“It must guarantee that the monarchy continues to be relevant”: the challenges of Carlos III on the throne

already crowned, Charles III He knows that the challenge ahead of him – and which began in September last year after the death of his mother – is immense to keep afloat an institution still loved by the British, but which always navigates troubled waters.

LOOK: Coronation of Carlos III: this was the historic ceremony in the United Kingdom

El Comercio spoke with two British experts: ededicated to reporting on the royal houses in the world.

Franklin Prochaska (FP): The royal family and its officials are well aware of these surveys. Somehow they conform to the trend of people becoming more conservative as they get older. But there is a concerted effort by the royal family to influence young people through the charitable efforts of the Prince and Princess of Wales, which have focused on the mental health problems of that population, such as the Prince’s Trust, the organization founded by Carlos III in 1976, which has provided more than a million jobs to young people. This work may intensify.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury places St Edward’s Crown on The King’s anointed head. The clergy, congregation and choir all cry ‘God Save The King’.#Coronation pic.twitter.com/kGrV3W0bky

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 6, 2023

FP: The monarchy is unlikely to focus on Prince William right now, as the king may be as long-lived as his mother [Isabel II murió a los 96 años, y la reina madre, a los 101]. Polls do not suggest that the monarchy is under threat at the moment. No political party has declared Republican sympathies and they would very likely suffer in the polls if they did.

Joe Little (JL): Popularity is not something that worries the king and his family now, just as it did not worry Queen Elizabeth II 70 years ago. Carlos III has always said that when it comes to opinion polls, he looks at the big picture. There is no reason to think that Charles III cannot maintain the popularity of the monarchy, although it is clear that he will do so with the indirect help of the Princes of Wales and their children, Princes George, Charlotte and Louis, for whom there is a world interest.

FP: The king’s challenge is to maintain the status quo and offer the continuity and stability that citizens expect from the monarchy. That’s what he hopes to be remembered for, along with his longstanding charitable work, which has become a ‘welfare monarchy’ over the years. As Prince William said at a 2018 conference: “Supporting charities is at the heart of what I do, as well as the entire royal family.” And this is what they will continue to do, it is in charitable work that the public is most likely to see a member of the royal family. In 2018, 15 members of the royal family were in 3,793 engagements, most of them charitable.

JL: The king must ensure that the monarchy remains relevant in Britain in the 21st century, and that the institution’s running costs are kept in check. Another of the great challenges that he can come across is that other countries where he is also a monarch – Caribbean states, Australia and New Zealand, for example – decide in the coming years that they no longer want to have a king, but rather elect a president. as head of state.

King Carlos III appears with the imperial crown, the orb and the scepter that identify him as a British sovereign. (Getty Images).

FP: The king certainly does not wish to distance himself from his mother’s reign, but would like to be part of a seamless tradition of royal continuity and service, which she embodied. As a monarch, he will try to avoid getting involved in politics. As he himself knows, the King’s role is very different from that of the Prince of Wales, a position he held for nearly seven decades.

JL: The king would never want to disassociate himself from Queen Elizabeth II, but rather to continue the work she started, in his own style.

Source: Elcomercio