According to Express UK, Ex-PM Tony Blair got so mad at Prince Charles’ behavior during his time in Downing Street that he had no alternative but to be a tattletale to the Queen.
According to Alistair Campbell’s diary, published in 2011, the Prince of Wales had meddle one time too many in political matters, enough to irk Tony Blair. By convention, members of the royal family have to keep a neutral stance in the political arena.
Recently, Tony Blair is back in the public eye after he criticized western leaders of their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Even though he ranted, nobody heard a peep from Queen Elizabeth or other royals about the issue.
This is because the royals are expected to understand that party politics is not an area where they can dilly-dally in, and they cannot make public comments about such. In the monarchy’s website, one can read, “As head of state, the Queen has to remain strictly neutral with respect to political matters.” The rest of the royals have to follow suit.
But Prince Charles could not care less about this particular convention.
Based on the extracts from the diary, published by the Guardian nine long years ago, the ex-PM went ballistic with Prince Charles’ behavior in his time. Mr. Blair allegedly felt that the heir to the throne went beyond boundaries set by exerting efforts to influence government policy.
This did not happen once. Instead, Prince Charles reportedly meddled on the issues of foxhunting ban, the foot and mouth disease crisis, GM foods, and even on the removal of hereditary peers.
Tony wanted Prince Charles to understand that he could not play politics or talk about them excessively. The diary also revealed that the former PM was annoyed at Prince Charles rather unhelpful intervention during the FMD crisis.
Prince Charles condemnation of GM Foods sent Mr. Blair into a spiral of anger and exasperation.
Ultimately, Blair got so mad and hopeless that he even took the issue to the Queen.
One can only wonder if Queen Elizabeth still remembers these complaints and is now judging Price Charles’ capacity as the monarch through these lenses. After all, Tony Blair was not angry because Prince Charles was meddlesome, but because his efforts were mostly cumbersome and ineffective.
Moreover, a new survey has revealed that there is a louder clamor for Prince William to become Prince Regent instead of Prince Charles if the Queen will truly step down.
For years now, there had been numerous gossips about the Queen’s abdication and the taking over of Prince Charles. However, the Queen simply does not want to slow down and abdicate just yet.
This coronavirus pandemic has only compelled her to stop working for a while, but the Queen has been quite helpful at all throughout this crisis. She has made one of the iconic speeches during these uncertain times – one that went beyond UK borders to the world.
It remains to be seen if Prince Charles can get the throne.