The imagined meeting of Rishi Sunak and Charles III

After his accession, there was often talk on social networks of the whims of His Recent Majesty. For example, she would demand that her socks be ironed before putting them on. The same thing was said of King Leopold II of the Belgians: he allegedly ordered that his newspapers be given to him before reading them. It’s an anti-monarchy motif that spans the centuries.

Nevertheless, we already have some serious elements that allow us to get an idea of ​​the relationship that could arise between Charles and Sunak. Thus a biography of the new king, well documented even if it is not excessively critical, signed Philip Kyle, appears in French: it sheds light on the relations that Charles, still Prince of Wales, had with previous governments.

He was, in front of them, a lobby in his own right, creating x foundations and institutions, the number of which he has certainly forgotten, writing to political leaders, between 1987 and 1988 alone, some thousand letters. The Guardian obtained from justice the publication of additional letters which it addressed later, in 2006-2007, to the ministers. The republican-inspired daily, however, drew a blank: if Charles certainly exposed all his fads there, he never revealed a preference for one party rather than another.

We are not close to being able to say if he hopes for a Labor cabinet rather than a Conservative cabinet.

All the same, he must not be unhappy to see Liz Truss go.

Among Charles’s favorite subjects, rurality up to the defense of hunting with hounds, architecture that respects the environment… and the environment itself. He must therefore not have appreciated that Liz Truss asked him not to go to the next COP 27, this November in Egypt. He hoped to be able to give a heartfelt speech there, as he has been used to doing for a long time on the Earth in balance.

He must not have been unhappy to see Liz Truss prevented in her turn from further composing the British delegation to Sharm El Sheikh.

Rishi Sunak, is the first “non-white” in Downing Street. How can this make the king react?

It is Meghan, the American actress whom Prince Harry tried to graft onto the Windsor tree, who claims that the royal family is inherently racist.

Here, in France, we would rather tend to think that Charles is a communitarian. The most lasting of its Foundations has helped a million young people find employment or found a business, most of them immigrants. Charles should look to Sunak, who by the way is twice as rich as him, as a success story that can help newcomers settle into the UK.

We can assume that the two men will often talk about the religions of the wide world.

Charles, now head of the Anglican Church, is certainly not going to abandon a position that is systematic for him: he defends inter-religious dialogue.

In Rome, in 1985, he would gladly have participated in a private Mass of the Pope if Elisabeth had not put the kibosh.

A few years earlier, he had spent a lot of time with an Indian actress who wanted to talk to him about Hinduism, Buddhism and reincarnation.

Islam is of particular interest to him. For him, it belongs to the heritage of Europe, he created an Islamic garden in one of his domains; he maintains excellent relations with the dynasties of Jordan, Qatar and also Saudi Arabia.

However, since 2015, he has already dropped a tone in his valuation of Islam and he will have to be careful: he is also by his title Defender of the Anglican Faith. The Muslim Pakistani-born Bishop of Rochester has already warned him: “Not all religions are created equal”.

This is a topic of conversation between Charles and Sunak; will the coronation, on May 6, have to include an inter-religious ceremony in addition to the traditional coronation or not?

The normal election deadline that the conservatives have every interest in respecting is 2024. Will Rishi Kunak hold out until then?

Charles is already the winner of his first round with his heads of government. A drawing in one of Le Monde says it very well: “The Crown, six seasons. Liz Truss, simply a short film”.

Charles III by Philip Kyle published by Perrin, in bookstores on October 27.