73-Year-Old Man Gets First Job

His wife is now fashion-plate and paparazzi quest

I feel sorry for Camilla, Queen Consort. She is 75, and the object of photographers and fashion writers. She has to dress up, wear good shoes, and have her hair done.

During Covid, I got used to no makeup, a natural, graying hair color, and sweatpants as a primary go-to wardrobe.

I haven’t upgraded a whole lot. I wear better quality pants and shirts when I go out in public.

I am younger than Camilla. The shoes alone would require me to step down from the Queen Consort position. I wonder if New Balance makes a Queen- appropriate style?

The clothing she wears now is identified by fashion writers. She most recently wore a shirt dress. I know this because my news feed serves me useless bits of information about the royals, and I disdainfully gobble it up.

It is daunting for King Charles, too. Here is a 73-year-old man in his first job. I’ve left a job because the Department Director described my promotion as five years away when the person above me would retire. Charles waited seventy years. No thanks.

In my mid-60s, it was clear I was becoming an old fogey at my workplace, and I took the hint and retired.

When you are the boss and take over an organization, it takes about five years, in my experience, to turn everything around to suit your path. Charles has had a long time to plan, so maybe his timeline is shorter. Sure, he has longevity in his family and optimal medical care, but you never know. He is 73, taking a very big new job when most of us have left ours.

I can’t help thinking about Camilla, though, and having to parade around like you enjoy cutting ribbons and standing on your feet when really you want to put on a nice, cozy robe and spend a day reading in the recliner. She and Charles, I understand, have separate houses, which might make life easier, along with servants to fetch a cuppa.

Older workers have complained about age discrimination and the difficulty of getting or retaining jobs in the workplace. I would make a dig about Britain’s system, but then our President is about to become an octogenarian and Nancy Pelosi still wears stilettos and she wields her gavel at age 82. I admire her a great deal and understand she pushed Obama to deliver healthcare and was a key player in saving our democracy on January 6.

I frankly don’t know how they do it when I worry about standing in line too long in the grocery store and forgetting my list and all the items on it.

So I am happy I am not the Queen or the President and I can sit here in my comfy robe and sip a cuppa and make judgments about the state of the union or the economy or the world and then slip on my New Balance sneakers to take the garbage out, and call it a day.