Early retirements at age 55 are common in banking, and many companies in many sectors do what they can to replace senior workers with younger ones with lower salaries. But there are also fields where ageism does not exist and experience is valued, both in sport and in the arts, from football coaches like Roy Hodgson (75 years old) to the conductor Herbert Blomstedt (active at 96), passing by writers, the architect Norman Foster (88) or the singer Raphael (80).
There is no age discrimination in British royalty either. Isabel II died on the throne at the age of 96, and Charles III turns 75 today, in comparison a true youngster who is still taking the pulse of the institution and his role in it. Because it is one thing to have trained for five decades as Prince of Wales, and to be the first in the line of succession from the age of three, and quite another to be king.
To begin with, Carlos III has had to learn to keep his mouth shut, as he demonstrated last week by monotonously reading his Government's legislative program at the opening of the parliamentary session, without any gesture or inflection of voice when he mentioned initiatives with which clearly disagrees, such as the liberalization of licenses for the exploitation of oil and natural gas in the North Sea (he is a passionate environmentalist, who brought an electric car to the Palace when there were hardly any and installed a system that was once pioneering garbage recycling).
Charles has developed the same virtue as his mother to go unnoticed, which is the best thing a king can do when 45% of his subjects under the age of 25 consider the monarchy to be irrelevant or are directly in favor of its abolition.
Unnoticed, but to a certain extent, because a group of Republicans (which are 28% of the population) took the trouble to demonstrate in Westminster on the occasion of the inauguration of the legislature, to, as their air-conditioned carriage passed by, displaying banners that read “This is not my king.” He is an ugly person who was never made to his mother, revered for her sense of sacrifice and respect for tradition.
Carlos celebrated his 75th last night at his country residence in Highgrove, which he really considers his home, as a petit committee (relatively), offering a tea based on local products, with honey that he himself produces, as a family (not including his son Enrique, who declined the invitation), neighbors and men and women his age, chosen for their contribution to society. The event, with live music and a choir, was organized by the Prince's Foundation, the charitable organization he created in 1986 to promote sustainable development and education.
In his first year on the throne, Charles III has partially rehabilitated his brother Andrew but maintains an extremely cold relationship with Enrique and Meghan, whom he barely sees. And, because flies do not enter closed mouths, he has not made any insinuations about the impact of Brexit (which he thinks is a terrible idea), about the war in Ukraine (he detests Putin), and even less about the conflict between Israel and Gaza, which has divided the two main parties in the country, conservatives and labor, and the people in general.
The nature of the event at Highgrove to celebrate his birthday was in line with his desire to be relevant and contribute to the improvement of the lives of the less fortunate and those who are at the opposite pole of his life of privilege and comfort (it is one of the richest men in the world, with a fortune estimated at 1.3 billion euros, a collection of sports cars, horses, works of art...). The main task expected of him is precisely to make the monarchy more frugal, selling some residences and opening others to the public, reducing expenses and personnel, as companies do.
In any case, there is currently no danger of being “fired” or retired if he continues as before, respecting constitutional principles and not getting into trouble. A king has no age. Well, he does have it. In his case, as of today, 75 tacos.
