THE PRINCE OF WALES EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY WILL BRING NEW RESPONSIBILITIES

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31215, 12 November 1966, Page 14

THE PRINCE OF WALES EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY WILL BRING NEW RESPONSIBILITIES

From his 18th birthday on. he will need all the virtues. In the Queen's absence abroad, such as the Royal tour of Canada next summer, he will act for the first time as a Counsellor. Any two of six Counsellors can carry out the Queen's duties, and though this may mean no more than formally signing State documents, it can also involve receiving members of foreign royal families, acting as host at State occasions and making executive decisions on day-to-day matters of the Royal estates. He will be called on more and more to open exhibitions and conferences, lay foundation stones of libraries and universities, tour industrial plants and present awards. Looking further into the future—after passing the two “A” levels at Gordonstoun—he can look forward to perhaps three years in the Navy and Governorship in the Commonwealth, maybe Australia or Canada. By the time he is twenty-five he will be a Knight of the Garter and a Privy Counsellor, and will be taking over many of his father’s official duties. He will have an Income of £30,000 a year, a personal fortune of around a quarter of a million pounds, and will he one of Britain’s biggest landowners. There will also be the awesome thought that the girl that he marries will one day be Queen. Seldom has a family motto been so apt. That of Charles, Prince of Wales, is simply, “I Serve.”

<By

SIMON KAVANAUGH)

On November 14 Prince Charles Philip Arthur George will be eighteen.

Among his other presents will be a fixed income of £30,000 a year from the Duchy of Cornwall. To a youth who already is landlord of Dartmoor Prison and the Oval cricket ground in London, the money is going to mean a lot less than the fact that on that day he becomes officially an adult member of Britain’s Royal Family.

His father. Prince Philip, will have to make way for him as Regent-designate, and he will also become one of the six Counsellors of State who take over the royal duties when the Queen is out of the country. As Regent-designate he could assume the powers of the Queen and act as if he were King if for some reason his mother was unable to exercise her powers. It is an unlikely eventuality, but his elevation to the role of Regent-designate brings forcefully home the fact that one day he will be the monarch. Lived As A Commoner

King Charles 111 will be unique in many respects. Most important of all, he will be the first British monarch to have lived as a commoner, and to know the commoner’s problems. For never has a royal prince had to compete with his subjects before on equal terms, and never has one been exposed to so much public scrutiny and possible criticism.

As a junior schoolboy he walked into a Stornoway hotel and ordered a cherry brandy; from the resulting storm it might have been thought that he was imitating Charles II in his grosser habits. Short of pocket money, he was said to have sold his exercise book; it took Special Branch men, senior

officials of Buckingham Palace and the Government to smooth things over. If every parent of a high-spirited teenager had only such crises to cope with, they would count themselves fortunate. But he has only to sneeze—literally—to cause someone, somewhere, anxiety. It is greatly to his credit that, so far, any anxiety has been short-lived, and that he is a credit to his generation and his parents.

Life Not Easy Life has not been easy for Prince Charles. Even as a small child he discovered the frustration, even misery, of constantly living in the public eye, and as the eldest son of the world's senior monarchs, he was subject to greater discipline than a foundling in an orphanage. It is no secret that he has not enjoyed much of the strict curriculum laid down by his father, who at times can be Victorian in his outlook on bringing up children.

Games—all games—had to be played to be won; food—all food—had to be eaten to the last forkful; violent exercise, early rising, fresh air and hard work was the order of the day—every day. Holidays were spent in mastering new sports and social graces. Thus, the Prince struggled with horse-riding when he was instinctively somewhat nervous of horses; he endured the tireless tuition of Scots ghillies in fly-casting for months before he could catch anything other than a rock, a tree or—on one occasion—a ghillie’s hat

He was cracked on the head countless times by the boom of his father's racing yachts as he painfully learned the ar* of seamanship, and learned too to overcome seasickness which plagued him as a small boy. Any spare time was devoted to private coaching in Latin. French and German. He likes girls, but hardly dares look at one for fear of the unwelcome speculation that would follow in the world's press.

Emerged Unscathed

His parents might well be proud of him for emerging from all this —and Timbertop and Gordonstoun too—unscathed. He is self-assured, well-mannered, healthy and intelligent, wffiich is surely all and more that could be asked of him.