Is King Charles’s honeymoon over?

Since King Charles became monarch in September 2022, after the death of Elizabeth II, he has received reasonably warm treatment from the press. It is easy to forget that, for much of the 1990s and 2000s, he was seen as an unpopular figure, lambasted by the Diana-supporting tabloids for being an adulterer (never mind his former wife’s behaviour; he, apparently should have known better) and criticised in the broadsheets for excessive intervention in the work of the government. The notorious ‘black spider’ memos revealed the-then Prince of Wales as an interventionist figure, keen (perhaps overly so) to have his opinions and thoughts taken very seriously at the highest level, despite his being an unelected king-in-waiting.

Marriage to the popular Camilla has softened him and his public reputation, and the media have largely turned their sights on other, more obviously egregious members of the royal family, namely his eldest brother and younger son.