I have, not unlike many of you, become a hostage of my prettier half’s obsession with the monarchies. I have too, not unlike many of you, been forced to watch “The Crown” on Netflix. I have too, just like some of you might have, noticed that the show portrays The Royals in a slightly unexpected way - like almost relatable human beings with their dreams, fears, tears and aspirations.

I have, just like most of you, thought of this as of an overly dramatized plot. Of course that show authors need to make main protagonists at least a little bit relatable. But they can’t really be all that, can they?

Love, etc… 🔗

I have honestly expected that Netflix will go for low hanging fruit, and portray the “Princess Di” era of the Monarchy in a way target audience would expect them to - them as lizard people who have basically murdered innocent blonde angel who was dragged into their twisted world described as blood sucking hellscape of British noblety.

What we’ve got was a portrait of fairly relatable, albeit overly rich people for no reason aside of being born into the right family at the right point in time. People among who noone is really happy and only the elders really accept their role in the country, society and family; and even them struggled in their younger age with it.

Then we also see a portrait of Diana, who on one hand got exactly what she wanted; but on the other her life gets destroyed by the refusal of 30-year old who “got seduced” by her when she was 16. “The Crown” basically portrays Diana like a teenage femme fatale, which is very awkward slippery slope moment of the show, who actually kinda seduces Charles, at the time disappointed of disproval of his Royal Highness about his idea to marry a woman who should divorce to marry him in the first place; and whose name we are not going to mention here; not for hatred, but just for the kicks.

Whole show produced hefty amount of the discussion in the British public space; members of the Royal Family supposedly being less than thrilled with their portrayal in the show. And whole that thing looks like a staged moral panic, if I ever saw one. Again, “The Crown” is so mild in portraying the royals, that it looks at times like it’s their personal PR. Like, come on, we have all expected much worse people; with much less principles and, to be honest, people who are more down straight evil.

Anyway, back to future King Charles III. Spoilers ahead, for those who didn’t watch the show yet.

Charles is portrayed like a troubled young man, constantly torn between the lover and the love he tries to leave behind. You know, his parents not being exactly thrilled with his choice. He is constantly sad and depressed trying to destroy The Monarchy from inside, annoyed by the longevity of his Boss Mother who needs to die for him to get the promotion at job, simoultaneously burning the taxpayers’ money on a lavish lifestyle; and bribing his (by the end of the latest season) ex wife with that same money.

Only those among us who were not at his place for decades of our lives should be the ones throwing the first stone.

Jokes aside, Charles’ troubles actually make him relatable. But on the other hand; FFS, really?

Nobody expects Charles the Reformator 🔗

I did hint above that Charles is portrayed like a person who tries to destroy The Monarchy from inside. I mean, ok, he is not exactly being shown as some kind of Prince Guy Fawkes of Windsor, far from it. But his personal gripes with obstacles to his happiness make him reconsider his job. Whole sh*tshow of The Sorrows of Young Charlester is apparently not frustrating enough to resign from his duties and abandon riches provided by the working class, it was supposedly enough that he would get in open and semi-public arguments with his parents over the form and role of The Monarchy.

Instead, as we all know happend, he decides to sit still, get into humiliating public battle with his wife and spends the whole friggin’ productive age of his waiting for that long deserved promotion meanwhile doing nothing. You know, he does accept his role of the public servant paid from the budget.

Oh, he also addressed his mother, you know, The Queen, as “Mommy” and his father “Daddy” way way way too deep into his adult age. You know, relatable sh*t. But I digress.

When you watch the show, if you’re like me just about half-informed about the inner workings of The Royal Family, this character development of Prince Charles who leads life-long battle to reform The Monarchy doesn’t really seem realistic. It really left me with the impression of being one of those completely made up plots in the show, for the sake of the drama.

From the show into the real world, circa 2022 🔗

Coincidence wanted that just few days after I’ve finished watching the latest season of “The Crown”, still under impression and doubt about portrayal of Prince Charles in the show, he meets a wife of Ukrainian president in a (Greek-)Catholic cathedral in England.

I admit I don’t fully understand subtleties of such a moment. It might be much smaller deal than I think.

But consider this: acting King, making him formally The Head of the Church of England (protestant), meets Mrs Zelenska (baptized in Orthodox religion) in a Greek-Catholic Cathedral. Granted, this meeting was not exactly of a statesman nature, but more of a humanitarian act (opening of the Ukrainian refugee support center), so it was relatively informal event.

But this still seems like a lot.

For example, until about two decades ago, Charles’ own mother herself lead Britain through the decades of the ongoing bloody armed conflict with the Catholic resistance, basically half of the people in the Northern Ireland.

We will see what the future brings. But is it possible that King Charles III. turns out to be a Great Reformator and manages to reverse, or at least significantly slow down, the decay of The Monarchy?

Could it be that, by the standards of The Royals - even compared to his own brother for example, the biggest sin of The Royal Family Member Formerly Known As Prince Charles is that he is simply not tremendously likeable person? But that everything else about him is… not so bad?

Well, in that case, may we all live in interesting times.

In that case; I can’t believe I am going to write this; God save the King.