Prince Charles

LONDON - Prince Charles could be forgiven for feeling a bit grumpy these days.

Close to many people's retirement age, he's still waiting for the position he was groomed for: King of England. And he's preparing for the wedding that will make his eldest son Prince William and Kate Middleton the fresh new faces of a monarchy sorely in need of renewal.

That leaves Charles, who once cut a dashing figure himself, something of a forgotten man.

He is sandwiched between his mother Queen Elizabeth II, treasured for her steadfast dignity and devotion to duty since her coronation in 1953, and William, who carries a hint of the late Princess Diana's glamour wherever he goes.

"He's in a very tricky position," said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine. "By next year his mother will have been on the throne for 60 years, she's the only monarch many of us have ever known. When she came in, she was very young with two small children and there was huge empathy for her, but Charles won't get that when he comes to the throne."

He said the failure of Charles' marriage to Diana — and the role that his current wife, Camilla, played in that doomed union — has given the public too much information about the man who would be king.

"We've heard his private telephone conversations," Little said, referring to embarrassing intimate calls that were intercepted and published, giving Britons a glimpse into Charles' fantasies.