E-Paper
King Charles ‘more approachable’ than his mother late Queen Elizabeth?
The survey conducted 44 focus groups with people of different backgrounds in the UK and in eight of the so-called "Commonwealth realms".
King Charles was praised for being “more approachable” than the late Queen Elizabeth in a new survey conducted by former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft. Many felt sorry for the monarch as his private life had in fact been anything but private, the survey showed. The respondents also believed that King Charles had a hard act to follow as late Queen Elizabeth won worldwide respect and admiration in a way that the new monarch would simply be unable to match, the report stated.
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“Despite the familiarity of the Queen, many realised that they actually knew more about King Charles than they did about his mother: 'we’ve watched him grow up', as several observed. They talked about his active interest in areas including conservation and the environment, farming, architecture, his stewardship of the Duchy Estate and work to spread opportunity through the Prince’s Trust,” the survey said.
The survey also conducted 44 focus groups with people of different backgrounds in the UK and in eight of the so-called "Commonwealth realms": Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. People had sympathy for King Charles over his turbulent personal life saying, "I thought it was really sad that he didn’t have time to actually grieve. Then people are slagging him off for getting irritated with a pen. The man was just exhausted and in mourning for his mother."
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A commentator from England said, “The Queen was able to grow into the role and there was a bit of mystique, because there were just newspapers, not 24/7 social media, so things could be kept under wraps” while another from Northern Ireland said, "The Queen was more of a seen-and-not-heard sort of person. Because I grew up with Charles and because he was Prince of Wales, he’s more approachable and I suppose more tangible."
