Charles has been a controversial royal over the years, from his affair while married to Princess Diana, and alleged persistent political interference, to occasional gaffes and scandals involving aides.
Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son has never enjoyed the same public affection as his mother, which may add to the challenges he now faces as king.
He has battled a string of public relations headaches dating back decades, including accusations of being cold towards his enduringly popular first wife Diana.
Despite some better press more recently, the tabloids had become well versed in taking shots at him for seeming distant and aloof.
Meanwhile, the depiction of his marital woes in the hit Netflix series “The Crown” is unlikely to have garnered Charles much sympathy several decades on from that troubled time.
He has also faced accusations of interfering in politics on various topics spanning architecture, homeopathy and climate change.
And in 2021 his most trusted aide resigned for a second time in his royal courtier career amid controversy.
“I think all of this stuff is damaging, from ‘The Crown’ to reality to everything that’s going on,” royal author Penny Junor said in late 2021, as a cash-for-honours scandal involving Charles’s charity empire erupted.
“None of it is good news. The queen is much loved, Charles is less loved. I think it will be difficult for him whatever happens, but all these revelations are not helpful.”
– ‘Three people’ –
Charles’s image took a devastating hit during his acrimonious separation from Diana.
In her extraordinary 1995 interview in which she revealed her feelings over his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, Diana famously said “there were three people” in her marriage.
The royal couple had made the bombshell announcement they were separating in 1992, but following the fallout from the controversial sit-down with the BBC’s “Panorama” programme they finally agreed to divorce.
Giving her version of events — and admitting her own infidelity — Diana laid bare her struggles within Britain’s most famous family, criticising the royals and questioning Charles’s fitness to be king.
It drew horror in parts of the British establishment but won her public sympathy, which was only amplified after her death in a Paris car accident in 1997.
Charles was long vilified both for the extra-marital affair, which was blamed for the breakup, and in part for the royals’ poor initial handling of Diana’s death, when they were widely criticised for appearing heartless and out of step with the public.
However, he has gradually won back some public support and begrudging acceptance that he has found happiness with Camilla, whom he married in 2005.
– ‘Black spider’ –
Charles has courted controversy for speaking out and appearing to pressure politicians privately, on various contentious public issues from health to the environment.
In a now-infamous series of letters between him and government…