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Posted on 04/03/2005 4:54:31 PM PDT by quidnunc
William and Harry had been out until 3am before last week’s unfortunate royal photocall in Klosters. But it was Prince Charles who demonstrated the grumpiness of the hungover. “I hate doing this,” he seethed, seemingly forgetting the microphones placed in the snow at his feet.
Then when the BBC’s Nicholas Witchell gently asked about his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles this Friday he hissed sotto voce, “Bloody people. I can’t bear that man. I mean he’s so awful, he really is.”
It was perhaps the first time that Charles’s future subjects had witnessed his petulance in full cry. The surly comments not only brought to mind the unflattering portrait of a cosseted prince painted by friends and courtiers of the late Princess Diana, but unpicked much of the remaining positive feeling for his wedding.
All he had to do was be professional and smile for the media, but he was incapable of containing his temper even for those few minutes. It was left to the usually press shy Prince William to save the day as he deftly batted away a question about his love life by saying he was “gagging” to get on the slopes.
What the sorry incident confirmed is that Charles wants to have it both ways. On the one hand using hand-picked journalists to spin favourable stories. On the other displaying a regal disdain for the self-same PR machine. The grumbling photocall further muddies the waters as he prepares for his controversial second marriage.
-snip-
In speeches and articles, the Prince of Wales rails against the arrogance of reason and the horrors of scientific progress (most obviously in GM technology). By contrast he talks longingly for a revived sense of harmony, natural order and balance.
Inevitably, in such a world people have their place. The societies that Charles is drawn to are pre-modern communities of tribes, elders and priests. He is a valiant supporter of the Dalai Lama and the monastic civilisation of Tibet. From his spiritual mentor Sir Laurens van der Post he learnt of the intuitive wisdom of the bushmen of the Kalahari. And together with his friend the composer Sir John Tavener, Charles seems to have found in the Orthodox Church a spiritual tradition far more to his taste than Anglicanism. Over the past 18 months the prospective supreme governor of the Church of England has made at least three visits to an Orthodox retreat on Mount Athos in Greece.
Above all, the Prince of Wales is a keen admirer of Islamic kingdoms. He retains close links with the House of Saud, was quick to visit Iran in the wake of the Bam earthquake, and enjoyed a successful tour of Jordan and Turkey in the autumn of last year. In Britain, the prince funds his own Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts programme to nurture craft skills and is an active patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
It is not fanciful to suggest that what attracts Charles to these societies is their instinctive reverence for hierarchical, dynastic leadership. “The battle for our renewal can be most naturally led by what is still one of the few great living symbols accessible to us — the symbol of the crown,” van der Post once suggested to his protégé. And when defending his right to “speak out” Charles frequently resorts to this idea of the prince (not parliament) as the natural vessel of his people’s unspoken concerns.
Unfortunately, this cannot be regarded as a credible foundation for monarchy in the 21st century. And precious few around the prince are actively making the case for a constitutional monarchy in utilitarian terms. We hear too little about its crucial role within the UK system of governance or its broader benefits to civil society. Instead, seduced by lost kingdoms and repressive states, the prince projects a priestly vision of the function of monarchy which has little appeal to an increasingly cynical, secular public.
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Prince Charles, who weds Camilla Parker Bowles next Friday, first met the woman who is to succeed the late Princess Diana as wife of the heir to the British throne as a result of his love life at Cambridge university. One of his girlfriends at Trinity College was Lucia Santa Cruz, the high-spirited daughter of the Chilean ambassador to London, who told Charles, "I've found exactly the right girl for you."
The prince was instantly smitten by Camilla Shand. Her father was a war hero turned wine merchant who married into the family of one of England's most successful construction firms. For some years I lived not far from the Shands and knew their grand house to be one of the centers of the huntin,' shootin' and fishin' set with whom Prince Charles felt most at home.
Milla, as she was known, had attended Dumbrells, a smart girls' boarding school. She was pretty, blonde and vivacious, a very English-looking girl who "lacked coquetry and did not preen herself," as one of her close friends put it.
They first met at a polo match (where else?). Milla introduced herself with a line that captured the ironic humor that she and Charles enjoy: "My great grandmother [Alice Keppel] was the mistress of your great grandfather [King Edward VII] — so what about it?"
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Charles is not easy to live with. He is an intensely private man who works 12 hours a day, delves deeply into the scriptures of Islam and Buddhism and speaks with passion about alternative medicine (he's for it) and modern architecture (against). None of these interests swirls naturally around Camilla's boudoir. Like the queen, she is neither an intellectual nor a worrier. Yet the prince and his new princess have far more in common than Charles ever shared with Diana. He and Camilla love hiking in the hills. Diana was a city girl. Both of them enjoy riding. Diana hated horses. Charles and Camilla also know how to laugh at and with one another, which he and Diana rarely did.
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(Eldon Griffiths in The Orange County Register, April 3, 2005)
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How in the world could anyone grow up in such circumstance and not be spoiled rotten?
What a charming pick up line....
I will never understand the sport of sniping at this man. Apparently he isn't even permitted to be grumpy now and then.
Probably beacuse it's just so darn easy
It is time for the press to find something better to do. Sniping at Charles is lazy journalism.
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Right; the Prince of Wales may not be the brightest bulb in the room, or the most exciting person to be around, but no one is perfect.
It's time for the press and the people to ease up on this guy; despite having all the appearances of an easy, comfortable, luxurious life, I'm sure there's things in his life that are more wretched and miserable than what the rest of us have to endure.
I used to feel "neutral" or even "slightly negative" about the Prince of Wales; but because of all this titter and tatter about him, all this criticism and condemnation, now I am slowly turning into.....an admirer of his.
Go talk to yer DallyLlama and soak yer bleedin' bloody self in Eastern religion, and disappear to your bloody selfrighteous bleedin' nirvana! Spare us common blokes from your own ass-smellin' antics, ya bloody bleedin' fool!
just my poorly written and humble opinion
FMCDH(BITS)
Actually, it really is; charming, a bit naughty, and factual.
pong
I put it in the category of indelicate, familiar, and forward. But, that's just me.
What she said was clever,saucy, and yes, indelicate; it was supposed to be. And unlike that bubble headed nitwit he was forced to marry, Camilla sparked his attention and has managed to keep it all their adults lives.
I can't work up much sympathy for the prince or the press.
He is a paid pet of the British people to put things in the most base light. If he hates the job so much as to begrudge a 15 minute photo shoot he ought to give it up. Elton John with his job description would be less of a twit... Now I really need a shower!
He is a valiant supporter of the Dalai Lama and the monastic civilisation of Tibet.
Well, Tibet won't defend itself, and Hello Dalai has become the Begger To The World. Nice role model ya got there, Chuckles.
From his spiritual mentor Sir Laurens van der Post he learnt of the intuitive wisdom of the bushmen of the Kalahari.
This is the "wisdom" that, after thousands of years, has created a "civilization" with a GDP consisting almost entirely of pushing dirt around with sticks? Yeah, we should all aspire to such "intuitive wisdom".
The Prince doesn't seem to be a very nice man, but what do we know, we've only heard him utter a few words.
Snide, under his breath insults about the press...well, who can blame him?
But cooing to Camilla over the phone that he wants to be her tampax...YIKES!
He is an intensely private man who works 12 hours a day, delves deeply into the scriptures of Islam and Buddhism
I would like to see him delve deeply into his own cultural faith books like the Bible.
Really, and I think I have an idea what he "works" 12 hours a day
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I get the sense that Charles is finally, after all these years, going to marry the love of his life. Good for him. And her, too. Enough with "duty," they're both getting on in years. Let's leave them alone.