‘King Charles, the Boy Who Walked Alone’ Review: Reflections on a Monarch

Several occasions on this image its interviewees try to contradict the impression that King Charles is an “old dry stick.” Hence the documentary, directed by Jim Nally, is juicier than its sad-sack title signifies. The “boy who walked alone” phrase comes from Johnny Stonborough, who was a schoolmate of the then Prince of Wales at Gordonstoun, a strict Scottish boarding college (referred to by some, says Stonborough, as “Colditz in a kilt”) the place Charles’s father despatched him to “toughen him up.” Not solely did Charles not make many associates there, however he additionally endured bullying from upperclassmen underneath approval from the headmaster.

Once out of college, although, he did fairly nicely with members of the alternative intercourse. The image teems with modern interviews with former Charles-daters who communicate of his wit, his “cheekiness” and his pleasant flirtatiousness. But whilst he loved himself on seashores and polo fields with ladies he was nicely conscious he may by no means marry, he nonetheless saved his eye on one; the film reminds us that he’d met Camilla Rosemary Shand when he was a teen, and he didn’t take his eye off her after marriage made her Camilla Parker Bowles.

The film itself extremely approves of the match. About an hour into proceedings, there’s a spate of Princess Diana-bashing throughout which the phrase “not to speak ill of the dead” is rarely uttered. Near the film’s finish, a “royal journalist” and a “royal biographer” wax rueful that Prince Harry has lashed out at Dad Charles, who’s perhaps, of their opinion, the final royal to actually care in regards to the monarchy. Gosh. If there’s one factor this film demonstrates, it’s that regardless of the precise perform of stated monarchy, it does give Britain’s taxpayers their cash’s value in drama if nothing else.

King Charles, the Boy Who Walked Alone
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour half-hour. Watch on Paramount+.