King Charles is at risk of becoming a damp squib as he’s not as “progressive” as many are led to believe, one royal author claims.

The brutal takedown comes more than six months after the King’s historic coronation at Westminster Abbey.

The ceremony was steeped in ancient rituals reminiscent of the Middle Ages – Charles was given an orb, a sword and a sceptre and had the solid gold, bejewelled St. Edward’s Crown placed atop his head as he sat upon a 700-year-old oak chair.

It’s this emphasis on tradition, however, that could ultimately prove to be the King’s undoing as it goes against the very image he’s trying to promote, claims Clive Irving, author of The Last Queen and royal columnist at The Daily Beast.

For decades, Charles has been one of Britain’s most prominent environmental voices, blasting the ills of pollution.

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This record, alongside his promise to slim down the monarchy, has led many to predict Charles would seek to modernise the 1000-year-old institution once he ascended to the throne.

However, Irving is not so convinced Charles could deliver on this manifesto even if he wanted to.

“I’ve been surprised by the lack of any sign that he’s going to get to grips with the scale of the monarchy – the size of it – and that relates to the cost of it,” he explained.

Irving continued: “In the past, he has said that he was going to deal with it in a more contemporary, realistic way and make it fit for purpose for this century.”

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However, the monarchy under Charles still has all the trappings of the “20th century”, the royal author claims, adding that it contains all the “rituals, the hangers-on and family members riding in the same bandwagon”.

Irving continued: “I don’t buy this thing that he’s instinctively progressive. He makes a few gestures, but he’s certainly not a progressive monarch, and I don’t think he’s even capable of being a progressive monarch.”

The Daily Beast columnist went on to suggest that all this could have been avoided had the King stepped aside and made way for his son, Prince William.

“I think that it’s obvious that if Charles had given way to William and Princess Kate, the coronation would have looked radically different. It would have been a very different story, and possibly all that half of that medieval stuff would have been cut away.”

However, Irving appreciates the King is caught between a rock and a hard place.

“I think Charles feels that it’s his duty to serve, having waited so long. But he also knows he’s the oldest person ever to have been coronated.”

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