Well, this one friend continually refers to him as “a jerk.” I think Charles flirts with his wife too much. But he should be used to this - in England this woman is pretty much adored.
I have not liked a lot of Charles’ public statements which I’m sure - not withstanding who writes them - reflect his own values. Did he not say he wants to be “Defender of All Faiths”? or was that wrong?
The term is actually Latin - Fidei Defensor, which can be translated into English as either Defender of Faith, or Defender of the Faith. There are rumours - but they are completely unconfirmed - that when he is King, he wants the former to be used rather than the latter in his English language 'Style'. It could be true.
If it is, it reflects nothing more than his desire to be a King for all his people in both Britain and the Commonwealth. He wants to defend freedom of religion - including and especially freedom of religion.
Here is an extract from a speech he made last month:
For myself, I have for some time now been deeply troubled by the growing difficulties faced by Christian communities in various parts of the Middle East. It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are, increasingly, being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist militants. Christianity was, literally, born in the Middle East and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ. Their church communities link us straight back to the early Church, as I was reminded by hearing Aramaic, Our Lord's own language, spoken and sung a few hours ago.
Yet, today, the Middle East and North Africa has the lowest concentration of Christians in the world – just four per cent of the population and it is clear that the Christian population of the Middle East has dropped dramatically over the last century and is falling still further.
This has an effect on all of us, although, of course, primarily on those Christians who can no longer continue to live in the Middle East: we all lose something immensely and irreplaceably precious when such a rich tradition dating back two thousand years begins to disappear. It is, therefore, especially delightful to see such a rich panoply of church life here to-day, including the Antiochian, Greek, Coptic, Syrian, and Armenian Orthodox Churches, the Melkite, Maronite, Syrian Catholic, Chaldean, and Roman Catholic Churches, as well as the Church of the East, and Churches established, dare I say it, somewhat more recently, including the Anglican Church!
In saying all this about the difficulties facing the Christian churches in the Middle East I am, of course, conscious that they are not the only faith community in this region suffering at the moment, nor is the Middle East the only part of the world in which Christians are suffering, but, given the particularly acute circumstances faced by the church communities in the Middle East to-day, I felt it worthwhile to draw attention to their current plight. It is important to note, above all, that the decline of Christians in the region represents a major blow to peace as Christians are part of the fabric of society, often acting as bridge-builders between other communities.
When he becomes King he wants to be a King for all Britons, for all citizens of the Commonwealth Realms, and he wants to Head of Commonwealth for the entire Commonwealth. He is Christian - and he will take his role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England seriously - but he will defend the rights of all to worship freely. So yes, he may well prefer to be Defender of Faith, rather than limit that only to his own. But he makes the distinction very strongly between those who simply live a life of peaceful faith - and those who take an extremist view and use their religion as a justification or excuse for violence.
It's worth remembering that his mentor, the man he was closest to outside of his own family was brutally murdered by people who claimed their Roman Catholicism was part of their justification for killing people - and he saw the same group bomb his country repeatedly. He sees the difference between true religion and religion as an excuse for violence more clearly than most people - and treats those who simply want to worship as they wish with respect, while having nothing but contempt for those who practices the perversions of terrorism.
Madonna? Gwynneth?