Prince Charles Becomes Longest-serving Heir Apparent
BBC: Prince Charles has become the longest-serving heir apparent in British history.

The previous record, of 59 years, two months and 13 days, was set by his great-great-grandfather, King Edward VII, Clarence House said.

The Prince of Wales became heir apparent at the age of three when his mother, Princess Elizabeth, acceded to the throne on 6 February 1952.

Charles, now 62, was nine when he was given the title the Prince of Wales.

Edward VII was born the heir apparent on 9 November 1841 as his mother, Queen Victoria, was already on the throne.

He took over as King when she died on 22 January 1901.

The heir apparent, currently the eldest son of a sovereign (unless the monarch's children are all female), is the next in line to the throne and their right to succeed cannot be altered by the birth of another. » | Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Russian Heir Demands Tsar Nicholas II Murder Investigation
THE TELEGRAPH: The self-proclaimed heir to Russia’s imperial throne has demanded the reopening of the investigation into the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family by Bolsheviks in 1918.

Tzar Nicholas II and family. Photo: The Telegraph
The Russian Prosecutor-General has formally closed a criminal investigation into the shooting because too much time had elapsed since the crime and because those responsible had died.

But monarchists said a resumption of the criminal case was essential if Russia as finally to come to terms with its brutal past.

“This case is essential for Russia,” said Alexander Zakatov, who represents Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, a Romanov who styles herself as the heir to the imperial throne.

“Russians need to know about the fate of the tsarist family and all of the other victims of the Communist regime. There should be a clear legal verdict on this,” said Zakatov, who heads the chancellery of Russia’s so-called Imperial House.

He said lawyers for Mrs Vladimirovna had asked Moscow’s Basmanny court to force prosecutors to reopen the case, which he said was needed to resolve a host of questions about the murder and remains said to belong to the last tsar.

Nicholas II, his wife and five children were killed by a revolutionary firing squad in July 1918 in the cellar of a merchant’s house in Yekaterinburg, 900 miles east of Moscow. >>> The Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Saturday, January 16, 2010

The ‘Defender of Faith’ May Never Be King
Photo of Charles and Camilla courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: As the Prince of Wales prepares to celebrate his 60th birthday, Andrew Pierce examines the hopes and fears of the longest-serving heir to the throne

The Queen's son and heir passes yet another milestone in his life this week when he becomes the first Prince of Wales to reach the age of 60 without becoming monarch.

It was in January, when he passed 59 years and 74 days, that Prince Charles reached the same age as his great-great-grandfather Edward VII when he finally ascended the throne on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Prince Charles is well aware that his 60th birthday on Friday will merely underline in the eyes of the public the fact that he is the longest-serving king‑in-waiting in British history.

There will be only two private celebrations, in contrast to the month of lavish parties at Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace, Hampton Court and Highgrove when he turned 50.

The Queen is hosting a concert and dinner at Buckingham Palace with 75 members of the British and European royal families on Thursday. On Friday, his birthday, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will meet inner-city youngsters to highlight the work of the Prince's Trust, one of the great successes of this complex man's long service to public life. On Saturday it is the Duchess of Cornwall who will host a private party at Highgrove for 200 close friends. Rod Stewart will provide the cabaret. The relatively subdued tone of the week – it coincides with the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War – will reflect the ambiguous mood of the Queen's eldest son.

The world's most famous prince, who has a fabulously privileged lifestyle, is prone to deep bouts of brooding. His 60th birthday will reinforce the mood of introspection. The Prince of Wales knows that with each subsequent birthday the pressure will grow in some quarters for the Royal family to skip a generation when anointing the next monarch.

Although he was born to be head of state and is still fired by a determination to hear the traditional, sonorous proclamation, "The Queen is dead, long live the King", in his blacker moods his fear is that the proclamation, "Long live the King" will be for William V, not Charles III. (In fact, some in his circle have urged him to be George VII, in honour of the Queen's father, because of the unfortunate historical associations with monarchs called Charles.)

The Prince of Wales is a deeply spiritual man who is often engrossed in books on religion. He falls to his knees before bed each night in silent prayer. He spends much of his private time in his walking boots on the moors at his beloved Birkhall in Scotland. Officials are often summoned to join him. "It's more like a 10-mile hike. We can be out there for hours," said one.

During the treks, he agonises out loud about the future of the planet, rainforests, the fate of small farmers, the threat posed by genetically modified food, the rise of the big corporations, the decline of the Church of England, and continuing deprivation in the inner cities. "He really cares. He always has," said the official. "He does not just moan about it. He gets on and tries to do something about it. He wants to change things. He could have been a different Prince of Wales but he has chosen to wear his conscience on his sleeve and take on causes, even though he knows people sometimes mock him." Prince Charles May Never Be King >>> By Andrew Pierce | November 10, 2008

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The Multi-cultural, Islam-loving Charles, Prince of Wales, Heir to the Throne
TIMESONLINE: As he approaches his 60th birthday the Prince of Wales is knowledgeable and at ease in his self-proclaimed role as the ‘Defender of Faith’

He has, famously, declared that he wants to be “Defender of Faith”, rather than defender simply of the established Christian faith. His interest in other religions and denominations is unparalleled in a man born to be king, and his knowledge is extensive. No other heir to the throne has been awarded one of Islam’s highest accolades, spent nights in a Greek Orthodox monk’s cell or insisted that Roman Catholics, Hindus, Jews, Zoroastrians and Sikhs are as important subjects of the sovereign as Protestants.

When the Prince of Wales celebrates his 60th birthday next week he can therefore expect warm tributes from religious leaders across the country as well as from those overseas. They know that when he is crowned king, he will insist — as he has on other state occasions — that all the faith groups now living in Britain are represented in the abbey to accord him the blessings of all his subjects in today’s multicultural Britain.

An interest in religion is almost a prerequisite for the job of king. The British sovereign is, after all, the head of the Church of England and for almost 500 years this has been a defining constitutional function. But no monarch since the Stuarts has taken an intellectual interest in religion, and none has devoted time and respect to other faiths. The Prince, however, counts bishops and moral philosophers, rabbis, priests and Islamic scholars among those whom he regularly meets and with whom he discusses the spiritual dimensions of life in Britain today.

For him, the concept of faith — any faith — is important in the crusade against the rising tide of secular materialism and scientific reductionism, both of which he detests. As Ian Bradley, reader in practical theology and church history at the University of St Andrews, has written: “Prince Charles harks back to a primal understanding of the monarch, as representing order and taking on the forces of chaos, and to the sacrifical dimension of royalty found in primal religion and the Bible. A major theme of speeches and conversation by this ‘heir of sorrows’ is the disintegration of the modern world and the need for it to be rebalanced and reordered”.

The religion that has probably engaged him most is Islam. He has long admired the art and architecture of the golden age of Islam; he has also been fascinated by the totality of Muslim belief — the way it permeates all aspects of life — and has contrasted this with what he sees as the regrettable materialism of Western life that compartmentalises faith and excludes it from the mainstream of daily life. As he said in 1996: “In my view a more holistic approach is needed now.”

As Islam has grown in Britain with the influx of Muslims from the subcontinent, so too has the Prince’s interest. He was an early supporter of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, a new centre that funds scholars to research into Islam. He has spoken of Islam’s respect for the natural order, insisting that: “We need to be taught by Islamic teachers how to learn with our hearts, as well as with our head.” And he has made a point, during tours of the Middle East, of meeting Muslims scholars and clerics. A God-fearing Man with a Taste for Tradition >>> Michael Binyon | November 7, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>