LEARNING FROM THE QUEEN
As the longest-serving royal apprentice in history, Charles had plenty of time to learn from his mother about the daunting task of being monarch
The Queen with Prince Charles at Windsor Castle in 1969 – the year of his investiture as Prince of Wales
One of the King’s earliest memories is sitting in the bath as a small boy and watching his mother as she walked up and down with the St Edward’s Crown perched on her head, in practice for her coronation. It was a “marvellous” moment that “I shall never forget”, he once said. Now, as he prepares for his own coronation at Westminster Abbey, his mind may wander back to that memory from time to time.
As the longest-serving royal apprentice in history, Charles had plenty of time to learn from his mother about the daunting task of becoming monarch.
“I learnt the way a monkey learns – by watching its parents,” he once quipped. Joking aside, the Queen was the only person in the world who could school him in the unique role of being British sovereign.
mother and son in portrait released by Clarence House in 2016 to mark the end of the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations
The Queen was the only person in the world who could school Charles in the unique role of being British sovereign