A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW

Expectations will be high of King Charles, who steps into a role his mother performed faultlessly – and other royals face new challenges too

- DENNIS CAVERNELIS

IT WAS never going to be easy to follow in his mother’s footsteps. She was the youngest monarch in almost two centuries – he’s the oldest person to assume the British throne.

Yet what he lacks in youth, King Charles III makes up for in preparation. Charles (73), born Charles Philip

Arthur George, was three years old when his mother became queen at the age of 25 after the death of her father, King George VI.

He’s been preparing for this role for all of her 70-year reign and as he gave his first speech following the queen’s death, he was every inch the monarch.

“Queen Elizabeth’s was a life well lived,” he said in his first speech as king. “A promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing. That promise of lifelong service I renew to you all today.”

He became emotional as he paid tribute to his mother before promising to live a life of service and duty.

“As the queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I too now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the Constitutional principles at the heart of our nation.”

A NEW KING

“Today the Crown passes – as it has done for more than a thousand years – to our new monarch, our new head of state: His Majesty King Charles III,” Prime Minister Liz Truss announced after the queen’s death.