seven decades in the shadow of his legendary mother have shaped the personality and image of Charles IIIwho this Saturday will be crowned despite having become king for all intents and purposes since the death of Elizabeth II, on September 8.
The simple fact that he has decided to lower the tone and the dimension A ceremony as lavish as the coronation speaks clearly, not only of the commitment to sustainability that it presumes, but also that its reign should not aspire to Compare with your mother’s.
As proverbial as the longevity of the Windsor (his parents almost reached the century), Carlos’ 74 years allow us to predict that his reign It will necessarily be much shorter than that of Elizabeth II.
His popularityalways in question, does not augur a place for him in the pantheon of royaltyalthough for now it has played its role with solvency.
The life of Carlos Felipe Arturo Jorge de Windsor is defined by three women: his mother Elizabeth, his ex-wife Diana of Wales and his wife, the queen consort Camilla.
If Isabel bequeathed one monarchy consolidated in the turbulent times of the postwar period and the end of the empire, the failed marriage with the deceased Diana of Wales It largely determined Carlos’ public image in the UK and beyond.
CamilaMeanwhile, she has gone from being the culprit of ending the fairy tale between Carlos and Diana to being accepted as the great love of the monarch’s life, after an operation to soften her figure in which Buckingham Palace has not skimped resources.
ETERNAL HEIR
Born on November 14, 1948, Carlos has gone down in history as the heir that he has waited the longest to become monarch of the United Kingdom and part of the former colonies of the Commonwealth of Nations (Commonwealth).
He dedicated that long wait to the philanthropyspirituality and his commitment to the environment, although it was his separation from Diana in 1992 and his marriage to Camila in 2005 that brought him the most headlines in the always eager British press.
Indelible are his images walking with his children, William and Henryafter the coffin of Diana de Gales when she died in a traffic accident in Paris, in 1997. The contrast could not be greater with those that 16 years before spread televisions around the world when they both got married in London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, in one of the weddings of the century.
despite a character who at times seems arrogant and haughty, the king has made efforts in recent years to get closer to the citizen and thus modernize a institution who has always distinguished himself by keeping his distance.
Unlike his mother, if Charles stood out as Prince of Wales for something, it was for defending the laws in a much more uninhibited way. environmental causes and humanitarian activities in which it participates through more than 20 NGOs and foundations.
As sovereign, he has shown himself to be more discreet, although there have been leaks from his entourage that reflect his disgust with the immigration policies of the Conservative government or with the way in which Brexit has been carried out.
A CHILDHOOD OF STUDY AND SHYNESS
Carlos III spent a childhood marked by his shyness and by the coldness of the relations in the palace, with a strict father and a distant mother.
At the age of nine he became the first heir to the throne who attended college, rather than being educated by private tutors at Buckingham, and spent a traumatic time at the Scottish boarding school at Gordonstoun, where, according to some biographers, he was harassed by his peers.
With student stays in Melbourne (Australia) or Wales, Carlos entered the University of Cambridge to study Archeology and Anthropology, after which he began his training as a pilot of the british royal air force (RAF) and also served in the Navy (Royal Navy).
Formally invested as Prince of Wales on July 1, 1969, there he began a eternal wait to the throne that is already only a few hours away from completing the circle.