Posted on 09/09/22
| News Source: i24
The now king's 70 years as a heir apparent were marked by private and public turmoil
King Charles III on Thursday made his first statement as monarch after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, saying that “the death of my beloved mother, Her Majesty the Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family."
“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved mother.”
To assure a seamless transition and the continuity of royal governance, Charles — arguably the best-prepared Royal heir in history — became the sovereign with immediate effect once his mother was pronounced deceased.
He is now formally the head of state for the United Kingdom and 14 other countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea.
The oldest British monarch to ever accede to the throne, Charles was the heir apparent since the age of three in 1951, the year which marked the coronation of his mother. He was the first royal heir to go to school and university, being educated at a private boarding school in the Scottish highlands, and later in Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a history degree.