Charles III “finds the clothes quite easy to wear”, estimated Friday on franceinfo Dominic Grieve, former Conservative MP (1997-2019), and former Minister of Justice under the government of James Cameron (2010-2014), after the first speech of Charles III, new king of the United Kingdom , Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Dominic Grieve also stresses that his relations with the new Prime Minister “will not be difficult” and he’s going “putting one’s opinions aside”.
franceinfo: With his first speech, how do you view the way in which Charles III donned the royal habit?
Dominic Grieve: It seems to me that he finds the suit quite easy to wear. It was very accomplished. It was moving, which does not surprise me at all because he is a very warm man. Anyone who knows him knows that. He spoke with simplicity. And he touched on all the subjects necessary for this first speech.
Has he found the right words to enter the function?
Yes. He expressed his pain, his personal loss, which he shares with the country. It unites her with her subjects, with the people of Britain and the people of other countries who had the queen as their sovereign. He explained that he was going to follow in his footsteps. The queen, her devotion to her people, to the service of the public, was something very striking.
He spent 50 years of life as a Prince of Wales doing exactly the same thing, but in a different way because he was not the king. He spoke of his faith. Everyone who knows him knows well that he has deep faith. But in addition, what is important is that the king is exceptional in being interested in other faiths and in greater understanding between people of faith and people who do not. This is one of the reasons why it is highly regarded, especially in the Hindu, Muslim and other minority worlds of England.
Will relations with the new Prime Minister be difficult?
No, they won’t be difficult at all. He was Prince of Wales. He is now king. One of the things he explained during his speech was that he understood very well the position of a king in a parliamentary and constitutional monarchy. He will put his opinions aside. The opinions he expressed when he was Prince of Wales were always very measured and outside of what would be called party politics. These were very advanced opinions, since on the subject of the climate and environmental crisis, 25 years before we really paid attention to it, he spoke about it frequently. So, from that point of view, he had some fairly precocious ideas which are entirely correct.