The new monarch is keenly aware of protocol but will not abandon the causes close to his heart
The Queen is dead: long live the King. The prince who has been waiting for the crown longer than any royal heir in British history has now acceded to the throne, and soon we will have the answer to the question that has been asked so many times: what sort of king will Charles be? Will he be a meddling monarch, or one who changes our fundamental understanding of what it is to be a modern sovereign?
For Charles the fact that he has been preparing for this moment for the whole of his adult life paradoxically makes the challenges he faces harder, not easier. The overwhelming majority of people have only ever known one sovereign. The Queen’s style, manner, and general approach to the discharging of her responsibilities have become so imprinted on the national consciousness that, to many of us, they are synonymous with what it is to be the monarch.
