King for a year: Charles III shows his reign is more about evolution than revolution
The year-old reign of Britain’s King Charles III has been marked by continuity with the legacy of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Most people seem to have shrugged off Charles’ occasional faux pas — most publicly when he threw a hissy fit over an aide’s failure to move an ornate pen case during a signing ceremony — focusing instead on successes such as his state visit to Germany, where the king wowed his audience by switching effortlessly between English and German during a speech to lawmakers. The message delivered by the new king’s first year on the throne is clear, said Sally Bedell Smith, author of “Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life.” Change will be subtle, more evolution than revolution. After the queen’s piper played one final lament, the Westminster Abbey congregation offered a thunderous rendition of the national anthem — though for the first time in seven decades the first line was “God save our gracious king,” instead of “queen.” With that, the queen seemed to slide into the background of history, and Charles took center stage in a multicultural nation where schoolchildren now speak more than 300 languages.
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