Family drama
The British royals may have weathered centuries of scandal, but their dynasty keeps on rolling along
There seems no reason to assume that Prince Charles would not play this role at least as well as his mother. His concern for the environment, his preoccupation with "fairness" --surely the most important element of the British character--his feeling that Britain's traditional buildings ought not be torn down for the benefit of property speculators, and his affection for all sorts of odd British customs go well with the basic role of the monarch, which is to provide a steadying, slightly conservative, and cautious view of events and above all a sense of the long continuity of British institutions, perhaps never more valuable than now, as Britain is drawn deeper and deeper into the European Union, whose members may have more to learn from the United Kingdom in terms of democracy, free speech, and the rule of law than vice versa. If anybody is likely to recognize the importance of not giving up the essential values and identity of Great Britain in order to "join" Europe, it is likely to be the Prince of Wales, who would be recognizable as English anywhere in the world, as would the Duchess of Cornwall.
Like tea, shepherd's pie, English country life, and much else in Great Britain, the royal family is not supposed to be glamorous, exciting, or chic. It is, above all, supposed to be English--or, rather more ambitiously, British. Given this, Prince Charles could hardly have made a better choice than Camilla Parker Bowles. It has taken them a long time to get together as a couple, and there is something rather touching and charming about love shining in the eyes of two people who are, to put it mildly, no longer in the flush of youth and no strangers to wrinkles and gray hair. In the meantime, the British monarchy has done it again and ensured its survival for another few generations.
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