They also believe that the Netflix


The schism with Harry and Meghan has been painful for Charles, because he has seen little of his two youngest grandchildren. But it has brought him closer to his eldest son and heir, William, and his wife, Catherine.


version of events is true (when, in fact, its depiction of so many events is not merely distorted, but entirely fictional). Clearly, this influences the general


impression much of the world has of the new king. However, it could be more of a prob-


lem in the 14 former British colonies or territories where the king is currently head of state — from Canada and Aus- tralia to Jamaica, Papua, New Guinea, and elsewhere. There are already campaigns in


some of these nations to replace the British monarch with a presidential head of state. Though these campaigners are mo-


tivated primarily by shifts in national identities, The Crown plainly plays into any anti-royalist narrative. All the king can do is to repeat what


he has said so many times over the years: Constitutional change is entirely down to the democratic will of the peo- ple. He cannot take part in any sort of talent contest.


Continued from page 70


memos “would be seriously damaging to his role as future monarch because, if he forfeits his position of political neu- trality as heir to the throne, he cannot easily recover it when he is king.” Even after the letters were made


public, however, Charles didn’t shy away from politics. Last year, he took a shot at an im-


migration policy put forward by the government of former Prime Minis- ter Boris Johnson that sends asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing. He reportedly called the plan “appalling.” Journalist Catharine Meyer said in


a 2015 biography that royal advisers were concerned Charles would pursue a radical style of monarchy and that his passion for certain causes, particularly environmental, had caused disquiet at Buckingham Palace, and with the late Queen Elizabeth herself.


72 NEWSMAX | MAY 2023


One recurring error in The Crown is


the way that it so often shows Elizabeth II looking miserable and hating the job. She was actually a very upbeat person, right to the end, and thoroughly en- joyed being queen. The same goes for Charles III. While


he could certainly be more melancholy and introspective than his late mother, he also manifestly likes being king and being able to call the shots. “When you’ve spent 70 years wait-


ing to inherit the train set, you want to play with all the engines,” says one friend of the family. Others say that Charles is now final-


ly a man at ease with himself. For much of his youth, he cut a


slightly awkward figure with his love of classical music and antiques at a time when most of his contemporaries were into long hair and pop music. While other younger royals, includ-


ing his first wife, were in thrall to big- name celebrities, Charles was more comfortable in the company of think- ers and artists.


His pursuits have been costly for the UK government at times, too, such as the nearly half a million dollars in legal costs that officials spent to try to prevent the memos from being released.


“Some courtiers — and the sover-


eign herself — fear that neither the Crown nor its subjects will tolerate the shock of the new,” Mayer wrote. “They feel he puts his more cere-


bral passions — his activism — before his royal job. They are a long way from being persuaded of Charles’s evolving view: that campaigning and kingship can be synthesised.” While Americans almost univer-


sally admired Queen Elizabeth for de- fining her role in a way that permitted her to champion U.S.-U.K. relations without politics getting in the way,


Charles is unlikely to inherit that ster- ling standing. According to a February 2022


poll, nearly half of all Americans have an unfavorable view of Charles. With Americans more skeptical


than their British cousins on issues such as climate change, Charles will likely have to make a choice between continuing his activism or preserv- ing the reputation of the throne. Asked in 2018 whether his public campaigning would continue when became king, Charles said: “No, it won’t. I’m not that stupid.”


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