September 8 marks the third anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III. In advance of that momentous day, author Robert Hardman has updated his acclaimed biography of the King and his young reign, adding fresh nuances to the portrait of a monarch determined to make his mark.
“We’ve got to the point now that people have stopped talking about the new king, he’s just the King,” says Hardman in a new interview with me. And Charles has been on the throne long enough to have past Edward V, Edward VIII, and Richard III on the league table of monarchs, ranked by length of reign since the Conquest of 1066.
The updated edition of Charles III by Robert Hardman is out in paperback in the U.K. and on Amazon and other digital platforms in Canada. It is packed with fresh information and revelations — up to July’s state visit by France’s Emmanuel Macron — found in four new chapters added to the the original hardcover version released in January 2024, which is still on bookshelves in Canada. (My piece on the original book is here) The softcover edition also has a new cover image taken by Hugo Burnand, who did the official coronation images.
A lot has changed since September 2022, Hardman notes. Charles is already on his third British prime minister and second Canadian PM. And his second American president. Those three politicians play prominent roles in the updated section, especially during this year.
… if 2024 had been the year of health setbacks, 2025 was the year when the monarchy was suddenly a trophy soft power asset – caught in a custody battle. In short, 2025 was about Donald Trump.
The King of Canada is also the King of the United Kingdom (and monarch of 13 other realms). This year, people around the world got a crash course in the doctrine of “the divisibility of the Crown” as the political needs of those two countries came into direct conflict because of the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
Charles has had to straddle the needs of those separate thrones while alienating no one. After the King’s formal offer to Trump of a state visit to Britain (starting on September 17), he then undertook a 24-hour visit to Ottawa to open Parliament after a federal election focused on the threat posed by the Trump Administration, its tariffs, and desires to absorb Canada as its “51st state.” As Hardman writes about the “divisibility of the Crown”:
Now, that potential problem was resurfacing again as Charles III arrived in Canada in May 2025. While there was no overt hostility (he was more likely to be hugged than assaulted), he was, however, expected to issue a forceful assertion of Canadian sovereignty in the face of increasingly combative rhetoric from the recently re-elected American President, Donald Trump. That, though, ran counter to the policy of his British prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, which was to avoid antagonizing Mr Trump in the hope of securing a better trade deal for the UK. Both prime ministers were acting in their respective national interests. But where would that leave the King?
Thankfully, as Hardman points out, Charles has decades of diplomatic experience. “Here is a guy who can remember back to de Gaulle stirring things up in Quebec. He went to the White House pre Watergate as a guest of Richard Nixon … He met Churchill, Reagan, Gorbachev; Nelson Mandela was a bona fide chum…. That level of world experience – no one rivals him in the G7, G20, NATO, etc.”
Notably, Charles emphasized his dual U.K. and Canadian roles during his state visit to Italy weeks before that quick trip to Ottawa. During his address to the joint Houses of Parliament in Rome
… he emphasized, ‘as King of the United Kingdom and of Canada’, how he would be honouring the role of ‘British and Canadian Forces’ in liberating his final destination, Ravenna. The presence of the Canadian ambassador at regular intervals during the visit underlined this cheerfully unsubtle royal messaging.
That diplomatic experience was on display in the Senate chamber in Ottawa as the King read a speech from the throne filled with more personal comments and reminiscences than usual that boasted of his ties to Canada. As Hardman writes:
So while the rules state that a constitutional monarch must always act on advice from ministers, common sense dictated that the King should be handed a speech with which he was personally content. It turned out to be a deftly crafted half-hour homily on Canadian values, and it went much further than many had expected. These were values, he said, worth ‘far more than any foreign power on any continent can ever take away.’
King Charles III is working harder than ever. For the first half of 2025, King Charles is not only well ahead all other working royals in terms of the most number of engagements performed but he’s more than 65 engagements ahead of his nearest rival, Princess Anne. He’s also doing those duties while in his second year of regular cancer treatments.
“He’s very contented despite the diagnosis,” says Hardman. “Here is a man who is living with cancer rather than a man who has cancer.” There have been some concessions to his health — he no longer skis, didn’t ride in Trooping the Colour, and didn’t go on his regular spring holiday to Romania.
“The sense of a king in a hurry was definitely there before the cancer diagnosis,” explains Hardman, pointing to his first address to the Commonwealth as monarch, when the new monarch pledged himself “throughout the remaining time God grants me” to uphold the constitutional principles of the nation.
Charles has also changing the physical look of royal residences by leaning into his love of landscape and gardening. “It’s not constitutional, not particularly expensive — a side of being No. 1 that he particularly enjoys,” says Hardman.
In addition to installing mazes at Balmoral and Sandringham, he’s overseeing big changes to the gardens at Windsor Castle. He enjoys spending time there. “People thought he didn’t like it — it was ‘mum’s place.’” Now, after her death, he’s made a lot of changes in a lot of the residences —gardens, public access, and changes on the inside in terms of rearranging painting. At Windsor, he’s Ranger of the Great Park, like his grandfather, George VI.
On September 17, King Charles III will welcome U.S. President Donald Trump to Windsor Castle. Hardman will be looking at “the extent to which they do try to create a state welcome within the confines of the Windsor estate,” given that the president can’t travel in a traditional carriage for security reasons.
The King will be the perfect host. By now, no one expects less.
My latest Royal Roundup for Global TV’s The Morning Show (August 26, 2025)