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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Russell Myers

Prince Charles' slimmed-down royal family will change monarchy for decades, expert says

Prince Charles and Camilla will be crowned side-by-side at Westminster Abbey when he assumes the throne.

The plans have been revealed as part of Operation Golden Orb - the UK's secret blueprint for our first coronation in seven decades.

Here, Mirror Royal Editor Russell Myers looks at the significance of the news - and what it means for the future of the monarchy...

After years of promising a slimmed-down monarchy when he finally takes the reins, a streamlined coronation is the only way for Prince Charles to prove he means business.

In the modern world, the senior royals are acutely aware of the need to prove they are value for money and the weight of this responsibility has weighed heavily on the Prince of Wales.

A shorter, cheaper and less ostentatious ceremony at Westminster Abbey, albeit with the rather flamboyant codename Operation Golden Orb, will be welcomed by a public more concerned with the ever-increasing costs of living rather than what insignia will be used on postboxes.

Charles might often seem like a man from a bygone era, who may at face value appear less in tune with the modern world than his son William and daughter in law Kate, but those close to him will tell you he cares deeply about the effect he can have on the world around him.

As the UK was struggling with record levels of unemployment and spiralling inflation in the 1970s, Prince Charles used his Navy severance pay – £7,400 – to fund a number of community initiatives.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II during her coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953 (PA/PA Wire)

The Prince’s Trust charity has gone on to transform tens of thousands of young people’s lives who would have otherwise been afforded little chance of success.

His 50-year crusade campaigning on the environment, which was so often ridiculed and derided, has also been proved revolutionary in its inception at a time when the type of conversations so commonplace today simply weren’t happening at all.

The coronation of King George VI with his wife Queen Elizabeth and daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in 1937 (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

And another subtle sign that Charles will be doing things a little differently will be displayed on his coronation day when as the new Supreme Governor of the Church of England, he will declare how he wants to be 'defender of faith' not 'the faith'.

Charles’s time in the top job may end up being a footnote in history compared to the epic record-breaking reign of his mother, but his legacy will undoubtedly reverberate for decades to come.

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