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Hilary Clarke

The attendance of Charles, Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at London’s Chinatown’s Lunar New Year festivities last week was a high profile boost for the district as it recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.
There had been some concerns in Chinatown of how to celebrate the Lunar New Year after a confrontation between pro-Beijing groups and newly arrived Hong Kong immigrants there last November. This came amid spiralling relations between the UK and China, a traditional sponsor of what, pre-pandemic, was usually the largest Chinatown Lunar New Year celebration outside Asia.
But the surprise visit of the couple sporting red scarves delighted crowds as they walked through a throng of curious locals, behind dancing lions to the sound of beating drums.
They then held a meeting with community workers from the Chinese Information and Advice Centre (CIAC) about hate crimes against Asians.
“He is really befitting of a king,” said Edmond Yeo, chief executive of CIAC who hosted the visit.
“We were all a bit nervous trying to work out what we should say, but in the end, it was all very easy. He put us all at ease immediately.”
The royal visit to London’s Gerrard Street also marked an auspicious start to celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne, and gave some flavour of what the UK could expect from its future king.
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Beaming from ear to ear, Prince Charles cut a relaxed and happy figure, comfortable in the delighted crowd.
He was smiling again at the weekend when the queen, 95, laid rest to any doubt about his future role when she said Charles’ wife of 17 years, Camilla would be the queen consort upon his succession.
Even so, becoming queen is going to be a hard act to follow.

“She’s got mystery, like Hollywood stars used to have when none of them had Twitter feeds,” Nick Abbot, a left-wing host of LBC radio, said.
“Clearly when the queen dies there will be considerable closing of ranks around the monarchy in the UK, and it will be up to the heir to the throne to demonstrate very quickly that he is a man up to the job, as it were,” Scotland’s pre-eminent historian Sir Thomas Martin Devine wrote in The Herald newspaper.
“It’s going to be difficult for Charles who is due to succeed her. There’s a lot of regard for the monarchy but much of it is founded in the persona of the queen. How well will Charles perform the role?
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“I’m certain he will try to do his best and again keep above politics, but he has form as an individual, for example the Diana situation, which is still remembered.”
The Netflix blockbuster The Crown portrayed Charles as cold in his relationship with his first wife Diana while he had an affair with Camilla.
At home, Prince Charles will have to work hard at improving public relations for the monarchy as interest in the royal family declines, particularly among younger people in the UK. The royal family has faced crisis recently: Prince Harry and Meghan Markel’s effective resignation from it being one of them.

Prince Charles has been criticised for meddling in politics by writing “black spider memos” to politicians on issues about which Charles has expressed public views include farming, genetic modification, global warming, social deprivation, planning and architecture.
At 73, some say he is already too old to become king. But, as the country reels from the impact of Brexit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lockdown party scandals and growing economic woes, maybe an old head at the head is what the UK needs, royal observers say.
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Prince Charles has long been seen as slightly eccentric. For years he was mocked because of his attachment to plants. He has since been proved right on environmental issues, speaking with authority at last year’s COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow.
Despite his own personal fortune linked to his Cornwall estate and his own brand of organic food, Prince Charles might nevertheless be the man to reform the House of Windsor.
He reportedly wants a “slimmed down” number of royals who undertake official duties.
He was said to have been instrumental in stripping his brother Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, of his duties in the wake of revelations of Andrew’s past relations with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. American Virginia Giuffre has claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and has accused Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was 17. Prince Andrew denies the claims.
Prince Charles has also said when he becomes king he will live in a flat above Buckingham Palace, and have the famous royal residence opened to the public more regularly.

His overseas visits are popular with British and foreign diplomats, who point to another side to Prince Charles, who has been preparing for the role of king for most of life.
“We saw this special kind of diplomacy throughout the recent visit by Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla to the Middle East,” said the UAE newspaper The Nation in an editorial following the couple’s visit to the region last year.
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“It was not an occasion to discuss geopolitics, rather one to re-emphasise the long-standing friendship between the UK and the region. And while it was not technically a state visit, it was significant. Prince Charles has deep ties with the Middle East and is seen as one of Europe’s most respected royals.”
Prince Charles will also likely preside over a growing number of former colonies which potential want to remove the British monarch as head of state.
He has been there before. It was Prince Charles who represented the UK royal family when Hong Kong returned to China on July 1, 1997, after 156 years of British colonial rule.

In a long essay leaked to the press at the time, Prince Charles described the UK’s handover of Hong Kong as “the Great Chinese Takeaway”.
He criticised then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s supervising of the handover, saying politicians were always too much in a hurry.
“They then take decisions based on market research and focus groups, on the papers produced by political advisers and civil servants – none of whom will have ever experienced what it is they are taking decisions about,” he wrote.
More recently, he spoke in Barbados at the transition ceremony that formalised the Caribbean island’s decision to remove the queen as its head of state.
“From the darkest days of our past, and the appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our histories, the people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude,” he said.
Prince Charles watched as the queen’s standard was lowered for the final time.
Which country is next? Jamaica, New Zealand, Canada and Australia could all decide to discard the British monarch over the next few years. In the UK, there is likely to be another bid for Scottish independence, although at the moment, removing the House of Windsor as Scotland’s head of state is not yet officially on the cards.


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Britain’s Prince Charles takes part in Lunar New Year celebrations in London’s Chinatown on February 1. Photo: AFP

Britain’s Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and his wife Britain’s Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, take part in Lunar New Year celebrations in London’s Chinatown on February 1. Photo: AFP

Prince of Wales, shakes hands with a man during a visit with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall to Chinatown to mark Lunar New Year. Photo: dpa

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 2021. File photo: Reuters

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Charles, the Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster, London in 2019. File photo: Reuters

Hong Kong returning to China in 1997. Pictured from left are then Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen, Premier Li Peng, President Jiang Zemin, Prince Charles and Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair. File photo: AFP

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, pictured with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 2015, sent a message of congratulations as the queen embarked on celebrations for her Platinum Jubilee. Photo: AP Photo

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth at Sandringham House on Sunday to mark the start of her Platinum Jubilee Year. Photo: Buckingham Palace via AP

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Britain’s Queen Elizabeth with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at the Royal Ascot horse race meeting in Ascot, England, in 2013.  Photo: AP 

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Photo: PA Wire / DPA

Prince Charles and Camilla leave The Prince’s Foundation in London on February 3. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, foreground, and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Photo: AP

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee at the age of 95. Photo: PA

Prince Charles praised his ‘darling’ wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Photo: AFP

Queen Elizabeth II pats one of her dogs, a corgi named Candy. Photo: PA

Queen Elizabeth II waves to crowds with her daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Photo: AP

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Queen Elizabeth II celebrates the start of her Platinum Jubilee. Photo: PA 

Queen Elizabeth II cuts a cake to start celebrating her Platinum Jubilee. Photo: PA 

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Queen Elizabeth this year marks 70 years on the throne as Britain’s longest-serving monarch
Attention turns to Prince Charles, the queen’s oldest son, as the UK royal family maps out its future


Queen Elizabeth this year marks 70 years on the throne as Britain’s longest-serving monarch. Attention has turned to Prince Charles as the UK royal family maps out its future.


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Queen Elizabeth II

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