The Prince of Wales is the heir apparent, and has been since he was three years old. Despite dedicating his whole life to preparing himself for the role, Charles has faced significant backlash in recent months and has even been forced to turn the comments of his social media posts off to avoid trolls. His portrayal in the Netflix drama The Crown and the retelling of his split from Princess Diana had infuriated royal fans who believe he treated his late ex-wife unfairly.
Public support for the Prince of Wales has fallen so much that there is now a majority who want the crown to skip him and go straight to his son Prince William, according to findings from YouGov.
Prior to the latest release from The Crown, Charles had already been dubbed a “pampered prince” by royal watchers due to his outrageous requests behind Palace walls.
In the Amazon Prime documentary, ‘Serving the Royals: Inside the Firm’, former royal servants recall how the lavish heir to the throne is famously hard to please.
One-time servant to the royal household and butler to Princess Diana, Paul Burrell, claimed: “Prince Charles has grown up with such a privileged lifestyle that he doesn’t have the mechanics to choose for himself anymore.
“Everything is done for him.
“His pyjamas are pressed every morning, so that they don’t have creases in them for the next day.
“His shoelaces are pressed flat with an iron, his underwear is folded in a certain way, the bath towel has to be placed in a certain position, the bath plug has to be in a certain position.
“The water temperature [for a bath] has to be just tepid and only half full.
“Prince Charles does have his valet squeeze one inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush every morning.
“If anyone gets anything wrong, everybody is scolded.”
Mr Burrell even claimed that the Prince of Wales once called him to pick up a letter from the Queen which had fallen into his wastepaper bin — despite the paper being within reaching distance from the royal himself.
READ MORE: Prince Charles’ ‘nervousness’ about future exposed in photographs
However, the Queen’s aides claim the current sovereign has total faith in her eldest son.
Sources told the Evening Standard that any reports that the Palace in general “fear” the UK is not prepared for Charles’ radical style of monarchy are “wide of the mark”.
Aides explained: “As Prince of Wales, His Royal Highness has served Her Majesty and the institution of the monarchy all his life.
“He is a serious-thinking man and he more than anyone knows what is expected of him as king.
“Of course when and if the time comes he will have his own style, but he understands and appreciates the importance of continuity and tradition more than anyone.”
Even so, concerns that Charles could become a “meddling monarch” have also persisted, especially as the 72-year-old has continued his activism on the climate crisis.
However, the heir himself has promised to pull his socks up as the sovereign and refrain from being a “meddling monarch”.
There is very little chance of the crown skipping Charles and going to William, as that would undo the hereditary nature of the constitutional monarchy.
