Wednesday, April 21, 2021

“All the time I feel I must justify my existence.” – Charles, Prince of Wales

 My formative years were spent in the United Kingdom and the seven of the ten years that I spent in the UK were in a school of people who came from families that voted “Tory,” (the one “freak” known to vote Labour was the art teacher and one of the more eccentric teachers declared “You got put a blue faced baboon in this constituency and it will still be voted in”) Part of growing up in this environment meant that the presence of the Royal Family was always in the background (it was a point of Pride that the Duchess of York came to open a building – however, her name was quietly removed from the plaque on the building once she got divorced from the Duke).

The one member of the Royal Family that I always had a soft spot for was Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and heir apparent. Charles is what you’d call a man struggling to do the right thing, despite his circumstances. On one hand, he was born into a life that most of us cannot even dream of (every material need can be met with a snap of his fingers – there’s no question of where his next meal is coming from) yet at the same time, he’s born into a situation where most of us would never want to be in (As far as the entire nation is concerned, he’s public property and has no right of privacy and thus far his only purpose in life has to been to wait for his mother to die). He has been slammed all over the place for being an adulterous husband who made life hell for his wife (who for the record was no saint either). His rather publicized personal life was summed up by a friend who said “He’s the type of man who kicked a beautiful blonde out of his bed for an old hag.”

 

Copyright – Vanity Fair

Having said all these things, one has to give credit to Prince Charles for not squandering his time and for being aware of his role in the grander scheme of things. The man has been actively trying to use the wealth and privilege he was born into to make the world a better place and when I stumbled across a quote of him saying “All the time I feel I must justify my existence,” my respect for him grew. He is very aware of his situation. In the 1990s, he alone of all the royals turned over a portion of his income to the tax authorities (in the UK, royalty don’t have to pay tax – tax under British law is revenue paid to the Crown hence the Crown cannot tax itself). When he got injured playing polo he got in line and waited to be treated (the waiting time in the British NHS is notoriously long)  

Let’s look at it this way – he has two things that most of us don’t have – namely time and money. However, unlike other people in his position, he’s actually used it to create projects to help the less fortunate and to better the environment. A list of initiatives pioneered by the Prince of Wales can be found at:

https://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/initiatives

 

The man was born into a situation of privilege but he’s aware of that. He’s aware that his situation is by the grace of the public that he is due to rule over and so he feels compelled to justify his existence to them.

This is a priceless attitude in public figure. I think of Bill Clinton who gave an “angry” response when quizzed about the truth of the “Lewinsky Affair.” Sure, it was a private matter but when he started on “Presidents must have private lives,” the only thought was “Ya, but you’re being funded by tax payers who want to know how you’re spending their money – so sorry, your life isn’t private.”

I think of the usual debate on ministerial salaries in Singapore. Instead of showing the tax payer what they’re getting for their dollars, it’s always met with a lecture on how you need to pay for top talent. Instant thought to such lectures is inevitably – “Erm, we’re paying you by way of our taxes therefore you should be justifying your existence not lecturing us.”

Sure, Prince Charles has been on the job for an incredibly long time. However, it’s not about the length you spend on the job but what you do in it. I ask, for example, about the initiatives launched by our elected presidents? Thus far, the only one that comes to mind is the “President’s Star Charity” launched by the late SR. Nathan and now, there’s a new initiative launched by the current president to recognize the contribution of workers:

https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/president-halimah-to-launch-new-initiative-to-recognise-contributions-of-workers

 

That’s two initiatives between three presidents in 22-years. Sure, Prince Charles is funded by the Duchy of Cornwall (Prince of Wales is funded by the Duchy of Cornwall and does not take from the Sovereign Grant) but our presidents were funded by the tax payer. In the case of Dr. Tony Tan, the inability to come up with a single initiative is particularly harsh. Not only did Dr. Tan enjoy state funding as President for six-years, he also well compensated as deputy prime minister for over a decade and that’s not even counting his personal wealth and monies earned running OCBC Bank. Surely a man in Dr. Tan’s position could have come up with something.

The Prince of Wales is supposed to stay out of politics and be a decoration. Yet, this man with no “work experience” has managed to pioneer initiatives. He’s been accused of being whiney and interested in “new-fangled” ideas like caring for nature and helping the underprivileged. Yet, despite that he’s put his money and the weight of the office he holds where his mouth is. Sure, not all of his initiatives will work but he’s at least creating visible experiments to solve very common social problems.

Shouldn’t other non-political public office holders follow this example? In Singapore, I look at our presidents and ex-presidents and ask why can’t they lead in creating initiatives? If an unelected royal feels the need to justify his existence and does so, why can’t former and current elected officials feel and do the same?  

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Maira Gall