Prince Charles does not ‘hanker’ to be king: Royal sources says he AGREES with Harry
PRINCE Charles does not “hanker” to be king, according to sources close to the heir to the throne, and agrees with Prince Harry about no one longing for the throne while the Queen is still alive.
Harry, 32, raised eyebrows last week when he told the American magazine Newsweek: “Is there any one of the Royal Family who wants to be king or queen? I don’t think so.”
A well-placed source said: “The Prince of Wales does not sit there every day looking longingly at Buckingham Palace, wanting to be King.
“He’s demonstrably made a role for himself as heir to the throne and is acutely aware that this role is coming but he’s not willing it forward because to do so would involve the demise of his own mother.
“It’s certainly not a case of: the only way I can do good work is when I’m king because he’s been doing good work for years.
“Everyone recognises that the Queen is doing an amazing job and has done for decades. But when the Prince of Wales becomes king he will do it in his own way.”
It had been suggested the Queen and Charles, 68, would prefer less soul-bearing from the younger royals.
In recent months both Harry and William have given a series of interviews in which they have discussed their innermost feelings about Princess Diana’s death.
Everyone’s cross with Harry but he’s searingly honest
Charles’s biographer Penny Junor
As part of the Heads Together campaign to raise mental health awareness, Harry revealed he endured two years of “total chaos” because he hadn’t come to terms with losing his mother at the age of 12, while William, who was 15 when she died, said he has only just got over it.
In the Newsweek interview, Harry said he regretted walking behind his mother’s coffin, saying: “I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances.”
They have filmed more revelations to be aired in two documentaries on the BBC and ITV to mark the 20th anniversary of her passing in August.
The source added: “I don’t think the Prince of Wales will be particularly disturbed by what Prince Harry has said. He’s always been very supportive of what his sons are trying to do.”
Charles’s biographer Penny Junor said: “I don’t imagine Prince Charles will be overjoyed by the comments but he’s not sitting there hankering for the job.
“I’m sure the Queen wasn’t overjoyed when her father died and her lovely young married life with her Naval officer husband and young children came to an end overnight. It’s a poisoned chalice.”
Junor, who has also written a biography of Harry, added: “Everyone’s cross with Harry but he’s searingly honest and that’s what the public loves about him.
“He’s had a difficult life, a difficult childhood and adolescence. He went completely off the rails at one point but he’s come good and been a fantastic soldier and airman. However, I think there comes a point when it must stop. They can’t constantly be baring their souls.”
Junor spoke ahead of the serialisation of her latest book on the Duchess of Cornwall, in which she reveals Prince Charles begged Camilla to call off her wedding to Andrew Parker Bowles and wept tears of anguish the night before he married Diana.
Source: EXPRESS CO UK
Tags: Prince Harry, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Future, Future King, Harry and Charles, Royals, Monarchy, Monarch
