With the death of Queen Elizabeth, her eldest child Prince Charles immediately assumes the throne.
“He will be crowned probably in a year,” Kate Williams, history professor at England’s Reading University and author of Young Elizabeth: The Making of the Queen, said.
“The coronation ceremony usually takes a year because it’s seen as unseemly, really, to have a coronation ceremony straight after someone’s death. It’s a long period of mourning.”
Although at various points there has been speculation that Charles, 73, might step aside to allow his son, Prince William, 40, to take the reins, there is no truth to that notion.
“He’s waited for this, and he’s sure he can do a good job of it. People suggest that Charles will abdicate because William and Kate [Middleton] are more popular,” says Williams. “That’s not the case. He’s absolutely convinced he can do a good job of it.”
Abdication, which is more common in other European royal houses when a monarch reaches a certain age, is extremely rare in England.
The last time a king abdicated the British throne was December 11, 1936, when King Edward VIII stepped away from the monarchy after nearly one year in order to marry divorced American Wallis Simpson.
With his accession upon the death of his mother, Charles inherits the responsibilities and privileges of a consecrated king, except one — he won’t be allowed to publicly wear a crown until his coronation.
(This is why there are no official photos of King Edward VIII with a crown, as he abdicated ahead of his coronation — a fact that was touched on in Netflix’s hit series The Crown.)
In accordance with the royal line of succession, Prince Charles takes the throne, to be followed by Prince William, who will now be followed by William’s elder child Prince George, 9. Next comes George’s sister, 7-year-old Princess Charlotte, followed by their youngest sibling Prince Louis, 4. Prince Harry becomes fifth in line to the throne.
Most notably, Prince William becomes Prince of Wales and Kate becomes Princess of Wales, the title formerly held by William’s late mother, Princess Diana.
The position of the Prince of Wales is traditionally reserved for the heir apparent and does not pass on to William until Charles formally bestows it, which may take several months. (At that point, William and Kate’s Duke and Duchess of Cambridge titles will go dormant.)
The tradition of naming the heir apparent the Prince of Wales is said to date back to 1301 when King Edward I invested his son Edward of Caernarfon with the title.