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Did King Charles III Speak On Behalf of The Nation Last Week, When He Met His Prime Minister?
Politics and the royal family.
King Charles III is a political animal.
And of all the monarchs that Britain has produced, he is the one whose political views are very well known.
Queen Victoria had political instincts and was very friendly with Benjamin Disraeli, who created the title, Empress of India for the 19th century monarch. The opium wars, the Indian mutiny, and expansion into Africa all happened on her watch.
King George V undertook the modernization of the monarchy to avoid the fate which befell his German and Russian cousins during the first world war but was quite circumspect about imposing his views on his prime ministers.
But he destroyed the reputation of the very first Labour prime minister — James Ramsay-McDonald — when he invited him to serve as head of the national government in 1931.
King George VI, however, was nowhere near as imposing as his predecessors. Whether this was due to his poor health or down to the fact that he was the accidental king will remain a subject of debate for a very long time to come.
His daughter, the now deceased Elizabeth II, was a study in inscrutability.