On Saturday, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland received a new monarch: King Charles III, eldest son of the late Queen Elizabeth II. He was proclaimed king at St. James’s Palace in London.
Charles, 73, had been the Prince of Wales — the title earmarked for forthcoming British monarchs-in-waiting — for longer than anyone else in the history of the royal family.
His first son, Prince William, and his wife Catherine are now the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge— leaving behind their title of Prince and Princess of Wales. Camilla, the King’s second wife, is now the Queen Consort— a term used for the spouse of the ruling monarch.
“God Save the King” was sung for the first time at a memorial service held for the Queen at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday— for the past 70 years, the English have sung “God Save the Queen.”
Charles is now the head of the Commonwealth, which now includes 56 counties and 2.4 billion people.
The King, who served in the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, was also deployed on many warships during the 1970s.
In 1981, Charles and Lady Diana Spencer married. Being 12 years her senior, there was much controversy, but Lady Diana’s elegance and gregariousness caught the attention of the media.
Together, they have two sons, Prince William, 40, and Prince Harry, 37.
After a bitter and public divorce in 1996, Charles moved on, and just under 10 years later, married his longtime friend, Camilla, in 2005.
At a speech honoring his mother on Monday, Charles promised to follow Queen Elizabeth’s selfless ways, saying, “She set an example of selfless duty which, with God’s help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.”
