Prince Charles is turning 70 on November 14 (yes, he’s a Scorpio, which explains a lot!), and to celebrate, the heir to the throne has been doing a bunch of press. There was the September interview with British GQ, the forthcoming book Charles at 70 by royal reporter Robert Jobson (who had reportedly been given access to the future king), and most recently, a new cover story and interview with Vanity Fair that has left us wondering: Is Prince Charles chill now?
As royal watchers and lovers of drama (as long as the drama does not affect us personally), we’ve never thought of the heir to the U.K. throne as chill; to us, he’s always been the guy who was horrible to Princess Diana and was also a willing participant in the (reported) TamponGate conversation that will be forever etched in our brains. But as the wise Lainey Lui points out, all the press surrounding Prince Charles lately has painted him in a different light. In the VF article alone, he comes across as nice, playful, and as relaxed as a future king could be. What?! To prove I’m not lying (also, you should trust me in general), here are a few examples.
There’s the time he offered his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, some sausage in Lyon, France, in front of the press, in a chill way:
“Qu’est-ce que c’est?” Charles inquires, and is quickly passed a bit of saucisson. A hush descends; the butcher is on tenterhooks before the royal opinion is issued: “Excellent! Incroyable!” says the future King. The butcher’s face registers ecstasy. Charles beckons the Duchess from the cheese aisle. “Try this, darling,” he coos, as onlookers smile and photographers click.
The article also suggests that Camilla and Charles are nicer to the royal press corps than royals of the younger generation:
William and Kate, by comparison, go out of their way not to look at the “fixed point” where photographers gather. In general, this correspondent goes on, the younger generation of royals are “control freaks” about their coverage, whereas Charles is “far more relaxed.” As is Camilla.
This is tough for those of us still reeling from his Princess Diana split, but being able to marry the love of his life has apparently helped as well:
“They are both clearly great on their own. But two and two makes five in a big way here,” says Camilla’s nephew, Ben Elliot, a co-founder of the Quintessentially Group. “You can see it when they are together. They enjoy each other’s company so much. You can see it best when they are dancing together — such genuine, deep-down affection and love. They both get the giggles — she first, then he tries to hold it together.”
You can read the full profile here, but as Lainey Gossip points out, the apparent chill-ification of Prince Charles does seem like a media strategy to show off his “personality” as he prepares to ascend to the throne. We look forward to seeing more stories about how normal and relatable (lol) the man bred to be king has apparently become.