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WORLD NEWS Saturday 21 april 2018

No surprise: Charles to succeed queen as Commonwealth head

By JILL LAWLESS the Caribbean and Pacific
LONDON (AP) — Prince that are among the coun-
Charles has spent a life- tries most vulnerable to ris-
time waiting to be king. ing seas, fiercer storms and
On Friday the 69-year-old other effects of global cli-
heir to the British throne got mate change.
another position to wait Leaders at the meeting
for — he was approved as signed a "blue charter" to
the next head of the Com- protect the world's oceans
monwealth made up of the and committed to stron-
U.K. and the countries that ger cybersecurity and freer
once were its colonies. trade. Britain's May de-
Commonwealth leaders scribed Charles as "a proud
meeting in London con- supporter of the Common-
firmed that the next chief wealth" and said "it is fitting
of the 53-nation group that one day he will contin-
"shall be His Royal Highness ue the work of his mother."
Prince Charles, The Prince However, Philip Murphy,
of Wales." That won't hap- director of the University of
pen until he succeeds his London's Institute of Com-
mother, Queen Elizabeth II, monwealth Studies, said
as monarch when she dies. Charles' political passions
British Prime Minister The- could hold peril for the
resa May said the decision Commonwealth.
was unanimous, although it "We know the queen is very
had not been a foregone proper and discreet and
conclusion. doesn't push her own po-
Elizabeth, who turns 92 litical ideas, but that's not
on Saturday, has led the true with Prince Charles,"
Commonwealth since she Murphy said. "And there is
became queen in 1952. a danger that he might use
However, the position is not that greater leeway to pro-
hereditary, and some peo- mote controversial ideas of
ple have suggested a non- his own, and that could be
royal leader would give the damaging."
group of nations a more Britain has tried to use the
modern profile. biennial heads of govern-
But any opposition was ment meeting to reinvigo-
squelched by an interven- rate a disparate group that
tion from the queen, who represents 2.4 billion people In this Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007 file photo, Britain's Prince Charles enters the Harvard Club to receive
told the gathered leaders in living in 53 countries, from the Global Environment Award from the Harvard Medical School in New York.
person Thursday it was her giant India to tiny Tuvalu. Associated Press
"sincere wish" that Charles The next summit, in 2020, will
would one day carry on her be held in Rwanda, which Britain laid on a lavish royal reported that some people say the treatment of the
Commonwealth work. was never a British colony welcome for Common- who settled in the U.K. in "Windrush generation" —
The position is largely sym- but has been persuaded wealth leaders, including the decades after World named for the ship Empire
bolic, but the queen's com- to join the Commonwealth a banquet at Buckingham War II had recently been Windrush, which brought
mitment has been a major club. Former Portuguese Palace, the use of Windsor refused medical care or the first big group of post-
force behind the survival of colony Mozambique is also Castle for meetings and threatened with deporta- war Caribbean immigrants
the Commonwealth. She a Commonwealth mem- the deployment of royal tion because they could to Britain in 1948 — is cause
has visited almost every ber, and Togo is consider- glamour couple Prince Har- not produce paperwork to for national shame.
member country, often ing joining. ry and Meghan Markle to a show their right to reside in May said Friday that Brit-
multiple times, over her 66- British officials have been series of events. Britain. ain would do "whatever
year reign. paying more attention to But the summit was over- The government says they it takes," including paying
Charles is almost as well- the Commonwealth since shadowed by an uproar accidentally fell afoul of compensation, to make
traveled as his mother, and the U.K. voted in 2016 to this week over the treat- new measures intended to amends.
is a longtime champion of leave the European Union. ment by U.K. immigration prevent illegal immigration. "These people are British,"
environmental causes, a The Commonwealth could authorities of some long- May and other govern- she said. "They are part of
priority for the Common- provide a platform for Brit- term British residents from ment ministers have apolo- us. They helped to build Brit-
wealth. Its members in- ish diplomatic and cultural the Caribbean. gized repeatedly. ain, and we are all stronger
clude small island nations in clout outside the EU. The Guardian newspaper But opposition politicians for their contributions."q