His accession to the throne after 70 years of patience, a record in the history of the British monarchy, was immediate on the death of the Queen, in accordance with the ancient Latin maxim "Rex nunquam moritur" (the King never dies).
Charles said in a statement posted on Twitter that his mother's death was "a time of great sorrow". "The death of my much-loved mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a time of great sorrow for me and my family," the statement read.
Coronation in a few weeks
Her coronation should take place in a few weeks' time at the earliest. Elizabeth II was crowned in June 1953, sixteen months after being proclaimed Queen.
His wife Camilla became Queen Consort, a wish expressed by the Queen last February. The subject remained sensitive among the British. After her marriage to Prince Charles in 2005, Camilla chose not to take the title of Princess of Wales, which was too closely associated with Princess Diana.
Born on 14 November 1948, the eldest son Charles became heir to the crown at the age of three years and three months, in February 1952, when Princess Elizabeth, aged 25, became Queen on the death of her father George VI.
Since his first official engagements in the 1970s, the Prince of Wales's role has been to "support Her Majesty the Queen as a focal point of national pride".
He has welcomed dignitaries to the UK on his behalf, attended state dinners, travelled to a hundred countries, presented thousands of decorations, attended inaugurations, honoured heroes and written or recorded countless messages of encouragement and congratulations.
He was increasingly replacing his mother, who was in declining health. In May, Charles delivered the Speech from the Throne in Parliament for the first time, one of his most important constitutional duties.
Green dandy
The British know him best for the wreckage of his marriage to Princess Diana, which did him considerable harm in the 1990s, and his remarriage to Camilla.
A man of passions, Charles has made the most of this very long wait, an early advocate of the environment, a lover of alternative medicine, a passionate advocate of sustainable urban planning and an inspired gardener who talks to his trees. Since 2007, he has published his "ecological footprint" (total 3133 tonnes of CO2 in 2020 compared with 5070 in 2019).
In total, he is chairman or benefactor of more than 420 charities, the largest of which, the Prince's Trust, has helped more than a million young people in difficulty since it was founded in 1976.
But this dandyish old aristocrat who loves double-breasted suits is far less popular than his mother, who has been totally devoted to her role for 70 years, and is absolutely neutral.
Text by rts.ch afp/cab
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