In praise of Prince Charles

Giles of Rome, the great 13th century author, once noted: ‘Considered in absolute terms it would be preferable that the King be elected; but the corrupt desires of men and their manner of acting must make heredity preferable to election.’ There’s little that would dissuade him of that view today. Britain’s politics are in a worse shape than they have been for at least a generation. None of the mediocrities making up the current government seem capable of exercising authority, or of seeing past the next election cycle. In contrast, the Queen and her descendants at least seem interested in the long term, in that strangely alien concept ‘posterity’.

Her son Prince Charles is 69 years old today, and is long past winning the honour of being the eldest man to ascend the throne (William IV, at 64). Charles may well be into his ninth decade before ‘London Bridge is down’ (the code name for the death of the monarch), which is some apprenticeship, but he’s proven himself to be wise, and actually concerned with the long term. The prince has often been a controversial figure.