Prince Charles recalls mom becoming queen
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales arrives at the Saskatchewan Assembly Legislative Building, as part of a visit to Canada to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in Regina, Canada. (May 23, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
Britain's Prince Charles reminisces in a British TV special Friday about being a child in 1953 when his then-27-year-old mother was the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II.
"I remember my mama coming, you know, up, when we were being bathed as children, wearing the crown," Charles, 63, says of himself and his sister Princess Anne, 61, on the BBC's "A Jubilee Tribute to the Queen by the Prince of Wales," according to excerpts published Thursday by People magazine. "It was quite funny -- [she was] practicing."
Charles, who was 4 when his mother was crowned Queen of England on June 2, 1953, said he still recalls her "amazing poise" and "natural grace" on Coronation Day. (Her reign had begun earlier, on Feb. 6, 1952, with the death of her father, George VI.)
Speaking as a son, he said, "My mama takes great pride in her family, from being a young mother at the start of her reign, to now being a great-grandmother twice over." Of her lengthy reign, second only to Queen Victoria's, Charles reflected that, "The fact that my mama has been a constant feature on the scene has provided that sense, I think, of continuity in a time of immense change over 60 years."
