The week Prince Charles finally came of age
It took him almost 70 years, but Prince Charles has finally come of age, charming a A-list crowd when he accepted British GQ’s Man Of The Year award this week.
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It took him almost 70 years, but Prince Charles has finally come of age. The heir to the throne who has waited decades to call himself king, was this week named British GQ Man of the Year, being given the Editor’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Philanthropy and appearing on their cover.
He even attended the celebrity-packed awards ceremony in London on Wednesday, an event known for its raucous behaviour from A-list guests.
The choir sang David Bowie’s Starman as he took to the stage at the Tate Modern and joked that the heavy award was “something I can throw at the burglar if he comes in”.
The Prince, who turns 70 on November 14 said he thought someone had made a mistake when he heard he was getting the award. “When I was first told of GQ Magazine’s wish to give me a Man of the Year award I felt sure it must have been some kind of mistake,” he said.
“I thought it must be some sort of ill-deserved fashion award.
“Particularly as in fashion terms I’m like a stopped clock. In other words, I’m fashionable once every 25 years.”
But once he realised the honour was for philanthropy he was flattered, saying, “It really is incredibly kind of you.”
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The seasoned royal charmed the audience which included Elisabeth Moss, Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, John Legend and Kate Beckinsale.
“He was the wittiest man there,” said Australian Jo Elvin, editor of You Magazine. “He was simultaneously self-deprecating and charismatic.”
Prince Charles is patron of 487 charities, many in Australia, such as the RSL, Geelong Grammar Foundation and The Flying Doctors.
He also set up The Prince’s Charities, a group of organisations which raise over $180 million a year and founded The Prince’s Trust in the UK and Australia, a charity which offers support to young people.
Renowned for his eco-campaigning, The Prince of Wales was an early adopter of organic farming. And while for years the British press derided him as a tree-hugger who talked to plants, he had the last laugh when he launched organic food company Duchy Originals in 1990. What started with a range of cookies has grown into an organic empire, which this year posted a $362 million turnover and has so far given $36 million in profits to charity.
Which takes the biscuit.
Despite being portrayed as petulant and cold in the new biography Rebel Prince, by Tom Bower, the Camilla Parker Bowles scandal and the fall out after Diana, Princess of Wales’s death, over the ensuing years, a more mellowed Charles has shown himself to be a caring father to his sons and grandchildren and a passionate campaigner for what he believes in.
A renaissance man.
He was even awarded that title last year by the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation in Florence.
“I would never presume to call myself a Renaissance Man,” Charles said at the time. “I turned to the Oxford English Dictionary to find that Renaissance Man is defined as ‘a person with many talents or interests, especially in the humanities.’
“In my case, I fear I have many more interests than talents.”
It looks like those interests are finally paying off.