charles ascension to the throne marks a pivotal moment for the united kingdom. it s facing a potential breakup scotland braces for independence. and uncertain world after leaving the eu. max foster is at buckingham palace. max, i show enjoyed your commentary. you ve been doing a great job. what is occurring at this particular moment? reporter: audiences at buckingham palace, so we re into the more mundane matters, if you like, after a lot of the pomp and ceremony where the king has to meet all the key people in the state and have meetings with them in order to govern over this state. look at the crowds. today the barriers have gone up. the roads are being closed. they re preparing for the massive state funeral which president biden confirmed he will be going to. we could see all the seniors heads of state from all around the world coming in. i know president putin enjoyed his visit to london. will he be allowed to come under sanctions is a big question. president xi enjoye
new prince and princess of wales will, i know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the center ground, where vital help can be given. i want also to express my love for harry and meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas. now that charles is king, what does this mean for prince william and where does the future of the monarchy go from here. joining me now to talk about all the above is patrick jeffson. you ll remember he was princess deanna s private secretary and chief of staff and served the princess for eight years. he s also the author of the books shadows of a princess and the meghan factor and the recent piece just published in the daily mail, mystique, aura and majesty radiated from her majesty like an electric force field. actually patrick, let s begin with that. the piece that you wrote talks about you being summoned to meet
everything years ago. we ll get a sense in the coming weeks and months. it s funny you say that because i remember taking the tour of buckingham palace and thinking, we re unlikely to see much of anything, but frankly it was tremendous. i was stunned by just how much of that massive edifice you actually do get to see. max, thank you so much. i really appreciate your expertise. thank you. still to come, more than a dozen united states presidents came and went during her 70-year rule. she met with all but one of them. so what was the special relationship like between the queen and these leaders of her country s former colony? and her passing comes at a rocky time for the monarchy and harry and meghan bailing, prince andrew under a cloud of scandal, young people, young brits not sharing the affinity for the crown of their parents. it s been a rocky time for democracy in america. will england and america post-elizabeth survive as we know them? brings me to this week s
year. is there a lot of pressure now brought to bear on meghan, beyond that which already existed because the eyes of the world will be scrutinizing every step that she takes during the course of the next ten days? well, it s a wonderful piece of good fortune, probably, that harry and meghan were already in england when the queen entered her final illness. they had a successful visit to manchester and their last engagement in london was overshadowed by the queen s death. there will be many question marks, i think, about her participation in the events that loi lie ahead, particularly the state fun yal. we ll remember the queen s platinum jubilee, service of thanksgiving, harry and meghan were consigned to the pews along with the junior members of the royal family.