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An insightful and authoritative account of the first year of King Charles’s reign by royal expert and the bestselling author of Queen of Our Times, Robert Hardman. The death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 was a moment of profound shock and grief for the nation. She had been a steadfast presence for seventy years but now, suddenly, the future of the monarchy rested on the shoulders of her son, then aged seventy-three. No new monarch had spent longer preparing for such a day. Charles III faced many challenges, not least uniting a fractious nation, calls for the end of the monarchy in several realms and painful family rifts. Like the late Queen before him, he would need to modernise and adapt – but, in his case, at speed. Charles III: The Making of a Modern Monarch will take us behind the scenes of our new King’s reign, from those very first responses to the death of his mother to the drama behind his Coronation and a remarkable number of swift but subtle changes, showing the sort of King he intends to be and how he plans to leave his mark. It will get to the heart of how the new monarchy works now as it seeks that vital element – relevance – in a secular, digital and increasingly angry world. With exclusive access to new material, to royal events and to those who know the King – and Queen – better than anyone, this is the definitive account of a pivotal moment in the Royal Family’s history.