Quote:
Originally Posted by Maggy J
Can I ask why you dislike Charles so much?What in particular has he done to make so many suspicious of his ability to be a good king?  |
The British monarchy has survived into the 21st century by transforming itself from a political leader of the nation to being a moral leader. Elizabeth II is an exemplar of hard work, service and devotion (which is why all the republican whingeing bounces off her, and the institution she heads, like arrows off tank armour). Charles will no doubt perform his constitutional duties perfectly well, but he is not held in the same esteem as his mother because he is judged to be the villain of the piece so far as his marriage to, and divorce from, Diana is concerned.
Personally I have no doubt that he should be king when Elizabeth eventually dies because that is how the system works. If we select a monarch on a short-term measure of public popularity, we no longer have a hereditary monarchy, just some awful constitutional x-factor contest. But he will have to work doubly hard to earn the same respect his mother has ( except in Scotland, oddly, where the notion of the crown passing directly to William attracts less support in opinion polls than it does in England).