From Sardar Shahab
LONDON: King Charles III is being urged to step down and let his son Prince William take the throne within two years. The new monarch, who ascended the throne at the age of 73 last week, has been warned by the royal commentators that His Majesty should gear up for a short reign.
Commentator Conor Friedersdorf said: “A more consequential use of Charles’s reign would be to rule briefly and abdicate at 75 – the age when British judges are compelled to retire from the bench – while touting the importance of passing the throne to Prince William in his son’s prime rather than his dotage.”
“King Charles III ought to issue a royal proclamation underscoring that this approach is a royal rebuke to the international trend toward gerontocracy, whereby leaders delay handing off power to the next generation long past what serves the public good,” he continued.
“Queen Elizabeth II reigning at 96 was far from the norm for British monarchs. Indeed, Charles III is taking the throne at an age when most of his predecessors were dead.
“If he goes on to rule long enough to put Prince William in that same position, history may remember this as the era when modern medicine transformed the British monarchy—but not for the better.”
“Better that Charles commit now to a retirement age, setting an example for the world and allowing us all to declare, ‘The Queen is dead––long live the King’ without also endorsing many more years of gerontocracy,” Friedersdorf added.
