At this rate, the throne might as well be replaced by a diamanté wheelchair
Why do most parents who leave an inheritance leave it to their children? Why, when most people are well past middle age when their parents die, is this still considered the norm? Now that we live about a generation longer than people did when these rules evolved — in harsher times, many centuries ago — shouldn’t it be grandchildren who inherit?
The question occurred to me while I was reflecting on the misfortune of Prince Charles, who is my age. It has always been said that the Queen regards her job as being for life, and there’s no sign of her flagging or of her capacities starting to dim. If her mother’s life is anything to go by, she’ll be fine for at least another decade. By which time the Prince of Wales will be 70.
Poor man. It is one thing to carry on past 70 as a reigning monarch, as the Queen does, when you’ve already been on the throne for more than half a century. She knows the ropes by now, and there cannot be too much more to learn, or nasty surprises her responsibilities are likely to throw at her. Quite another thing, however, to have to start a job for the first time — any job — when already in your seventies; and particularly this one. And if Charles carries on reigning for 20 years, William will be middle-aged when he ascends the throne. It’s to be hoped he doesn’t marry and father a male heir too soon, or his son will share that fate.
The happy and glamorous accident of Britain’s having a young queen in the middle of the last century, and of our getting to know her (and she us) over many decades, is entirely due to a sadder accident: the very premature death of her father.
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