The bells of St. Paul's Cathedral rang out remorsefully in the background while the BBC news reporter read out the details on the television:
"At precisely 4:22am, Greenwich Mean Time, Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, expired of natural causes".
"expired" thought Charles, what a strange euphemism for 'died'. For any normal person, losing both your parents in the same year – Prince Philip had 'expired' only 3 months earlier – would be a cause for inexplicable grief. Charles felt no grief. This is a moment he had been preparing for and had been prepared, by many others, for his entire life. Most people grow up trying to figure out what they want to 'be': a doctor, a lawyer, a firefighter. Charles had no such luxury. From the moment he was born he was destined to be "King Charles, defender of the faith and the King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". A pretty cool job and a very grand title. There was only one little hiccup: the woman who gave birth to him and who raised him (albeit with the help of a lot of servants) would have to die first.
As the years came and went, after university, his service in the Royal Military (technically, his mom's army), Charles felt that he was ready to be King, even though he knew he probably had a few years left in his mother's reign. A few years became a few decades that stretched on and on and, now, at the age of 72, she finally passed away – 5 years before her 100th birthday.
"I should be in mourning right now, crying my eyes out" Charles said to his wife, Camilla. "But all I feel is anxiety about what comes next".
In actual fact, nobody, not even Charles, knew what would come next. The nation would be in mourning, of course. Even those in Britain who were ambivalent about the Crown felt a strong love for their Queen. This would be the most dramatic outpouring of emotion in Britain since, well, since the death of another woman Charles has once loved, Diana. Charles smiled to himself thinking how much pleasure QE2 (that was Queen Elizabeth's nickname) would get in knowing that she drew many more mourners and well-wishers than Diana. She had never liked that woman.
But what would come after the tears? After the lavish state funeral, the procession down Horseguard's Parade, that famous road leading from Buckingham Palace to Whitehall. What then?
"This would all be so much easier if Wills was here, at least we could discuss it like men". Wills was, of course, William or, rather, His Royal Highness Prince William the Duke of Cambridge. William was only 40 but, with a beautiful young family, including Prince George – the heir to the throne – he was most people's first choice to be King.
Over the years there had always been speculation about whether, when the time came, Charles would abdicate and give up the throne for William. Sure, the speculation hurt, but Charles always took comfort in the fact that his boys, Wills and Harry, always maintained that he should never abdicate. In the last few years, however, things had started to change. Little things. First, Wills would always talk about how Britain needed a monarch who was modern, comfortable with technology, young and cool. Charles remembered when he was young and cool, but that was a long, long time ago. Lately, Wills and Harry had taken to mocking him by calling him "Chuckles". This was another sign of disrespect intended to weaken Charles' stature in the eye of the British public.
"Oh, I don't ever want to see that dreadful boy again" Camilla snarled. Her words broke Charles out of his own daydream. These were the first words Camilla had uttered since finding out about QE2's death.
"Well, even if we haven't been speaking for months, we'll have to see him. There's too much to discuss, too many plans to make."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that, darling" Camilla said softly. "I've put a plan in motion that will make sure those petulant little princelings of yours never bother us again."
