King Charles by Robert Jobson

Author:Robert Jobson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2019-08-29T16:00:00+00:00

8

FATHER AND SONS

“It is your selfless drive to effect change, whether that is to improve the lives of those who are on the wrong path, to save an important piece of our national heritage, or to protect a particular species under threat, which William and I draw inspiration from every day.”

—Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, in a speech at a Buckingham Palace garden party in honor of the Prince of Wales’s seventieth birthday

The whirs and clicks of the photographers’ cameras went into overdrive as the royal party, led by the Prince of Wales, stepped onto the back steps of Buckingham Palace. But he knew they weren’t really trained on him. The four royals—Charles, Camilla, Harry, and Meghan—stood underneath a specially erected awning with the words “The Prince of Wales’s 70TH Birthday Patronage Celebration,” topped off with his heraldic badge of three white ostrich feathers emerging from a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bore the motto Ich Dien—“I Serve.”

After the last blast of “God Save the Queen,” all four duly descended the steps and began working the crowd, meeting a number of the 6,000 people who were invited from 386 of Charles’s patronages and 20 of his military associations. A number of guests from the police, fire, and ambulance services, as well as mountain rescue and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), also attended.

Inevitably, though, the photographers’ lenses focused on the newly ennobled royal, the Duchess of Sussex, immaculate in a silk-crepe pencil dress from the British brand Goat and a Philip Treacy dome hat, as this was her first official engagement since marrying Prince Harry.

Harry, the newly created Duke of Sussex, then marked the occasion with a speech of self-deprecation and rare warmth toward his father. “Pa,” he said, using the term of endearment again, “while I know that you’ve asked that today not be about you, you must forgive me if I don’t listen to you. Much like when I was younger. Instead, I ask everyone here to say a huge thank-you to you, for your incredible work over nearly fifty years.”

He praised Charles’s “selfless drive to effect change” in a heartfelt speech. “We are here today to reflect on and to celebrate my father’s dedicated support to all of you and the work that you do.”

He went on, “As I was preparing for this afternoon, I looked through the long list of those who had been invited. Pa, I was again struck by the range and diversity of the work which you are involved with. It is your selfless drive to effect change, whether that is to improve the lives of those who are on the wrong path, to save an important piece of our national heritage, or to protect a particular species under threat, which William and I draw inspiration from every day.”

Occasionally, however, the level of belligerence has shocked the prince, as both boys have, on occasion, challenged him. William has even been known to speak firmly in his father’s face. It is reminiscent

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