King Charles did Britain proud this VE Day

The two years since the coronation of King Charles have been largely disappointing ones for the royal family. A great deal of this was due to factors that none of its senior members could have had any control over – Harry; the Duke of York; cancer. But, in these pages, I have also expressed doubts that the King has been fully in control of the public aspects of the role. Compared to his mother, he has often seemed a tentative, slightly querulous presence on the throne: a figure who had longed to rise to the highest level of responsibility for all his adult life, and was found wanting when he finally became attained it.

But in a week in which the King has been very much on display during the country’s VE Day celebrations, he has been magnificent in two separate regards. He has coped manfully with the often onerous workload that he has inevitably faced – the sheer number of events, addresses and greetings that he has had to contend with would be tiring for anyone, let alone a 76-year old man who is still undergoing treatment for cancer. Not only this, but he has channelled an awareness of his family’s history into a moving response to the national events of the week.

When George VI took to the Buckingham Palace balcony on VE Day in 1945, to take in the rapturous applause of the grateful nation alongside his wife, daughters and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, it was the climax of a dual struggle, of which the cheering crowds knew a great deal about one. He had successfully transformed himself from a shy, stammering also-ran into an assured and inspiring leader of men during the course of the second world war. But the King had also faced off with and defeated his elder brother, the former Edward VIII, whose own political sympathies were more closely aligned with those of Hitler and the Nazis than they were the country he had once ruled. To see George responding to the love of his people, then, was not just moving, but deeply powerful; it was a personal and national triumph.

His grandson, the present king, acknowledged this last night in an affecting address he made at Horse Guards Parade at 9 p.m., eighty years to the minute that George VI had delivered his own speech. Charles said that ‘As my grandfather put it, “We shall have failed, and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain, if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace, founded on justice and established in good will”.’

As ever with the King, there was a not-so-veiled political subtext, as he spoke of how:

The Allied victory being celebrated then, as now, was a result of unity between nations, races, religions and ideologies, fighting back against an existential threat to humanity. Their collective endeavour remains a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when countries stand together in the face of tyranny.

His speech brought to mind how he was very swift to seek a private audience with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently, and although his thoughts on Vladimir Putin (and other similar figures) have not been made public, it is not too big a stretch to imagine them.

There was a lighter note in his speech, too. Referring to the famous story of how his mother and Princess Margaret escaped from the Palace to mingle incognito with revellers, the King ended his speech by saying, ‘I do hope your celebrations tonight are almost as joyful, although I rather doubt I shall have the energy to sing until 2 a.m., let alone lead you all in a giant conga from here back to Buckingham Palace.’ It is a testament to his commitment and vitality that, for a moment, it was almost possible to imagine the King doing so.

Conga Charlie? Stranger things have happened.