As Prince of Wales, Charles has been there for as long as many of us can remember. Every major moment in his life, from his birth through his marriages and parenting of two sons, his public declarations about architecture, environmental sustainability, and so on, have been paraded before us in a regular drip feed of media coverage. And yet, many of us feel as if we know little about Charles the man.
I suppose that most of us followed the coronation ceremony of King Charles with all its grandeur, pageantry and symbolism. It was a spectacular ceremony, marking the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power. There were five key stages to that coronation: the recognition, the coronation oath, the anointing, the investiture (which includes the crowning) and the homage.
Of all the coronation moments, the anointing, or unction, was the most important. That was where the Archbishop of Canterbury made a cross with holy oil on the royal forehead and elsewhere on the body to show that the monarch had been chosen by God. It signalled the conferment of God's grace on a ruler.
It was followed by the investiture, when King Charles put on ceremonial clothing known as the Colobium Sindonis and the Supertunica, a full-length coat made of gold silk cloth. Coronation regalia was then presented to the king and was invested with the coronation bracelets, known as armills, representing sincerity and wisdom, followed by the stole, the royal robe and the orb. The monarch was also presented with the coronation ring, the sceptre with the cross and the rod with the dove.
While the real key moment was the anointing, the visual moment was the crowning itself. While being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry, that coronation should reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future.
So who is King Charles in his ordinary life, once we only get to watch him in the execution of his royal duties and ceremonies?
A brilliant conversationalist, a cracking host, and, surprisingly, an excellent actor, Charles III genuinely cares for people and strives to make a difference in their lives. As someone who has spent his adult life conversing with strangers, it is hardly surprising. The King is a good conversationalist, but it is his ability to listen that leaves those he meets feeling interesting and valued. It does not matter what walk of life you are from or what age you are; he finds common ground and makes you feel that you deserve to be there.
Although mild-mannered and gentle, His Majesty has a sense of fun. Sir Rod Stewart, a former ambassador for The Prince’s Trust who performed at the King’s 60th birthday as well as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last year, insists he is the most likely of all the royals to get up and dance.
Yet nothing is merely for show with the King. His interactions, be it a speech about the importance of letter writing to postal workers or a conversation with costume and prop makers from the Royal Shakespeare Company, are imbued with a kindness and depth that make them meaningful. He is a unique combination of enormous compassion without ego, and it is a very rare combination.
The environment has been the king’s grand passion. He was campaigning against climate change, deforestation and the destruction of habitats long before they were hot topics. Those who worked with him at the organisations and charities he patronised as Prince of Wales speak of his commitment, thirst for knowledge and perseverance. The whole world can rest assured that there is a king on the British throne who has led this conversation and who has a deep understanding of all the issues involved, and I think that is a matter of great good fortune.
Away from his public duties, the new King also understands the importance of family and has enjoyed creating homes in London, Wales, Scotland, Gloucestershire and Transylvania, where he can focus on his interests, which include painting, reading and horticulture. He is an organic farmer with a lifelong dedication to healthy, sustainable food and a champion for nature, the countryside and its people. His Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund has supported more than 120 farmer-led research trials with the Innovative Farmers network, but his support goes far beyond financial generosity.
He has an overwhelming sense of energy, a relentless feeling of wanting to get things done, to exercise change for the better and an urgency that is always just one step away from frustration at the inertia of the world as he finds it. He hones in on tiny details that others have overlooked.
King Charles loves eggs more than anything, as is evident through his decision to choose a quiche as his signature dish instead of the signature chicken that has ruled the table till now. He is a fan of soap operas. He is highly opinionated, has a curious and capacious mind, a talent as a consummate diplomat, an independent spirit and a love of learning that make him something of a know-it-all and dismissive of viewpoints that run contrary to his own.
It is not known to many, but King Charles has very thin and unique cursive handwriting, and he speaks Welsh. He is supposedly very picky, never travels without a custom leather toilet seat, has a volcanic temper and is very capable of flying into rages. He is a qualified pilot and diver, and he loves to dive around historic shipwrecks. He so believes in good causes that, to date, he has founded no less than 20 charities.
King Charles is just an ordinary person in an extraordinary position, someone to be treated like any other person, one whose identity is nonetheless anchored in his royal heritage. This is the schism that besets his life.
Despite a slow-growing anti-monarchy movement in the UK, King Charles has all it takes to revive and reassure the continuity of the British monarchy for a long time to come. It is, thus, that we cannot but wish well King Charles and, chorus-like, acclaim "Long live His Majesty the King"!
Dr Mark Said is a lawyer