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A chapter in history is closing. Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96, in silence and accompanied by her family at Balmoral Castle, giving way to the reign of her son, Charles III, who had been preparing himself since the age of 3 - when he assumed the title of Duke of Cornwall - to be able to ascend the royal throne.
The title of King of the United Kingdom has come at the age of 73 and now the new monarch will have to face a series of challenges, following in the footsteps of his mother, who has managed to maintain the support and affection of the British people for almost seven decades, despite the different crises that the British Royal Court has gone through. Perhaps it is because of the Queen's discreet character in the most controversial moments that British citizens have believed that she felt the same way as her citizens and therefore felt her as close to them and, ultimately, as one of the most important national symbols for the United Kingdom.
However, the new King has already shown that he is not as discreet as his mother, speaking out openly on political and social causes that can be divisive in terms of public support for the crown.
Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Charles Philip Arthur George, who has already chosen the name Charles as his official name, has become king on the premise that "Rex nunquam moritur", the king will never die, a motto that is now also true with Elizabeth's death, for even after her death her legacy will remain undefeated.
The title of Prince of Wales came to the now King in 1958, when his mother crowned him as Prince of Wales. Prior to this appointment, Charles III was educated at a boarding school at Chem School in west London, breaking with the royal tradition of infants being educated at home after the appointment of a guardian.
Once appointed as such, the then prince continued his studies at Gordonstone, in the east of Scotland, a school also attended by the Duke of Edinburgh. He was then an exchange student at the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia and then, in 1967, began his university studies at Cambridge to study anthropology and archaeology at Trinity College and then studied history.
After university, Prince Charles took a seat in the House of Lords and then joined the Royal Air Force where he was trained as a pilot. However, despite this military training, the monarch began his naval career at the Royal Navy Collegue, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
At the age of 33, Charles III married the aristocratic Diana Spencer after a brief six-month relationship in a nuptials described as "the wedding of the century", despite the fact that many said there was no love between the couple. Even during the wedding celebration, both spouses did not promise to obey their wedding vows, a development that marked a strong distance between the couple.
As a result of the marriage, Charles and Diana had two sons, William and Harry, although this did not mean that the royal marriage would last. In 1991 the future heirs to the throne separated and in 1996 they legalised their divorce, which was considered a scandal within the Royal Court. A year later, in 1997, Princess Diana died in a tragic car accident in Paris, in circumstances that remain unclear, in which her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed also died.
Eight years later and approaching 60, Charles married Camilla Parker, his girlfriend of two years before Lady Di, in a civil ceremony followed by a mass offered by the Archbishop of Canterbury. From that moment, Camilla was recognised as Duchess of Cornwall.
In recent years, as his mother's health has become increasingly frail, Prince Charles has gradually become more prominent at official events. The last time he stood in for the Queen was at the opening ceremony of the UK Parliament in May this year, after the Queen cited "mobility problems".
Even so, in recent years, as the Queen's birthday has come and gone, the coronation of Charles III has gradually come into view, a time when the British population has been losing affinity with the Royal Court. According to the YouGov survey, support for the monarchy has fallen by more than 13% in the last decade. It also notes that more than a fifth of respondents believe that the UK should have a democratically elected head of state.
In this context, and despite the fact that support for the monarchy in the UK remains broad, the new King will have to face the more republican current that is gradually making its way into British society, where he will have to demonstrate that the Royal Court is more than a patriotic symbol.
Moreover, and unlike the Queen, the King has already shown on certain occasions his intention to support social causes, such as environmentalism - an area in which he is a staunch advocate of environmentally friendly policies - which may gradually bring him closer to the youth movements, but at the same time distance him from the favour of the Conservatives.
