King Charles III crowned, fate of throne after him

ALBAWABA - Britain's King Charles III was officially coronated at the Anglican Church's Westminster Abby in London Saturday, but many wondered about the fate of the British crown if the reign of the 74-year-old monarch did not last long.

Charles is in good health, and there is nothing to worry about now.

He and Queen Camilla were crowned in a magnificent ceremony featuring a display of pageantry and military processions. The royal couple were escorted by cavalry divisions and musicians on their way to Westminster Abbey, where 2,000 guests attended the two-hour event. They included heads of state, foreign government and British state representatives. Crowds lined the streets outside under rain to greet their king and queen.

Charles was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. A fanfare sound and gun salutes were fired at the Tower of London and across the capital, the nation, in Gibraltar, Bermuda and on ships at sea, according to the coronation schedule.

CNN described Charles' crowning as "once-in-a-generation royal event."

Charles became King on the Sept. 8 death of his widely-revered mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 96, who was Britain's longest reigning monarch. Saturday's coronation is the formal crowning of the monarch, who was presented with an array of ceremonial objects at Abby and recognized as King by various representatives of the British state.

Britain's throne after Charles

Like under his late mother, the widely beloved Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest serving monarch who died at the age of 96, the Operation Menai Bridge kicks in. That is a code name for the contingency plan in the event of Charles’s death.

"While the details are unclear, based on what happened in the 11 days between the Queen’s death and the moment she was officially laid to rest, the arrangements for Charles’s formal state funeral would start almost immediately," the HuffPost UK reported.

"In fact, royal protection officer Simon Morgan told Australian show Today back in September that the day after the Queen’s funeral, Operation Menai Bridge preparation 'will start in earnest'," according to the post.

The U.K. government would be notified, followed by Commonwealth leaders, and a note would soon be attached to the gates of Buckingham Palace, with flags all around the country lowered to half mast.

The new monarch would automatically inherit the throne at the moment of Charles’s death.

And, after a period of national mourning, Charles would then be laid to rest in the “royal vault” in King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle, according to the Post.

The successor

Charles has only been the monarch since his mother's death eight months ago. But, if the sovereign passed away, the crown automatically passes to the next in line.

In Britain, that’s the monarch’s oldest child: Prince William, now 40. The prince now has the title of "Prince of Wales," a role typically reserved for the male heir apparent to the British throne.

If at the time William was declared incapacitated, or dead, the crown will pass to his eldest child Prince George, 9, who is currently second-in-line to the throne. But he will not be able to carry out the tasks of a monarch under the constitution until he is 18.

Therefore, Prince Harry, who is the next adult in the line of succession, after George’s siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, would most likely become Regent until his nephew was old enough to rule.

As the parliament website explains: "In a regency, a ‘Regent’ is appointed to act on the monarch’s behalf."

"A Regency applies if a monarch succeeds to the throne before the age of 18, or if a monarch becomes permanently incapacitated due to ‘infirmity of mind or body'."

In the case a Regent was appointed, "that would probably throw up a whole new bunch of problems though, considering Harry has made it painfully clear how little he enjoys royal life and protocol," the HuffPost said. The prince also has stepped down from life as a working royal back in 2020.

Queen Camilla

Camilla will never become hold the tasks of the sovereign because, under the British Constitution, people who marry into the Royal Family cannot take the hereditary title.

Camilla would not even keep her title of Queen Consort when Charles dies. Kate Middleton would inherit it as the wife of the new sovereign, Prince William, according to the post.

Technically, Camilla may be able to take the role of the "Queen-dowager, the title awarded to the widows of late Kings, but it’s not yet known if she would actually use that moniker," the post reported.

It said Camilla "also probably would not use the title of Queen Mother, a moniker used by Queen Elizabeth II’s mother once her husband died, because she is the stepmother to William and Harry."

"Questions have always hung over Camilla’s title considering she is Charles’s second wife and not the biological mother of those next in line to the throne," the Post said. The late Princess Diana, who was widely popular among Britons and mother of William and Harry, was always expected to be the next Queen as Charles’s first wife.

But she was divorced from Charles one year before she died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France, on Aug. 31, 1997.

Editors Note: This article was written by Albawaba, compiled from various news reports, mainly the HuffPost UK.