The world’s longest-serving next-in-line to the throne grieves for the loss of his mother at a time when the spotlight turns to him as the new leader of the monarchy.
It is a contradiction unique to royalty and one that few in Britain, apart from the queen, will have experienced.
Yet Charles already knows his way around the job he now begins as bit-by-bit he has already been doing it.
The former Prince of Wales knighted the great and good of British society, welcomed presidents and overseas royalty and laid her wreath at U.K. war memorial The Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.
However, most notably of all, Charles read the queen’s speech at the State Opening of Parliament for the first time in 2022 as his mother experienced episodic mobility problems.
The Prince of Wales was accompanied by the Imperial State Crown which was carried on a cushion to symbolize the queen in her absence.
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, accompanied him but did not sit on a throne like her husband in the House of Lords.
The queen’s constitutional duties come under two headings, her role as head of state and as head of nation, as outlined in the Sovereign Grant Report, the Royal Household’s annual financial report.
The State Opening of Parliament falls under the former category and was among the most formal, official function she missed in the initial months after her health scares.
An act of Parliament, The Regency Act, was needed to create the mechanism through which Charles stepped in.
However, the rest of her regular annual calendar was important too and the Sovereign Grant Report outlines the role some of the smaller events play in providing “continuity and stability” as head of nation.
The 2020-21 report reads: “The Monarchy provides an important sense of continuity and stability at a time of rapid social, cultural and technological change.
“The regular rhythm of the Monarchy provides reassurance to many people. This is helped by: Recurring traditional events like the State Opening of Parliament, Trooping the Colour, Garter Day, the Royal Maundy Service, Holyrood Week and Royal Ascot Week.”
Charles took the salute during the ceremony of the queen’s birthday parade as part of her Platinum Jubilee while a special salute was arranged for the queen to take from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
The prince also stood in for his mother at Royal Ascot, shortly after the jubilee, in June 2022.
Britain’s new king also had a chance to shine as early as November 2021 when the queen had to pull out of the COP26 climate change conference.
Elizabeth delivered a video message while Charles was in Glasgow in person meeting the likes of President Joe Biden.
However, the king may still have his work cut out for him as Britain adjusts to its first new sovereign since 1952, when Harry Truman was president.
