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Carlos III inherits a (little) United Kingdom at 73 and in the greatest crisis since the coronation of his mother

Carlos III inherits a (little) United Kingdom at 73 and in the greatest crisis since the coronation of his mother

Prince Charles was with his mother at Balmoral Castle accompanying her during her last moments and facing the sad reality that her death leads to the greatest transition of his life: he has gone from being the eternal heir to the throne to becoming King.

Charles III of England has to assume a role of stability in times of uncertainty, at a time when the UK is facing constant political and social change. Behind him is the decades of baggage that he has accumulated as heir to the Crown, but now comes the moment of truth.

The death of Elizabeth II at the age of 96 has not been a surprise. In recent months she had hardly been seen in public, and she exhibited a fragile image. Her last official act was the reception for the new prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral.

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However, the expected news does not cause less impact. There are not a few Britons who today declare themselves orphans and mourn their absence in the face of the uncertainty that ‘Brexit’, the pandemic or the war in Ukraine have brought. Challenges now facing the new King who, despite the fact that he comes to the throne at the age of 73, represents a different generation than the Queen. Becoming, for example, the first British monarch to have gone to school, instead of having received a private education with tutors at the Palace as happened with his predecessors.

He has an arduous task ahead of him. His late mother was overwhelmingly popular and respectedbut after his death he leaves behind a royal family that has seen its reputation tarnished and strained family relationships, including over persistent accusations of racism against Buckingham Palace officials.

Carlos III will be the oldest monarch to ascend the throne in a lineage, that of the Windsors, which accumulates 1,000 years of history. And next to him will be Camilla, his second wife, who generates a great division among public opinion.

To his detractors, the new king is weak, vain, meddlesome and unprepared for the job.. He has been ridiculed for talking to plants and obsessing over architecture and the environment, and they believe he will long be reminded of his failed marriage to the late Princess Diana.

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His supporters, on the other hand, say that this is a distortion of reality and of the good work he does, that he is simply misunderstood and that, in areas such as climate change, he is ahead of his time.

In 2014, the newspaper Guardian he asked a courtier who had known Carlos for many years what kind of King he would be. And he claimed that “instead of doing a complete reinvention or trying to become a mold of his mother, the strategy will be to try to continue with his sincere interventionsalbeit reviewing the tone and content of each one to make sure it doesn’t harm the monarchy.”

However, that same newspaper recalls that information was published last June in which Prince Charles had expressed himself against the UK government’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. Given this news, the Royal House issued a statement in which Prince Charles would remain “politically neutral” as monarch.

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