A version of this story appeared in the September 8 edition of CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on Britain’s royal family. Sign up here.
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CNN
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It will be a bittersweet day for Britain’s royal family Friday as they mark not only the first year of King Charles III’s reign but the one-year anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
The late monarch died peacefully at the age of 96 at her Balmoral bolt hole on September 8 last year, months after her historic Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking 70 years on the British throne.
Charles is currently in Balmoral – the beloved royal property in Aberdeenshire where his mother retreated annually for a summer break. There had been questions over whether the King would continue the tradition, but that speculation was put to rest with his arrival a few weeks ago.
Since then, several family members have been spotted coming and going from the Scottish residence. But a royal source has told CNN they will have all departed by Friday. And there won’t be any public events there.
Charles has opted to handle the deeply personal day by staying out of the public eye, apart from a brief appearance after attending church – a similar approach to his mother who often spent her own Accession Day in private at Sandringham House, where her father King George VI died in his sleep in 1952.
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Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
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Elizabeth was born April 21, 1926, in London. She is held here by her mother, also named Elizabeth. Her father would later become King George VI.
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Princess Elizabeth poses for a photo at her London home in 1928.
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Princess Elizabeth is seen with her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, during a visit to Balmoral, Scotland, in September 1933. He would go on to become King Edward VIII in 1936. But when he abdicated later that year, Elizabeth's father became King and she became heir presumptive.
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From left, Princess Elizabeth, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret wave to the crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on June 22, 1939.
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Elizabeth rides a horse in Windsor, England, in 1940. Her love of horses was well documented.
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A 14-year-old Elizabeth, right, sits next to her sister for a radio broadcast on October 13, 1940. On the broadcast, her first, she said that England's children were full of cheerfulness and courage.
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Princess Elizabeth shakes hands with an officer of the Grenadier Guards on May 29, 1942. King George VI made Elizabeth an honorary colonel in the Royal Army regiment.
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Elizabeth, right, and Princess Margaret wear summer dresses circa 1942. Margaret was Elizabeth's only sibling.
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With the Drakensberg Mountains behind her, Princess Elizabeth sits in South Africa's Natal National Park on April 21, 1947. It was her 21st birthday.
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On November 20, 1947, Elizabeth wed Prince Philip, a lieutenant in the British Navy who had been born into the royal families of Greece and Denmark. After becoming a British citizen and renouncing his Greek title, Philip became His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His wife became the Duchess of Edinburgh.
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Princess Elizabeth arrives at a state banquet in London in March 1950.
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Elizabeth ascended to the throne in February 1952, when her father died of lung cancer at the age of 56. Here, she walks to the altar during her coronation ceremony on June 2, 1953.
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Queen Elizabeth II is photographed on the balcony of Melbourne's Government House during her tour of Australia in March 1954.
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From left, Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother visit Epsom Downs Racecourse in June 1958.
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The Queen holds her son Prince Andrew while his sister, Princess Anne, watches during a family holiday at Scotland's Balmoral Castle in September 1960. The Queen had four children, including sons Charles and Edward.
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Queen Elizabeth II is seen during the state opening of Parliament in April 1966.
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Queen Elizabeth II with her oldest son, Prince Charles, in 1969. Charles is now
King.
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Prince Charles adjusts his coronet during his investiture ceremony as Prince of Wales in 1969.
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The Queen and Prince Philip wave from a plane ramp shortly before taking off from Tokyo in May 1975.
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The Queen takes a portrait at Windsor Castle for her 50th birthday on April 21, 1976.
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The Queen meets the crowds during her royal tour of New Zealand in 1977.
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Elizabeth walks with some of her corgis at the Windsor Horse Trials in May 1980.
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The Queen stands next to Prince Charles as he kisses his new bride, Princess Diana, on July 29, 1981.
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Elizabeth takes pictures of her husband during a horse show in Windsor in May 1982.
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Elizabeth drives her Land Rover during the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May 1992.
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While at Buckingham Palace, the Queen and Prince Philip view the floral tributes to Princess Diana after her tragic death in 1997.
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The Queen addresses the nation on the night before Princess Diana's funeral in 1997.
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Prince Charles looks back at his mother after wedding Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in April 2005.
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The Queen arrives at St Paul's Cathedral for a Thanksgiving service in honor of her 80th birthday in 2006.
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The Queen, second from right, greets a crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in April 2011. Her grandson Prince William, third from left, had just married Catherine Middleton.
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The Queen's signature is seen in the visitors book at Aras An Uachtarain, the Irish President's official residence in Dublin in May 2011.
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Madame Tussauds London reveals a wax figure of the Queen in May 2012.
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Prince Charles kisses his mother's hand on stage as singer Paul McCartney, far right, looks on at the Diamond Jubilee concert in June 2012. The Diamond Jubilee celebrations marked Elizabeth's 60th anniversary as Queen.
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The Queen tours the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London in December 2012.
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A boy in Belfast, Northern Ireland, takes a selfie in front of the Queen in June 2014.
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The Queen enters the Great Hall at Edinburgh Castle after attending a commemorative service for the Scottish National War Memorial in July 2014.
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The Queen waits to give her speech during the state opening of Parliament in May 2015.
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Elizabeth listens to her great-grandson, Prince George, outside a church where George's sister, Charlotte, was being christened in July 2015. George and Charlotte are the children of Prince William, left, and his wife, Catherine.
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The Queen is seated at her desk in her private audience room at Buckingham Palace in July 2015. She is seen with one of her official red boxes, which contains important papers from government ministers in the United Kingdom and from representatives across the Commonwealth and beyond. The photo was taken to mark the moment the Queen became the longest-reigning British monarch.
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The Queen and Prince Philip wave to guests in London who were attending celebrations for her 90th birthday in 2016.
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Elizabeth speaks to Evie Mills, 14, at a hospital in Manchester, England, in May 2017. Evie was injured in a bombing that took place as people left an Ariana Grande concert.
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The Queen sits at a desk in Buckingham Palace after recording her Christmas Day broadcast in 2017.
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The Queen arrives for the wedding of her grandson Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018.
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The Queen laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, during a bridge-opening ceremony in Halton, England, in June 2018. It was Meghan's first royal outing without her husband, Prince Harry, by her side.
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The Queen looks at
her new great-grandchild, Archie, in May 2019. Archie is the first child of Prince Harry, second from left, and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Prince Philip is on the far left. Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, is next to her at right.
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The Queen welcomes Boris Johnson at Buckingham Palace, where she formally invited him to become prime minister in July 2019. Johnson
won the UK's Conservative Party leadership contest and replaced Theresa May, who was forced into resigning after members of her Cabinet lost confidence in her inability to secure the UK's departure from the European Union.
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The Queen
rides a horse in Windsor, England, in May 2020. It was her first public appearance since the coronavirus lockdown began in the United Kingdom.
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The Queen and
Prince Philip pose for a photo in June 2020, ahead of Philip's 99th birthday.
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The Queen and Prince Philip look at a homemade anniversary card that was given to them by their great-grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in November 2020.
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The Queen takes her seat alone at
Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021. The ceremony was limited to 30 people, in line with England's coronavirus restrictions.
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The Queen receives a Duke of Edinburgh rose from Keith Weed, president of the Royal Horticultural Society, in June 2021. The newly bred rose was officially named in honor of Prince Philip.
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The Queen drives her Range Rover as she attends the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, England, in July 2021.
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The Queen attends the Royal Windsor Cup polo match and a carriage-driving display by the British Driving Society in July 2021.
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The Queen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, greet guests during a Windsor Castle reception for international business and investment leaders in October 2021.
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The Queen meets with Rear Admiral James Macleod, the outgoing Defence Services secretary, and Macleod's successor, Major General Eldon Millar, at Windsor Castle in February 2022. It was a few days before Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen
tested positive for Covid-19.
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The Queen watches the Trooping the Colour parade in London during her
Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022. She was the first British sovereign to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee -- 70 years on the throne. "I have been humbled and deeply touched that so many people have taken to the streets to celebrate my Platinum Jubilee," the Queen said in a released statement. "While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family."
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The Queen welcomes
Liz Truss at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, formally inviting her to be the new prime minister in September 2022. The meeting would traditionally have taken place at London's Buckingham Palace, but the monarch had significantly reduced her duties and travel in recent months because of her mobility issues.
However, the King has recorded a short audio message paying tribute to his mother’s “devoted service.”
“In marking the first anniversary of Her Late Majesty’s death and my accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us,” the King said.
“I am deeply grateful, too, for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and myself during this year as we do our utmost to be of service to you all.”
Alongside the audio message, Charles released a favorite photograph of his mother taken by Cecil Beaton in 1968, which has only previously been seen in an exhibition. It shows the Queen, then aged 42, dressed in her Garter robes standing sideways and smiling. She is wearing the Grand Duchess Vladimir’s Tiara, which is made of 15 interlaced diamond circles.
Meanwhile, the Prince and Princess of Wales will observe the day by attending a small private service commemorating the late matriarch’s life in Wales. He’s expected to speak on behalf of the family.
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The Prince and Princess of Wales viewed the floral tributes to the Queen at Sandringham, September 15, 2022.
The couple will visit St. Davids Cathedral in Britain’s smallest city of St. Davids in Pembrokeshire. St. Davids has been a site of pilgrimage and worship for more than 1,400 years since David, the patron saint of Wales, settled there in the sixth century with his monastic community.
The pair will then meet people from the local community – some of whom previously met Queen Elizabeth II during various visits to the city.
The Duke of Sussex also paid tribute to his grandmother, praising her sense of duty while speaking at a charity event in London on the eve of the anniversary.
“As you know, I was unable to attend the awards last year as my grandmother passed away,” Prince Harry said Thursday at the awards ceremony for UK charity WellChild, which helps children with serious health problems.
“As you also probably know, she would have been the first person to insist that I still come to be with you all instead of going to her. And that’s precisely why I know, exactly one year on, that she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we are together, continuing to spotlight such an incredible community,” he said.
The duke returned to the United Kingdom for a fleeting visit for the organization which he has been patron of for more than a decade. The fifth in line to the throne is not expected to see his immediate family during the flying visit and will soon be off again as he’s expected in Germany for the opening ceremony of his Invictus Games in Dusseldorf on Saturday.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex was not with her husband in the British capital, but she is expected to join him in Germany shortly after the games begin.
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The Duke of Sussex spoke to Ruky Anighoro during the WellChild Awards at the Hurlingham Club in London, September 7, 2023.
The anniversary of the late Queen’s death brings the transition period to an end and begins the Carolean era in earnest. For several royal experts, the King has used the past 12 months to blend the two reigns and strengthen the monarchy.
“The hallmark of his first year, perhaps to the surprise of some, is stability and continuity,” Vernon Bogdanor, leading UK constitutional expert and historian, told CNN.
“Britain is now a multinational state with devolution in four parts and he visited each part of the UK after his accession, and I think he’s very sensitive and conscious of that,” explained the research professor at the Centre for British Politics and Government at King’s College London. “And also, very sensitive and conscious of the fact that Britain is a multicultural society.”
He continued that Charles is a “modern King” and “arguably more sensitive to these newer aspects than the late Queen.”
Charles’s first year on the throne couldn’t have gone much better, according to Craig Prescott, a constitutional law expert and lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London.
“For many people, there was just a concern about having the new monarch because it was a new experience for practically the whole country,” Prescott said. “The surprise is that not that much radical has happened.”
He continued: “There’s been a lot of discussion for the past 30 years about what sort of King Charles would be and actually he’s followed the template of his mother quite closely. This year has been really one of continuity rather than change.”
That would appear to be reflected in recent polling in the UK which found the majority of people surveyed felt the King was doing a “good job” in the year since his accession. However, the data reinforced a generational split over whether Britain should continue to have a monarchy, with support falling with the age of respondents.
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Prince William posed for selfies with the public while visiting businesses in Bournemouth, September 7, 2023.
Prescott said the King’s approach since taking over was a bit sharper and that he had been addressing some public apathy by making delicate adjustments while he continued to find the scope of what he could do in his new role.
He pointed to how the monarch combined the traditional coronation service while molding it to modern Britain through some of his contemporary musical choices and the invited congregation as examples of how he’s making small changes. He added that there have also “been quite a few engagements with elements of diversity and inclusion.”
But bolstering support for the ancient institution in a modern Britain, particularly among younger generations, will be a challenge the King will continue to face, according to Bogdanor.
“The monarchy can’t remain as it were and has to move on with the times. If it moves on too far, it loses support. If it doesn’t move on at all, it loses support. The trick is to get the balance right,” Bogdanor said.
“This is a task for Charles. He’s also fortunate in having the Prince of Wales which will help in the modernizing process. But it’s a very continuous flow of modernization which is on the whole hidden from the public.”