Missing the Queen

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HER DEATH AT 96, QUEEN ELIZABETH'S INFLUENCE REMAINS STRONGEVEN AS THE ROYAL FAMILY NAVIGATES A COMPLEX FUTURE WITHOUT HER

- SIMON PERRY

During the last days of summer, King Charles and Queen Camilla-along with Prince William, Princess Kate and other senior members of the royal family-gathered at their beloved Balmoral Castle for their traditional August holiday. A sojourn in the Scottish Highlands is a chance to "leave your crown on the gatepost and put your raincoat on," says a former palace staffer. But this year's annual visit was different from those throughout the decades prior: Missing was the family matriarch, Queen Elizabeth, who spent her final weeks at Balmoral and died there at age 96 last Sept. 8. Today, the former staffer says, "when [the royals] walk into a room, I'm sure they expect [the Queen] to be there. Balmoral was her favorite place in the world, and now will be the time that they reflect on her loss."

On the first anniversary of the Queen's death, Charles, 74, and the rest of the family have much more to reflect on too. The King, along with his heir William and queen-in-waiting Kate, both 41, are adapting to a change of reign not seen for 70 years.

With younger generations more skeptical of the monarchy, the royals are attempting to ensure that "the Firm," as the Queen's late husband, Prince Philip, called it, stays relevant at home and in the 15 realms, including Canada and Australia, where Charles is head of state. "That will be a challenge," says Robert Hardman, royal biog-rapher and author of Queen of Our Times.

Perhaps even more daunting are fissures within the family that came to the fore when Charles's younger son Prince Harry, who turns 39 on Sept. 15, and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, 42, left the U.K. for the U.S. In matters both personal and professional, "there is an enormous loss," says a source close to the royal household, "as [the Queen] played a very important part in all of their lives. But I'm impressed at how smoothly things are moving forward given all the little hiccups that there are in the background."