Her Majesty (63 page)

Some differences in taste and tone are inevitable after any change of reign. Those close to the Prince indicate that a trimming of some of the pageantry is likely. The days of ancient bodyguards like the Yeomen of the Guard or the Royal Company of Archers being wheeled out for every
royal occasion may be finite. The Gold State Coach, the ultimate in gilded pumpkins, may have already had its last Coronation excursion. Perhaps there might be something a little stronger than iced coffee at garden parties? When the Prince held a garden party of his own at Holyroodhouse in 2000, the resident staff were as surprised as the guests to find Pimm’s on offer. One thing is for certain. There will be no Winston Churchill around this time to tell the new sovereign that he has to move into Buckingham Palace if he would rather stay put at Clarence House. All the indications are that he would. At a deeper level, some of the Prince’s friends have suggested that he may be more willing to use his legitimate constitutional powers to ask more questions and demand more answers from his governments; that he may still be prepared to speak out on certain issues; that in any sort of political vacuum his default position would be to do something rather than nothing. Old Westminster hands point out that he will have to be very careful. ‘It’s a matter of choosing your cause,’ says one former Cabinet Minister, warning that the Prince will have to curb his interventions in things like planning disputes or else he might ‘pick the wrong fight’.

But if we accept that the Queen has brought a feminine subtlety to the job, we can hardly be surprised if the Prince adopts a more ‘masculine’ approach, like his grandfather and great-grandfather. It was constitutionally acceptable for George VI to wave his shoes at a Labour Chancellor and declare: ‘I really don’t see why people should have free false teeth any more than they have shoes free.’ So it would surely be acceptable for a future King Charles to ask the occupant of Number Ten a few searching questions on global warming.

The Queen’s twelfth Prime Minister certainly has no qualms about the Prince’s approach thus far. ‘I think people misunderstand the way Prince Charles does this,’ says David Cameron. ‘Yes, he’s fantastically interested in a number of subjects which he’s been consistent on. When you see him, he’ll want to hear how you’re getting on with deforestation, complementary medicine, climate control and so on. But he’s extremely deferential to the fact that you’re the elected government and he’s making suggestions. He does not say: “It’s outrageous, you haven’t done this.” And he’s also very grateful for the time you give. He knows exactly how the relationship should be. He doesn’t push things too hard. He gives things a bit of a heave but that’s fine. In the areas where he does throw his weight around – like Business in the Community
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– it is an entirely appropriate thing to do.’

There may be some changes to the monarchy which are entirely beyond royal control. It is possible that some of the sixteen existing realms may choose to seek a new constitutional settlement having decided not to do so during the Queen’s reign. If so, there will be no rearguard action from the throne. The Prince has no wish to outstay his welcome on any of the various thrones he will inherit. He said exactly that to the Australian people as long ago as 1994. ‘Some people will doubtless prefer the stability of a system that has been reasonably well tried and tested over the years, while others will see real advantages in doing things differently,’ he told his Australia Day audience in Sydney. ‘Personally, I happen to think that it is the sign of a mature and self-confident nation to debate those issues and to use the democratic process to re-examine the way in which you want to face the future.’

The position of Head of the Commonwealth is slightly different. It is not enshrined in the Coronation Oath or somehow attached to the Crown. It was a title given to George VI when the new eight-nation Commonwealth evolved from the London Declaration of 1949 but no one said anything about passing the title on. Within hours of the Queen’s accession, though, the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had sent her a telegram welcoming her as Head of the Commonwealth. Everyone else just followed suit. Will the same thing happen again? Or will today’s fifty-four Commonwealth nations decide to break with the ‘tradition’? Among the heads of government, it is hard to detect the slightest appetite for severing the long and largely happy connection with the Crown. Why should they? The monarchy is one of the few things which actually manages to reverse the organisation’s gently declining profile and give it a certain star quality amid all the other international talking shops. Besides, post-colonial sensitivities are fading. President Nasheed of the Maldives is one of the new generation of Commonwealth leaders. ‘Of course future monarchs should carry it [the title] on,’ he says. ‘You know, I was born in 1967. I don’t have a hang-up with colonialism.’

But, ultimately, all of this is little more than speculation. It is pointless to compare the succession to the throne with the succession to a political party or a family business or a great landed estate, as commentators often like to do. The monarchy moves at an entirely different pace. And it can never become a competition. That is why any mention of abdication, of the Crown ‘skipping a generation’ or any other sort of regal beauty contest, is preposterous. That way lies a republic. It would be like striking a match to find your way out of a munitions factory.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are, unquestionably, a tremendous asset to the monarchy, but they have absolutely no interest in jumping
their turn in the queue. Prince William is the first to acknowledge the importance of wise heads in a changing world. ‘Without the senior members of the family who’ve seen and done it all, the junior lot wouldn’t be relevant. You need to have the balance and the experience. It’s like a rugby team,’ says the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union. ‘If you’re picking for the World Cup final, you’re picking experience with youth. Everything is better off having that balance and that mix. I think that, especially, goes for the monarchy as well.’

If anything, the Duke and Duchess seem determined to make the most of whatever vestiges of a private life they can retain. For now, the Duke seems very happy to forge a conventional career in the Forces rather than ponder any new royal role – let alone the big one.

‘I try not to think about it, to be honest,’ he says. ‘As I am flying along in my helicopter through the mountains of Wales, I try desperately hard not to think about it. That can wait until I’m a bit older.’

Any suggestion of tinkering with the succession also neglects an obvious truth. Britain – like many parts of the world – is not going to know what has hit it when there is a change of reign, particularly a reign which has framed an entire epoch of such titanic social change. At such a time, any country would, surely, be grateful to have the most experienced successor in history to hand. ‘You can see, going through history, that it is not unusual for the heir to the throne to have criticism thrown at him,’ notes Sir John Major. ‘But that will fade away when he becomes monarch.’ Major’s successor agrees. ‘Prince Charles is pretty secure in the affections of people,’ says Tony Blair. ‘They actually think he is someone who genuinely tries his best and does his best. For me, that’s the unspoken contract between monarchy and subject – that they put their duty to the country before everything else. While they do that, the monarchy is secure.’

‘The whole history of the monarchy is not a straight line,’ says Major. ‘It’s had quite bumpy times. Queen Victoria was very, very unpopular for a long time during the latter part of her reign. The challenge is to maintain the relevance and the affection of the nation … to maintain the distinctiveness of the monarchy in the future. That is going to be its main challenge. Over the past five hundred years, it has shown it can do that. But that will continue to be the challenge.’

Our Queen has known that ever since she listened to stories from ‘Grandpa England’.
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It is the theme which has run through her life. It
is the code she has followed ever since the mournful day in February 1952 when she walked down those aeroplane steps to be greeted by Winston Churchill.

Sixty years on, Prime Minister number twelve is in no doubt about the magnitude of her achievement. ‘People think about the monarchy as a long-standing, old-fashioned institution,’ says David Cameron. ‘But it has changed subtly into something the nation is just as proud of today as it was fifty, a hundred or two hundred years ago. The Queen’s a fantastic exemplar of what a constitutional monarch can be. She’s probably the finest ever.’

Does she see it that way? Does she ever look back and ponder her own position in the pantheon of great monarchs? Those who know her best say not. Like the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen regards any question of legacy as irrelevant. ‘It’s important to remember that no monarch is ever looking for a legacy,’ says the Duke of York. ‘Legacy is a matter of history. Politicians will look to see what legacy they can leave but this is a different concept of operations.’

That this reign will leave a monumental legacy is beyond doubt. And historians will be reassessing it and debating it for many centuries after the last of the New Elizabethans has gone. The Queen knows that there is no point worrying about it now. But, according to her grandson and the man who will, one day, take the throne, her jubilee year should afford her a moment or two of quiet satisfaction. ‘She’d want to keep on going regardless,’ says Prince William. ‘But it’s nice for her to know, after sixty years, that she really has made a huge difference and that people massively look up to her. They see this dedication and this service. And I’d hope that people would want to emulate that sort of sacrifice and dedication in their own lives.’

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Its biannual summits, however, do have one of the ugliest acronyms on the international circuit, CHOGM, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

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The Prince retains fond memories of the party laid on by Key – ‘a very nice man’. He not only met the All Blacks but ended up wearing an apron and helping Key cook the sausages. His barbecuemad grandfather, he remarked, would have been proud.

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The accident-prone Natapei was later reinstated as Prime Minister but ousted again a year later. He was abroad yet again, this time at a climate summit in Mexico.

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Business in the Community was founded in 1982 to drive corporate involvement in the regeneration of inner-city areas. The Prince became its President in 1985.

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Her paternal grandfather, George V, was known as ‘Grandpa England’. Sandringham still houses a charming blotter which Princess Elizabeth made for him and then decorated with ‘GE’ in huge letters.

The State Opening of Parliament. The Queen has only missed it twice (the first time, she was expecting Prince Andrew; the second, Prince Edward).

Everyone must wait for the MPs ‘to attend Her Majesty in the House of Peers’. The Pages of Honour and the Cap of Maintenance are to the Queen’s right. Her ladies-in-waiting, the Sword of State and her heralds are to her left.