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Maritza Castro

Professor Collins

ENG 3151

23 October 2022

Global Views on Global News: The Passing of the Queen

Great Britain had endured under the reign of Queen Elizabeth for nearly seventy one

years. On September 8th, 2022, the long standing monarch passed suddenly and the United

Kingdom finally confronted change. The power shifted to her eldest son, formerly known as

Prince Charles of Wales, he is now King Charles. Many in the country had speculated as to

whether or not Charles would even get the opportunity to become king, as he is famously the

longest awaiting heir to his nation’s throne. At the age of seventy three, he is now also the oldest

monarch to inherit the crown.

Although Charles has spent his entire life awaiting the crown, he has not enjoyed the

luxuries of a private identity. Despite the subdued nature the royal family attempts, Charles is a

very controversial figure in Britain’s news circle. As the heir to the British throne, his life was

publicized and every move he made was scrutinized as the move of a future monarch — and by

the looks of it, not a popular one. Landler says, “Charles’s journey was, perhaps inevitably, less

acclaimed. His foibles and frustrations were mercilessly dissected by the news media” (Landler

2022). He came of age in the era of a more invasive press circus than his mother was, and so his

life was one that gained media attention rather swiftly.

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Most of the new King’s infamy was born after his infidelity scandals against the late

Princess Diana Spencer, his ex-wife and the mother to his sons, Prince Willaim and Prince Harry.

The late princess was exceedingly popular, and her marriage to Charles was the event of the

century for the Royal Family, however that was soured when rumors of Charles’ infidelity to

current wife Camila Parker-Bowles came to light. After the nightmare ending to the fairytale

wedding, Charles saw an instant drop in popularity as the public turned against him. Landler

writes,“From 1991 to 1996, the percentage of people who said they thought Charles would make

a good king plunged to 41 percent from 82 percent…”(Landler 2022). Following Charles and

Diana’s divorce in 1996, he saw a loss in the public favor that their union brought to him. Her

death in 1997 only worsened the blow. Holden and Macaskill write on how the nation’s disdain

has lingered and smeared the hopes Charles might have for being a revered monarch, “As

recently as five years ago, at the 20th anniversary of Diana's death, polls suggested the majority

of people had a generally negative perception of him”(Holden, Macaskill 2022). Though, in the

time since the scandal and the unfortunate death of the late Princess, many have had time to let

Charles’ reputation take a backseat in their memories.

Though it would be difficult to claim Charles is particularly loved, he isn’t as hated as

some other members of his family. Booth and Adam discuss that in recent polls, King Charles is

running in the middle of the pack as far as public favor goes, “Pollsters say a lot of Britons don’t

love Charles, though they don’t strongly dislike him, either”(Booth, Adam 2022). Public favor is

swaying slowly, perhaps not into Charles’ favor, but at the very least, out of enemy territory. It’s

not to say he’s completely out of the woods yet, as many Brits are still rather up in arms about

the ordeal with the widely recognized People’s Princess, Charles is slowly being eased up on,
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write Booth and Adam, “While some Britons still hold a grudge, many seem to have given

Charles a reprieve, more than 25 years later, for his role in his disastrous marriage to Princess

Diana, which ended in tragedy” (Booth, Adam 2022). Time heals all wounds, as they say. While

the nation still does mourn Princess Diana, and their tale is one that is frequently rehashed in

media such as: The Crown and Spencer, both depictions of their disastrous marriage, there hasn’t

seemed to be any recent repercussions on Charles’ popularity. At least not anything more than

his usual lack thereof.

The popularity of the royal family seems to be coinciding with their level of poweron the

political sphere, in that it’s been a free-falling decline for quite some time. Following the death of

the queen, there was a notable ambivalence about the whole ordeal despite the nation’s

mandatory mourning period. Treisman noted the ways in which Britons didn’t seem to

particularly care for the loss of their late Queen,“People weren't planning their Mondays around

the funeral (but said they might watch it on TV if convenient), and didn't feel they were missing

out on anything by not lining up to visit the queen's coffin”(Treisman 2022). The queen was

mostly a figurehead for the United Kingdom at the time of her passing, and the Royal Family’s

purpose is largely obsolete aside from their place as relics of a by-gone era. Tresiman

interviewed Brits on their perspectives of the Royals, quoting, “...The royal family doesn't do

much beyond serve as a tourist attraction — and doesn't do anything for her in particular, even

though she pays taxes towards them”(Treisman 2022). So, in saying that Charles isn’t a

particularly popular monarch, it’s not as if he’s an outlier of his family. The passing of the Queen

is not a reflection on the new King Charles’ standing in the British popularity polls, but rather, a

reminder of the obsolete system he is the new face of.

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Works Cited

Booth, William, and Karla Adam. “What Kind of Monarch Will King Charles III Be? Different

from His Mum.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 Sept. 2022,

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/09/how-will-king-charles-rule/.

Landler, Mark. “Long an Uneasy Prince, King Charles III Takes On a Role He Was Born To.”

The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Sept. 2022,

www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/world/europe/charles-king-uk.html.

Mansoor, Sanya. “How the World Is Reacting to Queen Elizabeth II's Death.” Time, Time, 9

Sept. 2022, time.com/6211821/queen-elizabeth-ii-death-world-reactions/.

Person, and Andrew Macaskill Michael Holden. “Britons Back New King Charles, so Long as

He Keeps Quiet.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 13 Sept. 2022,

www.reuters.com/world/uk/britons-back-new-king-charles-so-long-he-keeps-quiet-2022-0

9-13/.

Treisman, Rachel. “Away from the Mourning Crowds, Some Londoners Say They Hope the

Monarchy Will Change.” NPR, NPR, 19 Sept. 2022,

www.npr.org/2022/09/18/1123722730/queen-elizabeth-monarchy-future-london-peckham.