Prince of Creative Anachronism

by The Laird o’Thistle
November 16 2008

Ar D’wysog gwlad y bryniau,
O boed i’r nefoedd wen,
Roi iddo gyda choron,
Ei bendith ar ei ben!

Among our ancient mountains,
And from our lovely vales,
Oh! Let the prayer re-echo
God bless the Prince of Wales!
— “God Bless the Prince of Wales”, 1863

Welsh words by John Ceiriog Hughes
English translation by George Linley

This last Friday was the 60th birthday of HRH Charles Philip Arthur George (Mountbatten-Windsor), Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Great Steward of Scotland, Knight of the Garter (1968), Knight of the Thistle (1977), etcetera.  As of this coming February 6, he will have been the Heir Apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, etc., for fifty-seven years.  This birth anniversary also marks just over 50 years since he was created Prince of Wales (26 July 1958), and almost 40 years since he publicly assumed that role (1 July 1969).  He is now older than his great-great-grandfather, King Edward VII, was when he finally succeeded his “eternal mother,” Queen Victoria.  Charles is also almost four years older than his grandfather, King George VI, was at the time of his death.  Given the state of the current Queen’s apparent health and vigor, it is likely to be many more years before he finally becomes King himself.

As I pondered how to address this milestone birthday of Prince Charles, it came to me to reflect a bit on how this man has lived a very paradoxical life in which he has had to live in constant tension between a very ancient, and often rather hidebound, institution and the amazing tempo of sociocultural transformation that has occurred in his lifetime.  Obviously, he has not done it perfectly.  But in my opinion – often expressed in this column – I do think that he has done a rather remarkable job of it, for which he deserves due credit.

Whatever else, it is clear that Prince Charles’s life has not been like that of other boys, and that is true from day one.  When he was born the announcement did not say that the then Duchess of Edinburgh was delivered of a son, or a baby boy.  The public announcement posted at the gate of Buckingham Palace said she was delivered of a “prince.”  His first home was officially a part of the St. James’ Palace complex, that part being actually his current home, Clarence House, which was then the residence of Princess Elizabeth and her husband.  The royal baby soon faced the waters of the Jordan River at his christening in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace… the chapel having been destroyed by a bomb a few years previously, during the war.  One of the great symbolic moments of the baby prince’s entry into his unique place in the order of things came when his great-grandmother, Queen Mary, chose to bestow a silver christening cup that originated with her great-grandfather, George III, as her gift on the occasion.

Early on the little prince learned that his parents were sometimes wont to disappear for extended periods as royal duties took them to far corners of the declining empire.  And so it happened that he and his sister were staying at Sandringham with their grandparents on the morning of February 6, 1952, when George VI was found dead in his bed.  That morning the new little Heir Apparent (not quite three years and three months old) queried his nurse, and then his bereft granny, and eventually his parents, as to where his grandfather had gone.

Soon after he was four-and-a-half Charles was taken to Westminster Abbey on Coronation Day, just long enough for him to see his mother anointed and crowned.  Later on that historic day he was taken out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace, along with Princess Anne, to join their parents in acknowledging the vast crowd stretching down the Mall before them.  A few months earlier the young prince had sort of stumbled into the awareness that his mother was also his Sovereign when a private secretary in the corridor said something about going to see the Queen.  “Oh, who’s that?” inquired the little boy.  “Why, it’s your mother.” came the reply, and the courtier later said he felt as if he’d given away the secret of Father Christmas.

Stories about young Prince Charles show that from the outset he was a basically shy and retiring personality, like his mother the Queen and his grandfather King George, who had to learn to overcome his natural tendencies toward withdrawal with deliberate effort.  A story is told how whereas his sister would rush into various activities, Charles would hang back waiting for Nanny or Nurse to tell him it was O.K. to go on and join in.  Unlike his sister, the little boy also tended to avoid going near the sentry boxes, because he found the “snapping to attention” of the guards embarrassing rather than fun.  He is said to have been mortified in the summer of 1958 when, without any previous warning, he learned of his creation as Prince of Wales along with a bunch of his school chums while watching the closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff on TV.  According to the headmaster, while the crowd in Cardiff broke spontaneously into singing “God Bless the Prince of Wales,” and the other boys in the room cheered, a look of “dire unease” clouded the face of the newly minted Prince of Wales.  He himself later recalled the other boys looking round at him in “amazement” and himself feeling “acutely embarrassed.”  He was, after all, about four months shy of his tenth birthday.

My intention in referring to these old stories is to highlight the fact that this Prince who has at times been accused of arrogance and a rather overly exalted view of himself really was, and reportedly remains, a rather uncertain and ill-at-ease soul.  That isn’t to say that he hasn’t also grown accustomed to the privileges and perks of his position, or that he hasn’t come to take deference for granted.  Yes, he does enjoy living in virtually Edwardian splendor and comfort.  No doubt.  And he expects to be duly waited upon by those whose job it is to serve him.  But those aspects are, in my opinion, more “acquired” characteristics.  And one shouldn’t find them particularly surprising given the rarefied context of Charles’s upbringing.

What I always find surprising in this man who (if-he’s-lucky-and-lives-so-long) will one day be King is that he really has become the most useful Prince of Wales in history.  We’re so used to the litany of his charities and causes that we may tend to forget that he created the role he plays.  He created the Prince’s Trust and built it into a socially transformative organization during some of the worst times of the late 1970s and 80s.  He early on began to beat the drum for “The Earth in Balance” along with other pioneers like Nobel Laureate Al Gore.  He spoke to “human scale” architecture long before public housing authorities across the world began imploding their massive soulless projects to replace them with mixed-use townhouse developments integrated into their larger communities.  He gave early prominence to the principles and practices of organic farming.  And… and… and… and….  In short, he seems to have taken the traditional motto of the Princes of Wales, “Ich Dien” (“I Serve”), and made it his personal job description and mission statement.

As I see it, Prince Charles has long since made his peace with being something of an anachronism.  But he also long ago determined to be a “creative” anachronism.  In this, he follows somewhat in his father’s footsteps, with Prince Philip having felt his own compulsion to carve a useful niche for himself over the last (nearly) fifty-seven years.

One of the telling moments in the evolution of this process occurred in 1969, in the activities surrounding Prince Charles’s investiture at Caernarvon.  As part of the lead-in to the “Camelot” -style ceremony, with costume and set largely designed by Lord Snowdon, a frighteningly young Charles gave an interview to David Frost.  The young prince there revealed his (still abiding) love for The Goons and other bits of the contemporary culture.  He was also well aware of agitation against himself and against the historic English domination of Wales.  (On the day of the investiture the sound of an exploding bomb was heard during the carriage procession.  “What was that?” the Prince asked.  “A royal salute.” came the reply.  But no one was the least bit fooled.)  But another bit that Charles observed to Frost tells much about what he has continued to do.  When asked what his first “act” as the officially invested Prince of Wales would be, Charles noted that there wasn’t much that he could do except, “learn the facts… meet the people… and try to encourage….”

He seems to have remained remarkably true to that intention.  In an excerpt from his 1975 “maiden” speech to the House of Lords, reprinted this week in The Guardian Prince Charles speaks of the problem of antisocial behaviors arising among young people who lacked more positive outlets for their energies.  As I read that, I suddenly realized that perhaps there lay the connecting point between the Prince’s own life story and the work he has created for himself.  In undertaking things like The Prince’s Trust he was creating a useful outlet for his own pent up energies.

During this last week’s birthday tributes Prince Charles has continued to speak of his “convening power,” and of his efforts at “mobilizing” (rather than “meddling”) in areas of his ongoing deep concern.  He has also expressed his hope that the effects of his long efforts will have an ongoing impact once he eventually assumes the very different role of Monarch.  For a once self-described “twit” (1969) that seems to be quite a statement of his own realization of what he has accomplished.  And it must also have been very satisfying to him to hear the tribute paid by his mama, the Queen, as she visited the headquarters of The Prince’s Trust:  “For Prince Philip and me there can be no greater pleasure or comfort than to know that into his care are safely entrusted the guiding principles of public service and duty to others.”

He serves.

Happy birthday, sir.

Yours Aye,

– Ken Cuthbertson