Queen Elizabeth II: Come in.
Prince Charles: Is that it? Is that the welcoming committee?
Queen Elizabeth II: What more is to be said?
Prince Charles: How about "thank you" or "well done"?
Queen Elizabeth II: If we all had to thank one another every time we did something in this family, we'd never get anywhere.
Prince Charles: I've just been on a very challenging post-investiture tour of Wales. It went better than anyone expected. Thank you.
Queen Elizabeth II: You were sent to Wales to show respect and heal divisions, not inflict them on your own family.
Prince Charles: I did nothing of the sort.
Queen Elizabeth II: I've had the opportunity now to read the translation of what you actually said, and the inferences you made. The similarities between Wales's suffering and yours was clear.
Prince Charles: Was it?
Queen Elizabeth II: Unmistakable.
Prince Charles: Only to you.
Queen Elizabeth II: To all Wales, apparently. "If this union is to endure, then we must learn to respect each other's differences. Nobody likes to be ignored, to not be seen or heard or listened to."
Prince Charles: Well, am I wrong? Isn't there a similarity between my predicament and the Welsh? Am I listened to in this family? Am I seen for who and what I am? No! Do I have a voice?
Queen Elizabeth II: Rather too much of a voice for my liking. Not having a voice is something all of us have to live with. We have all made sacrifices and suppressed who we are. Some portion of our natural selves is always lost.
Prince Charles: That is a choice.
Queen Elizabeth II: It is not a choice. It is a duty. I was a similar age to you when your great-grandmother, Queen Mary, told me that to do nothing, to say nothing, is the hardest job of all. It requires every ounce of energy that we have. To be impartial is not natural, it's not human. People will always want us to smile or agree or frown or speak, and the minute that we do, we will have declared a position, a point of view, and that is the one thing as the royal family we are not entitled to do. Which is why we have to hide those feelings, keep them to ourselves. Because the less we do, the less we say or speak or agree...
Prince Charles: Or think? Or breathe? Or feel or exist?
Queen Elizabeth II: The better.
Prince Charles: Well, doing that is perhaps not as easy for me as it is for you.
Queen Elizabeth II: Why?
Prince Charles: Because I have a beating heart. A character. A mind and a will of my own. I am not just a symbol. I can lead not just by wearing a uniform or cutting a ribbon, but by showing people who I am! Mummy, I have a voice.
Queen Elizabeth II: Let me let you into a secret: No one wants to hear it.
Prince Charles: Are you talking about the country or my own family?
Queen Elizabeth II: No one.
