King Charles lost his beloved mother and fulfilled his destiny when the Queen passed away on 8 September 2022.

As he arrived at the Balmoral estate to be by his mother’s side, Charles stood as the longest-serving heir apparent in British history. But in a matter of hours, he was proclaimed King following the Queen’s death after more than 70 years on the throne.

In his book Charles III New King. New Court. The Inside Story, Robert Hardman revealed the moment Charles was addressed as ‘Your Majesty’ for the first time. He had stopped his car and took a call from his late mother’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young, who informed him of her passing.

Mr Hardman wrote: ‘King Charles succeeded to the throne at the wheel. To be more precise, he had just turned off the B976 onto the back drive of the Balmoral estate and was driving through a part of the world as dear and familiar to him as any, when he learned that he was now sovereign of the United Kingdom and fourteen other realms, covering a large part of the Earth’s surface.

“Schoolchildren are taught that the longest reign in British history began at a Kenyan watering hole; that Princess Elizabeth was watching wildlife from the branches of a giant fig tree when King George VI died in his sleep on 6 February 1952 that his dutiful daughter, having climbed up as a Princess, climbed down as Queen.

“History will record that, seven decades later, on the afternoon of 8 September 2022, her son and heir was on an unmarked Scottish country road, at the wheel of his car, when he was first addressed as ‘Your Majesty’. He had been to visit the Queen at Balmoral Castle earlier in the day and had then spent a few hours at his nearby home, Birkhall, before returning to the castle.

“In the manner of his late mother, he had climbed into the car as both Prince of Wales and Duke of Rothesay (his title when in Scotland ).Twenty minutes later, he would climb out of it as King Charles III – with the new Queen at his side.”

It would later transpire in the Queen’s official death certificate that she passed away at 3:10pm. Of her family members, only Charles, Camilla and Princess Anne were able to see her before she died.

Fortuitously, the siblings were both already in Scotland, having carried out events in the country earlier in the week including the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering, which they attended together over the weekend.

Sadly, the rest of the family were not in time. Buckingham Palace announced at 12.50pm that Prince William , Prince Andrew , Prince Edward and Sophie had started to make their way to Scotland. They landed at 3:50, 40 minutes after her death, and with William at the wheel, they drove to Balmoral, arriving at 5.06pm.

Prince Harry , meanwhile, left Luton airport onboard a private jet at about 5.30pm. He was still in the air when the announcement of the queen’s death was made at 6.30pm.