his family – appeared on the balcony with the Queen. This inner circle of the royal family – called the “magnificent seven” – are now the key figures. There has been a recognition among senior courtiers for some years that the public does not want to foot the bill for a huge monarchy. Funding for the royal family was reformed in 2012 with a new government grant paid from a percentage of profits from the Crown Estate, which manages the monarch’s public estate. The new system meant that the royal household was subject to the same scrutiny as other government spending, by the National Audit Office and the parliamentary public accounts committee. The operations of the royal estate portfolio from Buckingham Palace to Balmoral will be under review under the new king. One visitor said Buckingham Palace was a money pit that in some places looked like “a three-star hotel in a suburban town where nothing had ever been thrown out”. It has been reported that King Charles and the Queen Consort may move into an apartment in Buckingham Palace, similar to the arrangements in Downing Street, like an ‘apartment over a shop’. One option likely to be considered in any review is whether there can be increased public access to the palace and gardens. King Charles is likely to benefit from a surge in public support following the Queen’s death, but royal experts say a reshaped monarchy will present its own risks. The visibility of the monarchy and the public relations image of what is often described as “the company” rest on the often boring, day-to-day ratio of royal duties, from opening buildings and civic infrastructure to attending charity events. In 2017, the Queen held 296 engagements in the UK. the Duke of Edinburgh 131; Prince Harry 139; and the Duke of York 220, according to an analysis by Tim O’Donovan, which he publishes every year in a letter to The Times. The number of kings in frontline duties is decreasing. It was not foreseen when the royals moved to a more streamlined business that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be moving abroad, stepping away from royal duties and shooting soldiers across the Atlantic. A royal watcher said: “Charles is in a bind. It needs more kings who appeal to the young.” Perhaps more serious for King Charles are the controversies surrounding the fundraising activities of his charitable businesses. The Metropolitan Police said in February it had launched an investigation into his charity, the Prince’s Foundation, following allegations of offers of honor or British citizenship for donations to his charities. The charity’s chief executive, Michael Fawcett, a former valet to King Charles, resigned in November 2021. Clarence House had previously said King Charles was unaware of the alleged offers. He will struggle because it is impossible to follow the Queen and shake off his controversial past will be monumentally difficult Tom Bower, royal biographer In June, the Sunday Times revealed that King Charles had accepted cash donations totaling around £2.5 million made to the Prince of Wales’ Charities. The Charity Commission said in July it had no concerns about the charity’s governance and did not launch an investigation. Tom Bower, author of the biography Rebel Prince, said King Charles faces very difficult challenges. “He will struggle because it is impossible to follow the Queen and it will be monumentally difficult to shake off his controversial past.” Porritt said the controversies surrounding the charities were linked to the fundraising he would no longer be involved in: “It was difficult for him as Prince of Wales because he had an incredible range of commitments and he had to raise the money. You have to take very careful steps.” The country and the global community will now benefit from King Charles’s “instinct for bringing people together,” Porritt said, adding: “He often hosts initiatives where he has brought together people with dramatically divergent views. People who would never have sat in a room together. It always seeks to create common ground.” At 73, Charles is the oldest person to ascend the British throne. Porritt added: “I never heard [from him] anything but a sense that this was what he was going to do at some point and he wanted to bring all the energy, care and insight he could into it. I imagine he’ll be thinking, “Okay, it’s happening now.” Bob Morris, a former civil servant and honorary fellow of the Constitution Unit at University College London, said the new king’s ordeal would continue the royal family’s success in adapting to change: “We are a very different society to what we were. 1952. It’s a huge change and the royal family has done the right things and adapted. It was sink or swim, but they have shown astute judgment.”
