A new King is going to bring more changes than simply a different person reading out a speech on TV on Christmas Day. After the Queen departed, it was clearly the end of an era — the longest for any British monarch in history, to be precise — but what will mark the era to come? King Charles III’s reign will surely mean changes to modernise the monarchy, particularly given the murmurings of further separations (and reparations) from parts of the Commonwealth. Yet aside from the specifics of new public life opera - tions and historical duties, there is also the question of what Charles will represent, as a person — and as a man.
In some ways, this is already different. The obvious? The Queen was a female mon - arch and whatever side of the royal debate you are on, it is undoubtedly a fact that marked her reign as exceptional. The Queen was a person with a certain common appeal but she was also untouchable, remote and mysterious. Less was always more. In Charles, though, we have a person whose private life has been played out in public and fallibilities have been much dissected in books, TV shows, Diana documentaries and Oprah specials. In some ways, Pen-gate was a straight continuation of the public image of Charles; the footage of him raging against a leaky fountain pen wasn’t a shocking exposé, it was the sight of a human going through a bad time and taking it out on an inanimate object, as we all do. Perhaps this will be the main change in the monarchy: less mystique.
