For newly sworn-in US Presidents, one landmark in time is always on their minds: their first 100 days in charge. What are their immediate priorities and how quickly can they make an impact? Can they wring big victories out of their all-too-brief honeymoon period?
Prime ministers are increasingly judged in the media on the same neat yet arbitrary deadline, as Liz Truss will no doubt find when she opens newspapers on 15 December. But what about the new King? Does Charles III need to focus on this centenary of sorts to convince the nation of the monarchy’s continued benefits?
Watching the King shake the hands of well-wishers outside Buckingham Palace on Friday – when he accepted a kiss from one bold woman – brought to mind comparisons of Tony Blair entering 10 Downing Street with waves and smiles in 1997. And just like a new PM, a new sovereign also faces a long list of rituals, only with even more pageantry and tradition – stretching from the funeral of his mother in the coming days to his coronation in the following months.
That might seem to be where the similarities end. Charles has no election to worry about, no uppity backbenchers to keep sweet, no Prime Minister’s Questions to prepare for. He will begin his weekly meetings with Truss but it’s his job to ask her things, which will remain private in any case. Monarchs, even those aged 73, can contemplate ruling for decades rather than days.
But polls will matter to a man who knows he isn’t as popular as his mother. Republicanism may feel like little of a threat in the UK right now but he came just seventh in a YouGov poll of the most popular members of the Royal Family at the end of last year – behind not only the Queen and Prince William in first and second place, but even his sister Princess Anne. Among young adults, he ranked even lower.
Prince Harry’s ghostwritten memoir, expected to be published by the end of the year, presents the greatest immediate threat to his reputation given the previously reported strained relationship between the pair. Perhaps the Queen’s death will push its release back but even diplomatically worded criticism of the King from his own son would be more sensational than ever now he is on the throne.
Charles will also face decisions over Prince Andrew after he settled out of court with his sexual abuse accuser Virginia Guiffre over allegations linked to his paedophile friend Jeffery Epstein. Will the King fund Andrew’s living costs? Will his brother keep his title as Duke of York and will he be allowed to remain in the £30m Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle?
The King’s philanthropic organisation, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, could yet land him in more trouble if more revelations emerge about donations like the suitcases of £2.5m in cash said to have been handed over by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, the ex-Prime Minister of Qatar, between 2011 and 2015. The Charity Commission said in July it will take no further action and Charles will hope that is the end of the matter.
Just as Truss needed to swiftly choose a Cabinet from her MPs and appoint Downing Street staff positions including Chief of Staff and Director of Communications, Charles has a court to manage. The Royal Household has five main departments.
There is the Private Secretary’s Office which organises UK events and overseas tours, prepares speeches, manages official letters and congratulatory messages, advises on constitutional matters and handles official presents. As fans of The Crown will know, Private Secretary to the Sovereign is the role most commonly associated with Alan ‘Tommy’ Lascelles. His modern-day successor is Sir Edward Young, who took over the role in 2017 under the Queen. Will Charles be happy to keep him on? The King may want to replace him with Sir Clive Alderton, who has been his right-hand man since 2015. Experts think Charles will prefer to stick with the loyal team he already knows.
Among the other key roles are the Keeper of the Privy Purse, in charge of finances; Master of the Household, effectively the Palace’s Chief Operating Officer; the Lord Chamberlain, concerned with garden parties and state visits; and there’s the chairman of the Royal Collection Trust, managing the monarchy’s vast array of art.
The historian AN Wilson, author of Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II and The Queen: The Life and Family of Queen Elizabeth II, tells i: “I don’t think the first 100 days matters. The point of that mark, particularly in countries like the US where there’s a fixed amount of time the head of state can be in office, is that they’ve got to make an impact.
“The first thing Liz Truss said when she was elected Conservative leader on Monday was, ‘We’re going to win the next general election,’” which shows the way politicians’ minds work. Whereas, if you agree with me that he’s not going to put his foot in it and he won’t be forced to abdicate, he’s got as long as nature or the Almighty allow him on this planet.”
Although he can afford to operate on a different timescale, however, he still needs to “make an effort” in his early days, says Wilson. “He is going to go to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland to show that he wants to be the monarch of a United Kingdom.”
Wilson also believes that while he can’t be complacent, there will not be a quick rush in public sentiment towards republicanism.
“A lot of people said: ‘The Queen is okay, but quite honestly we ought to grow up and have a republic and move on – when she dies, we’ll think again.’ And some people who always did want a republic will go on feeling that way. But actually, I think most people will give King Charles the benefit of the doubt,” says the writer.
“All his critics have tended to say: ‘He’ll shoot his mouth off, he doesn’t understand being a constitutional monarch, he’ll take sides about politics.'” I don’t think he will. He’s spent 70 years getting ready.”
When his first overseas trips as sovereign are announced, however, Charles may have a harder job pleasing the 14 foreign nations where he has also become head of state.
“He had a bit of a struggle becoming the next head of the Commonwealth. There was a strong mood to have somebody else, until the Queen said to the other leaders, ‘Oh go on, give it to Charles.’ He’ll have a bit of trouble on his hands.
“He knows that the Australians are half and half about being a republic and we know there are countries in the West Indies that don’t really want to have a monarch anymore. That was why Prince William and his wife had a hard time when they went to Jamaica.”
It will be in 107 days when the King gives his first Christmas Broadcast speech to the UK and the Commonwealth. He may not be as conscious of a ticking clock for public opinion as the PM he must receive at the Palace, but by then, we should still have a good sense of how the King plans to reign.
AN Wilson’s new memoir ‘Confessions: A Life of Failed Promises’ is on sale now (£20, Bloomsbury Continuum)
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