King Charles III may have been dramatized for decades for media consumption as an eccentric and misguided prince.
An unfaithful man who broke up a royal fairy tale marriage, that is, a prince unfit to be a king with great responsibilities as a head of state.
I lean towards another profile.
I remember Carlos the last time I met him at Buckingham Palace, when he was presiding, as Prince of Wales, at an official act on behalf of his mother in December 2018. Despite being a very cold day, Carlos had ordered that the heating of the palace be kept low in order not to waste energy.
In the conversation we had, he seemed to me to be an affable person with a great sense of humor.
In addition, he was very well informed on the affairs of state.
The ecological issue has been his declared obsession since he gave a speech in Wales in 1970 warning about the growing pollution of the planet.
This is one of the issues that has helped him connect with modern British society, as much or more than his extensive charitable activity supporting access to education for young people from less privileged homes.
Since his student days at Cambridge, where he studied Philosophy and Letters, in addition to acting in plays, Carlos has among his favorite hobbies taking care of his gardens, painting country scenes and reading Shakespeare.
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after the mourning
In the days after her mother's death, her speeches to the nation and to Parliament—she likes to write and converse, and she does it well—were a perfect balance between the deeply personal and moving and the unequivocally constitutional, measured but also somewhat poetic.
To say goodbye to his mother, he used a quote from Hamlet: "May flights of angels sing to you at your rest."
He has come to the throne after a succession that has been skilfully and strategically planned for many years to avoid any traumatic interruption.
For his part, Charles wants Prince William to play an increasingly important role.
He believes that his eldest son is indispensable to reach the younger generations.
He is also running a recovery process for Harry and Meghan Markle's crown.
Both institutionally and personally, Camila has become her greatest support.
The one who at the time was, after the death of Diana, the most hated woman in the United Kingdom, today enjoys great popular support as queen consort.
Nobody knows Carlos better than Camila.
Perhaps Freud would have something to say about the fact that Camila physically resembles so much Mabel Anderson, the nanny that Carlos adored in the first years of his life, during which his mother was barely able to act as such.
The truth is that Carlos and Camila form a very close couple.
She has given him an emotional stability without which her reign would today seem doomed to disaster.
Carlos III does not feel the threat of a deeply rooted republican feeling in the United Kingdom.
He is committed to upholding a longstanding British constitutional tradition, such as the separation of powers between the head of state and the government, and respect for the legislative authority of a democratically elected Parliament.
His reign has begun with an impressive sacred ceremony.
Jimmy Burns Marañón
is a writer and president of the British Spanish Society.
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