Prince Charles is not "longing" to be King.

Prince Charles

Prince Charles

The 68-year-old royal is due to take over as the monarch when his mother Queen Elizabeth passes away, and a source close to the famous family has now claimed he isn't desperate for the role, despite having "demonstrably" set himself up as the heir to the throne.

The source told the Daily Express newspaper: "The Prince of Wales does not sit there every day looking longingly at Buckingham Palace, wanting to be King.

"He's demonstrably made a role for himself as heir to the throne and is acutely aware that this role is coming but he's not willing it forward because to do so would involve the demise of his own mother. "It's certainly not a case of: the only way I can do good work is when I'm king because he's been doing good work for years.

"Everyone recognises that the Queen is doing an amazing job and has done for decades. But when the Prince of Wales becomes king he will do it in his own way."

And the comments come just days after 32-year-old Prince Harry - who is the son of Prince Charles and his first wife the late Princess Diana - raised eyebrows when he claimed that none of the royal family were interested in taking over as King or Queen.

He said: "Is there any one of the Royal Family who wants to be king or queen? I don't think so."

Meanwhile, Harry also said he and his brother Prince William, along with his sister-in-law Duchess Catherine, are keen to "modernise" the monarchy but want to keep the core values at its heart still.

He said: "It's a tricky balancing act [between royals seeming to be like normal people]. We don't want to dilute the magic ...The British public and the whole world need institutions like it.

"The monarchy is a force for good and we want to carry on the positive atmosphere that the Queen has achieved for over 60 years, but we won't be trying to fill her boots."

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