By A.J. Rice
“The Queen is dead, long live the King.” And so it goes when one English monarch passes and another inevitably steps up to the throne. They change England’s national anthem from “God Save the Queen” to “God Save the King,” and continuity is maintained. Queen Elizabeth II’s passing at 96 gives way to her son Charles, who has taken the royal monicker of Charles III.
Why he went with Charles and not the other royal names available to him – he could’ve been King Arthur II, for instance – is something only he can answer given the records of previous Kings Charles. The first one got embroiled in England’s devastating civil war and literally lost his head over it. His son’s accession only proved the pointlessness of that war and the necessity of getting one’s civil rights codified in writing. America’s founders took that lesson to heart a century later.
But enough about Charles III, whose reign has only begun.
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