The death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 was a moment of profound shock and grief for the nation. She had been a steadfast presence for seventy years but now, suddenly, the future of the monarchy rested on the shoulders of her son, then aged seventy-three. No new monarch had spent longer preparing for such a day than King Charles, but he faced many challenges, from commentators predicting he would be the last British king to damaging family rifts and an institution that needed to modernize and adapt to a changing society. Charles: The Making of a King takes us behind the scenes of our new king’s reign, as he led the nation in mourning the death of his mother, embarked on his first state visit, to France, was crowned in Westminster Abbey in a ceremony watched around the world, and started to set his own mark on the institution of royalty.