King Charles III Takes the Throne

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On May 6th, King Charles will become the oldest person to ascend the throne of the United Kingdom. He is a bit of an odd duck to be the king, Rebecca Mead thinks. Charles has “long made clear that he considers his birthright a burden,” she writes. In fact, many things are a burden: during the ceremonies following the death of Queen Elizabeth, the new king “got into not one but two altercations with malfunctioning pens. . . . As his biographer Catherine Mayer puts it, ‘The world is against him—even inanimate objects are against him. That is absolutely central to his personality.’ ” Mead—a subject of the king, as well as a staff writer—talks with David Remnick about Charles III’s coronation, the problem of Harry and Meghan, and the future of the British monarchy itself.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:11.2	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour.
0:13.2	This is Rebecca Meade and this is London.
0:18.0	After Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96, King Charles III delivered a televised
0:23.8	speech, his first public address as monarch.
0:27.0	I speak to you today with feelings of profound sorrow.
0:31.9	His eyes were roomy and his complexion floored.
0:35.0	His hair, thoroughly silver, was brushed as carefully as it had been in 1953, when as a fidgety
0:41.5	four-year-old he had endured his mother's almost three-hour long coronation service
0:46.9	in Westminster Abbey.
0:48.8	Queen Elizabeth was a life well-lived, a promise with destiny kept.
0:55.4	And promise of lifelong service, I renew to all today.
1:02.7	Rebecca has coronation mania begun on the streets of London.
1:06.6	I don't really think it has.
1:09.3	I mean, not as far as I've seen that, me just think.
1:11.5	She's a disappointed.
1:13.5	I've been invited to one party.
1:15.9	OK, that's a start.
1:18.1	I can't tell quite whether it's the serious party or a joke party.
1:26.4	Charles has long made it clear that he considers his birthright a burden.
1:32.4	Nobody knows what utter hell it is to be the Prince of Wales.
1:35.9	He has reportedly complained.
	...

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