A monarch on mission

IT must put some fire in your belly when you finally get the job that you've been training for all your life.

- BY JENNIE BOND ROYAL COMMENTATOR

Few people, though, are as old as 73 when it happens, or diagnosed with cancer 18 months into the gig.

You can either give up and feel sorry for yourself or - as the King once put it - “keep buggering on”.

So, it is perhaps not surprising that Charles is working his socks off, even though he's still undergoing medical treatment. He is a man with a mission: to protect his mother's legacy, make his own mark on the monarchy and then to hand it over in fine fettle to his son, William.

The late Queen is a hard act to follow. She steered the monarchy through multiple crises, and public support for both her and the institution remained very positive.