It is in many ways a relatable, vulnerable moment. It's five days after the man's mother has died, and he's trying to hold it together, to perform one simple task. But is unsure of the date, and now the leaky pen in his hand is getting the better of him. "Oh God, I hate this," he mutters. But this is not some ordinary senior citizen grieving a parent. This is the new King of England. So the incident goes viral, a mishap that makes the man look like a petulant blunderer.
It's also the moment that opens the National Geographic documentary, "Charles: In His Own Words." It's the kind of Charles we've seen before, the inflexible grump of Prince Harry's "Spare," the icy antagonist of the Diana arc of "The Crown." But there's more to the new monarch than meets the eye. Through rare footage and archival interviews we get a picture of how the man has seen himself over the years — as a boisterous amateur actor, an involved and caring single dad, a vocal supporter of environmental issues and a husband who knows exactly "whatever love is." As director Tom Jennings told me during a recent "Salon Talks" conversation, "I think he plays a very long game, especially with the media, especially with his own family. He's looking way over the horizon when we're looking at the ground right in front of us."
