The Things That Have Changed Since Losing The Queen

It's still hard to believe sometimes that Queen Elizabeth II has gone. As monarchs go, she was easily the most well-known to modern-day citizens. In fact, many people were probably more familiar with her than they were with a lot of the world's political figures. Unfortunately, at 96 years old, her loss was inevitable sooner or later.

It's now been more than a year since the monarch passed away, and since then, plenty has changed. As her eldest son has followed in her footsteps and gotten comfortable in the role of king, there are plenty of things that have changed since losing the Queen.

Clarence House has become the official residence of the monarch

The Royal Family has no shortage of residences. However, the one that most people always thought of when Queen Elizabeth II was alive was Buckingham Palace. It's the most famous of all the monarchy's buildings and it was where the Royal spent most of her time. Since Charles III has become king, though, it's no longer the primary residence of the UK's monarch. Instead, this has changed to Clarence House. Charles and Camilla have been living there since 2003, and they opted not to leave after the Queen passed away. Of course, with Buckingham Palace undergoing renovations until 2027, it may be that they're simply waiting for the more prominent residence to be ready. We suppose we'll have to see what happens in a few years time.

The national anthem had to be adjusted to swap out "queen" for "king"

Some of the biggest changes that have happened since Elizabeth II's passing relate to the fact that it's now a king rather than a queen ruling the monarchy. Stuff like the British national anthem has had to be adjusted to account for this, albeit not by much. The song is now 'God Save the King' instead of 'God Save the Queen,' which is what it was when it was first created. However, because Elizabeth II was on the throne for so many years, remembering to change the words slightly has taken some people a little while to get used to. With the UK unlikely to have a female monarch again anytime soon, though, at least the lyrics will stay the same for a while.

UK money and stamps have been changed to use Charles III's likeness

In the US, many are accustomed to their money boasting the faces of several former presidents and founding fathers. In the UK, famous figures from the past are also used, but the people featured on them aren't just political figures. Moreover, one side of every bill bears the face of the monarch. So, it comes as no surprise that these banknotes have had to be changed to feature King Charles III instead of Queen Elizabeth II. They haven't hit circulation quite yet, but they are expected to arrive sometime in mid-2024. However, 50-pence coins with the man's face on them have been around since the end of 2022. It's a similar situation with stamps in the UK, with the first ones using Charles III's face arriving in April 2023.

The King has his own royal cipher, although it's not used everywhere

Every time there's a new monarch, they have their own royal cipher. It generally features a crown with the monarch's initials and the title 'Rex' or 'Regina,' which are Latin for king and queen, respectively. Following the passing of Elizabeth II, Charles III selected a design for his royal cipher, which was created by the College of Arms. However, while it's already begun to show up in places, don't expect to see it everywhere. For instance, many military uniforms and hats bearing the previous cipher haven't actually been updated since the loss of the Queen. That's because Charles is eager to keep costs low, and so doesn't wish to order new uniforms until the existing ones have become worn out.

The monarchy is apparently now slimmer than it used to be

Before Queen Elizabeth II passed away, there was talk of Charles looking to make some big changes to the monarchy. Most notably, he supposedly wanted to slim things down in an effort to save money and hopefully keep more of the public on his side. While this has seemingly happened, it hasn't necessarily been because of Charles' doing. The loss of several working royals in recent years has left around a dozen people doing duties on behalf of the crown. With fewer people doing official engagements, there's been a drop in the number of staff needed, resulting in the monarchy being slimmer than it once was. We imagine this is how things will stay throughout the King's reign.

In some ways, it's still business as usual for the monarchy since the Queen passed away. However, there have definitely been some notable changes already, with more bound to crop up as Charles III continues his reign. That's not out of the ordinary when a new monarch takes over. Many are just not accustomed to it because Elizabeth II was on the throne for so many years.