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Prince Charles faces more work of the state in the coming years The Prince of Wales will be celebrating Friday’s milestone birthday with a lavish party thrown by the Duchess of Cornwall at

their Highgrove estate in Gloucester­shire. Rod Stewart, who turned 60 three years ago and is an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust char­ity, will provide the main act. The Prince, just back

from a successful 10-day tour of the Far East, continues to pursue his agenda of promoting environmental awareness and the merits of organic farming wherever he can. His views on the

environment, architecture and faith have caused controversy for more than three decades. As one royal insider put it last night: “Thirty years ago, he was harping on about the environment

and he was branded the loony prince. “It’s very different now. People are listening. They realise he has been on message all along.” Time is running out for Charles the Campaigner though.

Ten years from now, the royal landscape is likely to have changed markedly. The Queen, now 82 and with long-life genes, will continue to reign as long as she lives but, realistically, she

may have to spend a few years as monarch without Prince Philip, now 87, by her side. So Charles will be forced, according to royal insiders, to face more work of state. Royal author Margaret

Holder said: “It’s not that Prince Charles doesn’t already work very hard. It’s just that he will no longer be in the position to pick and choose quite as much as he can now.” As the most

senior royal representative, he would be expected to embark on more foreign tours with the Duchess of Cornwall. In many minds, however, Camilla will remain a permanent reminder, if not

receiving the ac­tual blame, for the schism between Charles and Diana. Although she is good at soothing him and defusing his “Wind­sor temper”, Camilla is not known for her love of foreign

engagements. Nor can she take the heat, as her recent decision not to accompany Charles to Indonesia showed. On Prince Philip’s death, his title as the Duke of Edinburgh will go to Prince

Edward, seen as the ideal man to take over the reins of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme. However, that could, potentially, reopen old wounds between Charles and his brother, whose

relationship is cool at best. It broke down totally in 2001 over the St Andrewsgate affair, when Edward’s production team Ardent was found to be the only one to ignore a ban on filming

Prince William at university. As for the Commonwealth, so important to the Queen, Margaret Holden says it is thought it will take William’s marriage, presumably to Kate Middleton, to provide

the voltage boost deemed vital to save the institution. “Frankly, Charles and Camilla going to New Zealand, Australia and Canada won’t cut it,” she added. Howard Hodgson, author of Charles,

The Man Who Would Be King, said: “There is no doubt that Prince Charles’s life is facing imminent change.” “Charles knows what duty means but he is a man obsessed with real zeal, a man who

has transformed himself from a shy and awkward teenager to Prince 007 and now to a true campaigner. “The real question is, will he actually be able to toe the line when the time comes?”