“I only take on the most difficult challenges”

FOR MORE than 70 years Prince Charles has been the heir to the throne, and for much of that time he has been a man in search of a role, one whose every move, especially in the age of 24-hour news and the tabloid newspaper, has been subject to scrutiny.

And while Charles has undoubtedly enjoyed a life of privilege, life as a royal has meant those moments of loss and tragedy that most of us choose to bear in private have been endured very publically, most recently of course the death of his beloved father, the Duke of Edinburgh.

It was all very different when in 1952, aged three, Charles saw his mother become Queen. In those days royal public appearances were fleeting, all the more to preserve the mystique of the monarchy.

There would be the occasional royal scandal, usually involving Charles’ aunt, Princess Margaret, but it was only with the emergence of a fully-fledged tabloid press, eager for ever more salacious headlines to sell their newspapers, that the royal family, and Charles in particular, became fair game.

For a man who nurses myriad insecurities, seeing every twist and turn of his love live over