King Charles III and I

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By Sajjad Suhail-Sindhu, The India observer, TIO, NJ: Sometime in October 1936, a 10-year-old Princess Elizabeth told her younger sister, the 6 year-old Princess Margaret that their uncle David was going away, and daddy was going to be king. The young Princess Margret must have thought about this, and if at age 6 she was already familiar with the concept of accession, might have commented, “does that mean you’ll be Queen?”, to which the young Princess Elizabeth might have replied,” eventually.”

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It’s a prerogative of fiction writers to assume a setting and develop a narrative around it for the purposes of telling a story. But this above conversation or its equivalent must have taken place, for this was the beginning of the arc on which Princess Elizabeth set off on that has led to the events of this past week when her expiration has brought on the world stage, an old man who for most of his life had prepared to be King. Many questions have been raised in many halls regarding not only his fitness to be King, but alarmingly, also as to the need for continuation of this Royal family and elimination of the Monarchy.

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As the land that is Britain on which have walked members of this Monarchy going back 37 generations over a time span of a 1000 years, it is onerous on me to undertake this discussion as only I can, for I am custodian to the entire history of this family from the earliest time of William of Normandy conquering me to Henry the 2^nd and his marriage to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and their son Richard the Lionheart taking off to lead the 3^Rd Crusades to wrest Jerusalem from Muslim rule, through the long drawn out Wars of the Roses and to the much talked of Henry the 8^th and his 6 wives, the hundred years wars with France and through the Industrial revolution

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and Queen Victoria and the unforgettable British Empire to, well, to King Charles the 3^rd in the present day. And while the Empire is no more, I continue to be responsible for part remnants of that Empire in various corners of this earth in the form of a Commonwealth that remains an important feature of much of the land that I am, for these countries, both small and large, look to me for their continued development, even as elements within these countries seek separation, for which they find reasons in our past relationships. Elimination of this monarchy carries ramifications that are far reaching.

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I begin with the late Queen Elizabeth II, for she occupied me during a time that saw the greatest evolution since the Industrial Revolution. She was the longest serving monarch and quite rightly is referred to as a “bridge” between the ages, for seven decades, my people called her Queen. She presided over an era of profound societal change, during which she visited all the Commonwealth nations, far beyond my shores, weaving them into the fabric of my, British society, bringing citizens of these countries and accommodating them here, turning me into a multiracial nation.

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During her time, we made such progress as to include new social safety net, and the much envied, the world over, the National Health Service. In the post 2^nd world war, the growth of technology saw women liberated with much freed time. Her first Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was born 100 years before her last one, the recent Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP. The period in which Elizabeth II ruled has led to the present whence we have we have changed both the head of the state and the Prime minister without having fired a single shot, but with love and flowers being seen to be on display. One of the greatest transformations in our society is that there was such an age of deference when she Elizabeth was crowned.

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Women were supposed to defer to men. People who were more well-off

thought that they were better than people who were working class. White people thought they were better than people who weren’t white. There was absolutely an age of hierarchy, and now things are very different. We are now in an age of shared and common values. Values that bind us together that everyone, whatever color and creed, we can all take pride in and feel strong as we make contribution to the society we create that supports all, the well off, the not so well off and the infirm, all coming together under an umbrella of a multicultural, multiracial society.

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This is the Britain that King Charles III has inherited, a kingdom for which he neither fought, nor conquered and neither suffered a great deal, as go the lines in a popular TV show, and may feel he may have been a different king in the crucible of turmoil consisting of wars, strikes and sky-high interest rates and high unemployment, that his mother lived through. The question of how the people responded to him hereon, will be a test of the people’s love for the royal family, for just as the Queen was a well-known figure and very loved, so is King Charles a very well-known King for we have seen him grow in front of our eyes with little about him we don’t know. His private life was never so private, as in the 1980s and 1990s, we saw the vultures pick him out.

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But he has come through that. Out of the ashes of the sad time that was Princess Diana’s death, he has risen to acquire new respect with his nurturing of the two Princes Harry and William, both of whom have become fathers in their own rights with their own families. Having been in the spotlight all his life, King Charles has worked hard at preparing them for a life that will reflect his own.

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While Queen Elizabeth had no formal education, having been tutored at the castle in constitutional history and law, King Charles attended Gordonstoun followed by studying Anthropology and Archeology at Trinity College. Growing up he was exposed to a variety of issues related to the running of the country, indeed the commonwealth and the world. King Charles grew up with having developed empathy, for the poor and for the environment and wholly against wars, and as any young person of his age, his unrestrained commentary added to the mystique that is the royal family.

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While it has become an issue of dire concern, King Charles had talked of protecting the environment way back in the 1980s, whence he also started a Prince’s Trust with several thousand pounds of “severance” money upon leaving the Navy, endearing millions of people to him. Trust that has come to the aid of many who have been helped in realizing their dreams of becoming actors and musicians amongst many other professions.

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These charities he set up to help young people, while opposed by government ministers are now considered a universal success. As King, Charles will be expected to take a more silent role, as opposed to a time as a Prince, he took upon himself to indulge in debates, writing to Ministers question the appropriateness of the Iraq wars and the badger cull, activities he was in his full right to participate in as any member of this land of mine.

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Finally, I must address the issue of a spate of former members of the British Commonwealth, now wanting to part ways and leave the commonwealth and become Republics, particularly those of the African continent. Your reasons for wanting to do so are based in the past, the history we have shared. Know that I as the land that is Britain, feel that our best days are ahead of us, and basing decisions on what transpired long ago is not productive for the future.

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As we move forwards and undergo a second industrial revolution around the newer technologies of Artificial Intelligence, you must not be left behind, for surely being part of the commonwealth gives you and your people same rights of education as those that live here. The many new citizens that live here forming a multicultural, multiracial Britain, former immigrants from your countries ought to be a bridge between our two lands. It is my assessment that you ought to fight for more of what your country needs, be it technology, education or other much needed elements of a successful society, that will help you move your people into a future that is aligned with Britain.

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In King Charles you have an empathetic Monarch, who with his long years of observations of what has transpire would be an asset to your and Britain’s continued, shared needs, and mutually beneficent, for all. Future observers of our joint existence will see this generation as strong as any, with attributes of mutual respect, self-discipline, of good, humored resolve, and feelings of fellowship still characterized our co-existence.

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Curated and Compiled by Humra Kidwai

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