coming up. king charles is a man with a battle on his hands. he s aware the public needs him to be there. it is so unique. do you ever imagine the monarchy would go away? it evening and welcome to the whole story on anderson cooper. final preparations are underway for king charles iii and his wife, queen camilla. it is a ceremony steeped in tradition dating back nearly 1000 years. it s only been televised once. when queen elizabeth the second was crowned nearly 70 years ago. she was one of the longest- serving and most celebrated monarchs in british history. her son faces a different challenge with a new, less popular monarch on the throne questioning the role of this institution. traveling to london to meet those close to the british family to understand what this means in a modern world. charles and camilla. the queen has died very sadly. for 70 years, this country has only known a queen. king charles iii is taking over. long live the king. reporter: for
reporter: it is impossible to talk about charles without mentioning the late princess diana. the charles and diana story was the fairytale that turned into the nightmare that ultimately turned into a tragedy. i cannot believe what he has done. what a shame. reporter: british journalist sarah jack royston and camilla have covered the royals for decades. we went back to old poland back in 1991. this is one year before it first became public knowledge. as many as 82% of britain that he would make a good king. by the time they divorced in 1996, only 41% of great britain thought he would make a good king. you were born into roles that are very set. you are born into roles that
in the wake of princess diana s death, it appeared the public would never accept parker-bowles. the woman who 30 years later is now queen. the biggest irony of course is that of all of the royals, arguably the most friendly to the press is the queen consort, the woman who has been most destroyed by the press. she was portrayed as a wicked, scheming woman, who was breaking up the royal marriage. i think that was unfair to her. i mean, it was charles who broke up that marriage, and he wanted a camilla, not a diana. queen elizabeth finally gave her blessing for charles and diana to divorce in 1996. just a year before diana s tragic death. princess diana has been
in some of those decisions? how closely would the offices work together? very closely together indeed. i think in the early stage of their relationship, the palace was keen to take it as a measured rate and not do too much at one time. in his book and in an interview with anderson cooper on 60 minutes, prince harry says that measured campaign made his future stepmother dangerous. how was she dangerous? because of the need to rehabilitate her image. harry said the need to boost her image came at bad press for harry and william. and that camilla sacrificed me on her pr alter. there was definitely an attempt to rehabilitate the king s image and that of his girlfriend at the time as she was public enemy number one. no doubt about it.
him. she keeps him in line. oh, my goodness. absolutely. she has very much been the driving force, trying to get some work-life balance into his life. in a family brimming with very public turmoil, king charles may need camilla s steady hand more than ever. let s face it. what kind of relationship does he have with andrew? andrew is accused of being a criminal. he didn t have a good relationship with his parents, a sticky relationship with his children. camilla is his rock and he is very reliant on her. prince andrew was once second in line for the throne. a helicopter pilot, said to be the queen s favorite.