What kind of King will Prince Charles make and does it matter?

The question is being asked with renewed interest as the Queen nears her 89th birthday in April and the publication of a controversial new book, Charles: The Heart of a King by the American author Catherine Meyer.

And it is an interesting question given the Prince’s well-known antipathy to many aspects of modern life from hideous architecture to GM crops and his attraction for homeopathy.

Because we live in a quite ridiculously touchy political system it is hard, if not well-nigh impossible, to fathom the Queen’s thoughts as she has famously never given an interview.

When she dies one of the most important people in the world will take with her all her secrets and we will be largely none the wiser about her views on all the Prime Ministers who have served her or the great events she has lived through such as the Miners Strike, The Falklands War etc.

Although bits and pieces have leaked out over the years one of the few things I know about her is that apparently she used to mimic Tony Blair quite brilliantly.

Prince Charles is a completely different matter. His views are all too apparent. But given the monarchy’s largely ceremonial role I shall not lose too much sleep over them. Let the man have his say!

For reasons of bizarre political etiquette he has had to bottle up much of what he thinks, which is a shame as he is an intelligent, thoughtful man with all the necessary gravitas.

Meyer’s book has been serialised in The Times all week and has provided the newspapers with plenty of fascinating material such as the revelation that he almost called off his wedding to Diana.

I have met him on several occasions and he is charming and elegantly amusing to a fault.

Personally, I would abolish the monarchy tomorrow but given that we are stuck with it I can think of few other people I would like to see King.