As the Platinum Jubilee celebration of Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign recedes into memory, Prince Charles is at a crossroads — and which way to the future of the British monarchy.

To Prince Charles is owed the Queen’s — ‘Mummy’s’ — appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the Jubilee’s final day. She was resting at Windsor Castle, but Charles “called her and told her she really ought to come if she could,” the London Sun reports. “He told her there were so many people desperate to see her and he convinced her to come.”

And come to greet her people she did — dutiful as ever. According to one source, Elizabeth “was totally overwhelmed by the number of people waiting to see her — she had tears in her eyes before she stepped out on the balcony.” Perhaps our last look, present and future, of four generations of Windsor monarchs.

Yet Prince Charles’s intuitive feel for public sentiment struck a jarring note when he privately pronounced “appalling” the Conservative government’s plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda, where their claims can be processed. The illegal crossings in the English Channel arouse public indignation and leftist sympathies. What a sticky wicket.

While Clarence House announced that the Prince “remains politically neutral” and that “matters of policy are decisions for government,” it did confirm Charles’s opposition. From acclaim to condemnation. How the worm has turned for the prince of Wales.

For striking the right note, take the case of Prince William. Days after appearing with other “working” royals on the palace balcony, William was on the London streets selling copies of the weekly magazine “The Big Issue,” a charity publication in aid of the homeless. William “doesn’t want to cut ribbons and all that sort of thing,” royal biographer Angela Levin observed. “He really wants to make a difference.”

Admittedly, William has already waded into controversy with his comments on combating climate change. Yet this foray into alleviating “rough sleeping” is a step in the right direction.

Both princes can be best served by remembering Lord Bolingbroke’s rule for royalty. “Instead of abetting the divisions of his people,” Bolingbroke advised, the Patriot King “will endeavor to unite them, and to be himself the center of their union.” Aim for patriotism and the common good. Eschew partisan politics.

Not, of course, an easy path to follow. Should a monarch be nothing more than a mere figurehead? For Elizabeth’s merits, thoughtful monarchists have sometimes chided the queen for her passivity where a more robust patriotism was required.

Not for us, Saint-Just’s scathing declaration against Louis XVI’s hollow crown. Still, ought not a pillar of the British constitution act to safeguard against drift and “wokery” in U.K. national life?

It’s a puzzler. Walking the fine line between activism and apathy. An obvious answer, however, was on display through the Platinum Jubilee. Members of the Royal Family were out in force, joining with the public to honor the queen.

As Harry and Meghan discovered to their chagrin — booed as they entered and exited St. Paul’s Cathedral for the Service of Thanksgiving — Britons don’t suffer those who impugn their national institutions.

Benjamin Disraeli caught part of this royal dilemma when he observed that, “in a progressive country change is constant.” Since it is “inevitable,” the question then becomes “whether that change should be carried out in deference to the manners, the customs, the laws, and the traditions of a people,” or according to “abstract principles, and arbitrary and general doctrines.”

Part of Prince Charles’s discomfiture, rumor reckons, revolves round his participation at the Commonwealth meeting in Rwanda, later this June. Isn’t the Royal Commonwealth — to anticipate Disraeli — at least by definition, a cosmopolitan community?

Indeed it is. The Commonwealth’s diversity is one of the strategic strengths of the monarchy. Member states can salute local traditions, customs, and heritage. The Crown can celebrate its uncontroversial, unifying principles: Rule of law. Equality under that law. Representative democracy. Responsible government. A connection to God.

Curiously, just as Australia and various Caribbean countries are questioning their roles in the Royal Commonwealth, this may be monarchy’s crowning moment. British historian David Starkey remarks on the re-emergence of a multi-polar world, as the unipolar world, led by America, is challenged by emerging economic powerhouses, like China. 

Were Prince Charles attuned to future possibilities, he could straddle both worlds. Be king based upon the unifying principles of the Royal Commonwealth, while representing and exemplifying the manners, customs, and traditions of the United Kingdom.

Again, Lord Bolingbroke directs the way forward for a 21st century monarchy: “To what higher station, to what greater glory can any mortal aspire, than to be … the support of good, the control of bad government, and the guardian of public liberty?”

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