Heir Apparent

Following his record-breaking yesterday, it is time to get over the strange idea that Prince Charles is unpopular. He may not always be right, but what really annoys those who insist that he is disliked, that his expressions of opinion are somehow improper, or what have you, is that he is of the same, increasingly elderly, generation as themselves, yet he dares to hold and articulate views and values other than their own.

Most people younger than they, the mere existence of whom enrages them to distraction because they were supposed to remain the gilded youths for ever, are either indifferent towards him or actually rather fond of him, and his long decades of solid charitable service, rather than his late ex-wife's glorified photo shoots, have given plenty of them cause to be grateful to him. Not a few of them share some or all of his views, putting him ahead of the field rather than behind the times.

So those who talk about abolishing the monarchy only "once the present Queen dies" are in fact saying "never", and probably know it, as much in Australia as here. Succession happens instantly. And by then, who would want abolition? Even fewer people than do so now.