King Charles coronation: rising popularity can’t mask British monarchy’s problems

It was a changing of the guard unprecedented in British history. No monarch had sat on the throne longer than Queen Elizabeth, and no heir had spent more time in waiting than King Charles.

The death of Charles’ “darling Mama”, as he put it shortly after her passing in September, jolted a nation already consumed by crisis.

That autumn, the economy was pounded by Brexit, the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, not to mention a new prime minister whose government wouldn’t last much longer than the official period of mourning.

Now, as Charles prepares to formally accept St Edward’s Crown during a service Saturday at Westminster Abbey, the feeling that the realm is in free fall has subsided.

The memory of Liz Truss’ political implosion is fading as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak oversees a restoration of relative calm. The disarray gripping the pro-independence Scottish National Party in Edinburgh has defused for the time being the threat that the kingdom will break up.

Still, a deeper malaise persists, focused on crumbling public services, a record slump in living standards and the loss of global clout.