I am only a few months younger that Prince Charles and I have watched his world from a distance like many others have. I have always been partial to him and have admired the caged bird as he sang his song of global warming, conservation and so many other intelligent and well considered issues and causes that he has initiated and supported.
From the beginning his destiny was sealed, he was the heir so didn't have the freedom afforded to 'the spares', and he had done a remarkably good job...in my opinion. Alas I have never had the privilege of meeting him so I cannot speak of him in any way other than as a member of the British population over which he will reign, but I am happy at the prospect of Charles being my King.
Throughout his life Prince Charles had been plagued by the newspapers and has had to live out his dramas in the public eye courtesy of our gutter press. And it is that same eye that has been ever vigilant when his errors of judgment were universally published in order that money could be made out of his demise, and it has always boiled down to money.
In his youth he was accused of being too weak to handle the challenges of being educated at Gordonstoun, a place that sounded very grim to me, and for someone of a more thoughtful persuasion I am sure it was unadulterated hell. From puberty on Charles' every move has been analysed and monitored and he has been vilified in the press on a regular basis, thus influencing our collective opinion of him.
Imagine living in a goldfish bowl where your every move was observed and then have some sympathy for the man who has had to endure seventy years of disapproval for simply being who he is, while all around him consider themselves qualified to judge him, often for what we have done ourselves albeit that our actions have not come into public view.
As a younger man Charles met a young woman and fell in love, unfortunately Camilla was not suitable back then because 'she had a past' and our future king needed a virgin bride. Their love has endured more difficulties than most of us can imagine, yet they did finally marry and I am sure Camilla will be a wonderfully supportive queen.
The Diana debacle never ceases, we saw a gauche and ill educated girl selected merely because she was high born and virginal, and Charles' feelings were dismissed in deference to his 'duty'. The marriage was a miserable failure because neither spouse had any real affection for the other and their only bond seems to have been the two sons that they both adored and who the public have taken to their hearts. Diana made much of there having been a third person in their marriage and gave sideways looks as she revealed a very devious aspect to her character. She seems to have naively imagined that he would give up the love of his life for her, but if any of you have had a love of your life, you will know that you cannot give them up, no matter how hard people try to keep you apart.
Over time we learned that Diana had stalked a man, had very unwise liaisons with others and the ultimate insult and stamp of her foot was to begin a romance with Dodi Fayed. I was sorry that she died but it was a rather large leap to imagine that Charles had her murdered, they were already divorced and she was on her hedonistic decline into notoriety for all the wrong reasons.
The public loved Diana, they drank in her sad faced appearances and her seeming loneliness and we bought it hook line and sinker, it was all Charles' fault. So, while she put the washing on the line and wore revenge dresses and retaliated with dalliances with wholly unsuitable men, Charles kept his mouth well and truly shut except to talk of global warming and non bio degradable plastics while founding the Prince's Trust and talking a lot of sense. In her column today Anne Diamond reminded us that Prince Charles was guilty of 'dreadful blunders, the worst of course, being an appalling husband to Princess Diana' which was followed by a bit of faux deference to our future monarch. I am sure Ms Diamond has made her own blunders, who hasn't? but who know what sort of wife Princess Diana was, we weren't there so lets not stand in judgement of a couple who had an arranged marriage that failed, and remember that if he had had his way he would doubtless have married Camilla.
The press and public don't seem to like that Charles has persistently talked sense and has been something of a trailblazer in terms of his ideas and remedies. We seem to want him to be a sort of eccentric buffoon who knows nothing of real life, hence we read that he has an inch of toothpaste squeeze onto his tooth brush. So what say I! Does it matter? After all he has a very busy schedule and works jolly hard.
These weird little nuggets of eccentricity come from people like the truly odious Paul Burrell, a former servant of the British Royal Household, who crawls out of the woodwork every time he thinks he can make a quid or two out of some tit bit or other. He was a servant, not Diana's best friend, he is a mincing toady who sought vicarious 'fame' by likening himself to Diana's right hand and, according to him, her confidante - methinks not! After Diana's death he had to 'return' a number of valuable items that seem to have fallen into his swag bag claiming that they were 'gifts' until a court of law said that they most certainly were not. The cringing fop apparently hasn't seen Diana's boys for years but pop's up whenever possible and tells the world that Diana would have been proud of them, do we really need him to tell us that, of course she would have been proud of them, as is their father.
I must admit now that I am not really a Royalist, I just think that Charles has been taken apart too many times. He is now happy with his wife and is going to reign to the best of his ability - so please give the man a break, while I will be waiting in the wings waiting to say "I told you so!"
