Jennie Bond: ‘Charles will make a fine King’

Bond added that the Prince of Wales will make a forward-thinking monarch, during a virtual event hosted by deputy lifestyle editor, Laura Hampson

Clockwise from top left: Jennie Bond, Sunny Hundal, Sean O’Grady and Laura Hampson (The Independent)

Jennie Bond has said that Prince Charles will “make a fine King” during an event hosted by The Independent on Thursday evening.

Bond was joined by Independent journalists Sean O’Grady and Sunny Hundal to discuss the Queen’s upcoming platinum jubilee, her 70-year reign, and what the future of the monarchy might look like.

When asked about Charles as King, Bond said: “Knowing Charles a little bit as I have over the years, I’ve always maintained actually, that I think he has the makings of being a very fine King.

“He’s a decent person you know, he made an absolute mess of his first marriage and his private life, of which a lot of us have done that. It took a long, long time for the public to forgive him.”

Bond added that there was a time when people “seemed to detest him [Charles], and they certainly detested Camilla” but that has “changed entirely now”.

“They are soulmates,” Bond continued. “And he will be, I think, a fine, deep-thinking, compassionate, and forward–thinking monarch, who wants to slim down the institution and take it into the next decade.”

Earlier this year, the Queen announced that Camilla had her blessing to be known as Queen consort when the time came and Charles became King.

“I’ve argued long and publicly, for many many years, that she [Camilla] should be accorded that respect,” Bond added.

O’Grady said that public opinion has moved in the almost two decades since Charles and Camilla married.

“If the public didn’t want her [Camilla] to be Queen consort or there was some sort of backlash, she couldn’t be it, because everything that they do, all the privileges that they have, all the roles that they have, does come from the consent of the people,” he said.

“If the people don’t want this and they don’t want that and they want them to do something, like they wanted the Queen to come down to London in 1997, then they do it. Because that’s how the monarchy keep the institution running. Fortunately for Charles, public opinion has moved.”

During the event, Bond also described the week that Princess Diana died as being one of the “most difficult” of her life, and spoke about the events she’s looking forward to at the upcoming platinum jubilee.

You can watch back the full panel event in the video above.