In the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death last week, some have wondered if it just might spell the end of the British monarchy, and many question whether King Charles III can keep the institution as alive and relevant as his mother did.
And if ancient prognosticator Nostradamus is right in his predictions, those people just might be on to something.
A book written by an expert on the 16th-century fortuneteller says that he not only predicted Queen Elizabeth II's death, but that King Charles III, her son and successor, will abdicate the throne.
But that's not all Nostradamus predicted, nor is it the prediction sure to be the most controversial. He also predicted Prince Harry will one day sit on the throne.
Yes, that Prince Harry, the one who, along with his wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, stepped down from his royal duties and left the United Kingdom for Canada and California, sparking widespread outrage among British royalists and causing the estrangement of his father, King Charles III.
The predictions come via author Mario Reading, a leading expert in Nostradamus' writings who wrote a book about them called Nostradamus: Complete Prophecies for the Future.
Reading says Nostradamus predicted the correct year and age at which Queen Elizabeth II would pass away in poems written in the 1500s. Reading wrote about the poem way back in 2005:
“The preamble is that Queen Elizabeth II will die, circa 2022, at the age of around ninety-six, five years short of her mother’s term of life.”
Nailed it. Reading went on to write of the now-King Charles III:
“Prince Charles will be seventy-four years old in 2022, when he takes over the throne, but the resentments held against him by a certain proportion of the British population, following his divorce from Diana, Princess of Wales, still persist.”
Safe to say that's still true, 17 years later, and only a small part of why many question whether the monarchy, which many Britons believe to be an outdated and inappropriate institution for modern times, can withstand Queen Elizabeth II's death.
Reading goes on to write that Nostradamus' prophecy mentions “a man will replace [Charles] who never expected to be King"—which many interpret to mean Prince Harry. Fifth in the line of succession to the throne, after brother Prince William and his three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, Harry is not expected to ever be king.
On Twitter, the predictions definitely raised lots of eyebrows, for those who adore and oppose the monarchy alike.
Nostradamus is said to have predict several world events, including the September 11 terror attacks and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
He also supposedly predicted the world would end in 2012, however, so... grain of salt!
