Long Live the King!

This past weekend King Charles III finally had his coronation. Personally, I was happy for him. After waiting for decades, it was finally his time to shine. Of course, I am sure the moment was a happy one for him, but I cannot help but believe that it was with a tinge of sadness as his mother had to die for him to become king. That is some weird stuff, isn’t it? But that is the nature of the Monarchy captured by the Words in this instance, “The Queen is Dead! Long Live the King!” And thus Ended the Reign of Queen Elizabeth II. A monarch who the United Kingdom who has literarily lived through word history after becoming Queen due to her father passing on from the Weight of the Crown. George VI, her father was never meant to be King and thus lived most of his life as a happy ‘spare’ without the expectation of carrying the weight that was eventually thrust upon him because his elder brother valued his personal romantic pursuits over his duty to his people and Country. But there was not a better man to navigate the United Kingdom than George VI who famously refused to be moved from Buckingham Palace despite the risk of it being Bombed during the War. With his Prime Minister, Winston Churchill they held fast and strong and emerged victorious at the end of the second world war with the support of their allies. Alas eventually King George VI passed on at quite the early age of fifty-six thereby making his first daughter Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith And thus, also ended the long tenure of Charles as Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, the Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. I believe he holds the record of the longest serving Heir to the Throne. And he did spend his time well. As the Male heir apparent he had control of the Duchy of Cornwall’s revenue which serves to provide for the needs of the Heir to the throne since it was deemed so for Edward the Black Prince by his father Edward the third of England. Charles grew the value of the Duchy to over One Billion Dollars including some $433 million in commercial properties and more than 52,000 hectares of land, or about a third the size of Greater London.

A very major Legacy of King Charles III is the Princes Trust. The prince’s trust is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are unemployed or struggling at school and at risk of exclusion. A number of the young people assisted by the trust face issues such as homelessness, mental health problems, or trouble with the law. The Prince's Trust is one of the most successful funding organisations in the UK and is the UK's leading youth charity, having helped over one million young people turn their lives around, created 125,000 entrepreneurs, and given business support to 395,000 people in the UK. From 2006 to 2016, its work for the youth has been worth an estimated £1.4 billion. Quite a Legacy, isn’t it? Funny enough this does not get quite the mention it should in the media. Some of the well know beneficiaries include Idris Elba and David Oyelowo just to name a few. We now look to William, King Charles III 1st son and Heir apparent to continue his father’s legacy as Prince of Wales and dare I say surpass it? Long Live King Charles III. Long may he reign.