Book Review: "The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy"

Robert Hardman's new book is something of a hagiography of the new king, though it does offer a few valuable insights into his personality and his future reign.

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Warning: Some spoilers follow.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 was, without a doubt, the end of an era. After all, this was a woman who had been Queen of the United Kingdom for longer than many of her subjects have been alive, and her son, Prince Charles, had been waiting in the wings until well into his seventh decade of life. At last the throne was his, and The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, the new book from Robert Hardman, is a useful chronicle of his actions in the years since he acceded to the throne. 

In some ways, I quite liked this book. I’ve always found Charles to be a fascinating figure, at once bafflingly boring and yet also remarkably conscientious when it comes to his royal duties. Hardman is very much in Charles’ camp, as he spends most of the book working to convince us of the new monarch’s various strengths as a ruler. There’s no question that this is a thoroughly biased book,not just in terms of its notably defensive tone toward Charles and Camilla but also toward those who circle in the royal orbit (his defense of Susan Hussey in the aftermath of her racial insensitivity is a particularly glaring example).

Given the fact that Hardman spends most of the book talking about Charles in the aftermath of his mother’s passing, it makes sense that he would at times belabor the minutiae of such important events as the Queen’s funeral and Charle’s coronation. This he does, chronicling everything to the last little detail, including what various people were working, who was invited, and the various pieces of regalia. While this will no doubt appeal to the most devout royal watchers and those who fetishize the details of every bit of royal pageantry, I found those parts of the book, if I’m being honest, quite dull. No matter how much Hardman tries to liven things up with a lovely and touching quote or two–particularly from Queen Camilla’s sister–the truth is that these chapters are a bit of a slog. Hardman might have done well to heed the monarch’s own instinct and slimmed things down a bit.

This emphasis on the tiny detail, no matter how tedious, is very much in keeping with the conundrum that Charles faces as king. While notably more hands-on than his mother in terms of the politics of the realm–among other things, he has slimmed down the institution and has openly sought to address issues related to social justice–there’s no denying the fact that he is just not as glamorous as the late Queen. Even when she was in her 90s Elizabeth managed to cast a spell that, I think it’s safe to say, kept the monarchy afloat through some of the most troubled years of its existence. Charles, whatever his other strengths as a ruler, simply doesn’t cast the same spell.

Moreover, there’s no doubt that Hardman is not a fan of Harry or Meghan, and there are numerous points throughout the book where he takes a few potshots at their expense. This isn’t a problem in and of itself, of course. The Sussexes are public figures, and they have been more than willing to air their family grievances in public, so it’s only fair they be responded to in kind. However, Hardman’s tone throughout these passages reads as more than a little defensive, and one can’t shake the sense that his real motivation for being so staunchly against them is to maintain the sorts of connections to palace insiders that are essential for a writer in his position. 

Whatever the book’s shortcomings, I still emerged from The Making of a King with a renewed understanding and appreciation for Charles as a monarch and as a man. Though some will no doubt continue to judge him because of the acrimonious divorce from Diana that consumed his life during the 1990s–Hardman also has quite a few harsh words for Netflix’s The Crown–the truth is that Charles really does seem to want to be a monarch for all of his people. For me, one of the best and most insightful chapters comes late in the book, when Hardman discusses Charles’ engagement with questions of race and the Commonwealth. Here, we get a great deal of insight into what kind of a monarch he will be and, though I’ve never been his biggest fan, I have to admit that it seems like he will be a force for good when it comes to contemporary British society. Likewise, I found myself admiring King Charles for his environmentalist sentiments, which are always welcome. Say what you will about him, but the man truly does seem to care about the natural world and humanity’s effect on it.

At the same time, I also found myself wondering: just what is the point of a monarchy in this day and age? Elizabeth saw herself as something of an institution, and she acted accordingly. By staying above the fray of politics, she could feasibly claim that she was a unifying force for a country beset by the winds of change. Charles, because he is so much more hands-on, runs the risk of becoming just another political actor, with all of the risk that entails. Moreover, as the book’s tedious emphasis on the fripperies of monarchy makes clear, it’s sometimes hard to shake the sense that the whole thing is just a comedy of manners, and while the institution might have been able to skate along during the previous monarch’s reign, that doesn’t seem to be the case. 

Though The Making of a King was published before the revelation that both Charles and Kate Middleton were undergoing treatment for cancer, it’s hard not to read the book through the prism of those revelations. There’s no question that the monarchy is in a bit of a crisis at the moment, with two of its most important members now out of commission. However, this isn’t the first time that Charles has had to overcome some kind of adversity. If, as seems likely, his treatment is successful, it seems likely that he will come to be regarded as the man who led the monarchy into the 21st century.

It can’t come a moment too soon.