King Charles faces a delicate task ahead of his mother’s funeral stewarding leaders of the 56-member Commonwealth who have questions about the future of the organisation on their mind.
The Commonwealth has evolved and expanded since its creation from the ashes of the British empire and has been held together in part by Queen Elizabeth II, who saw sustaining the organisation as a central part of her role.
But King Charles comes to the throne and becomes head of the Commonwealth at a time when critics say it has lost some of its sense of purpose, with Britain’s influence in the world in decline and republican voices strengthening in some of the 14 members who have the British monarch as head of state.