Britain’s Prince Charles celebrates 70th birthday amid calls for abdication
Britain has marked the 70th birthday of its heir to the throne Prince Charles amid fresh warnings that his potential ascent to power would be both dangerous and troublesome.
Charles, the Prince of Wales, attended public and private parties on Wednesday as UK Prime Minister Theresa May and members of the British Parliament congratulated him on the anniversary.
His office released new photographs of his years of waiting to be a monarch, including images related to his first marriage to Princess Diana, a controversial and unhappy experience that many believe stained the reputation of the British royal family for good.
Charles 70th birthday, however, came as more people have become vocal in expressing their disappointment at the idea that the elderly prince would eventually succeed his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who has been in power for more than six decades.
Critics have said that Charles' ascent to the throne at an age when most men have retired would be an odd event, especially given his old-fashioned manners.
“The royal baton, though not the crown itself, has already skipped a generation,” the Guardian said in an anonymous editorial on Wednesday, adding, “The coronation of an elderly King Charles promises to be a distinctly backward-looking event, with none of the new-era excitement of the Queen’s in 1953.”
Others insist that Charles interventionist style of approaching social and political issues would pose a threat to Britain if he ascends to the throne as king.
Britain’s unwritten constitution stipulates that members of the royal family, especially the monarch, should stay out of politics.
However, Charles has repeatedly sought over the past decades to challenge orthodox views by imposing his ideas about climate change, architecture and farming.
In a bid to sooth the concerns, he said in an interview with the BBC that he would stop “meddling” in campaigns which were important to him.
“I do realize that it is a separate exercise being sovereign ... I’m not that stupid,” said Prince Charles in an interview with the BBC aired last week.
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