After 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II's name, title, face and likeness are deeply ingrained not just on the hearts of many Britons, but more tangibly on British coins, flags, post boxes, chocolate wrappers, gin labels and attorney business cards.
That all has to change now that Charles is in charge.
With the queen's death, the U.K. has begun an imperial-sized rebrand that will slowly replace her image and title with that of the new king, Charles III. Among the items that will have to eventually be rebranded: 29 billion coins and 4.7 billion bank notes in circulation.
The changes are going to leave Britons and tourists doing a double-take for a while.
"It's even odd now saying King Charles III," said Pauline MacLaran, a 71-year-old professor at Royal Holloway, University of London. "Things like the Queen's speech at Christmas will suddenly become the King's speech. It's just very strange."
At the Olympics and England's international soccer matches, fans will now be expected to bellow "God Save the King" as the national anthem, setting aside "God Save the Queen" that was sung for 70 years. At citizenship ceremonies, newly crowned citizens are to pledge allegiance to "his majesty," not "her."
Some changes are easier to make. Government agencies like the Treasury, which previously prefixed "Her Majesty's," can easily make the switch online, in words and on letterhead to "His Majesty's." So, too, at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and Her Majesty's Prison Service.
The moment Queen Elizabeth II died, Her Majesty's Armed Forces automatically became His Majesty's Armed Forces. Then things get complicated: Many of the regiments take the name of Queen or King depending on the reigning monarch, but some are generic, while others refer to specific sovereigns. So some will change their name, but others won't.
The Grenadier Guards Queen's Company, who act as pallbearers for all deceased monarchs and must be at least 6 feet tall, will also change its name, but can't do so until the new king issues the requisite order to call it the King's Company.
The prestigious senior trial lawyer position known as Queen's Counsel has already become King's Counsel -- with no effort expended.
"Nobody who is an existing QC has to do anything," said Russell Wallmann, executive director of Queen's Counsel Appointments, an organization involved in the selection of new Kings Counsels. "They just become KC."
Mr. Wallmann said he will switch the website domain from QCAppointments.org to KCAppointments.org, which he said he has had "reserved for some time."
Other changes will be far slower, including the small matter of the coins and bank notes with the queen's face.
The Royal Mint, which produces the coins, and the Bank of England, which oversees the notes, will phase in new bills and coins adorned with King Charles, but that could take months and even years: The government is in the final throes of phasing out paper bills in favor of longer-lasting polymer notes.
To reassure an anxious public, the Bank of England came out with a statement following the queen's death that bills with her face on them would continue to be legal tender.
One change on the new currency: The new monarch will face left, while the queen faces right. It has long been tradition in the U.K. for each successive monarch to face a different direction than their predecessor, signaling a new era. A spokeswoman for The Royal Mint declined to provide details of the shift in coins.
Numismatic reverberations will extend beyond the British Isles, to many members of the Commonwealth.
Canada has had the queen on its $20 bill since 1954 -- she made a cameo as a princess in the 1930s -- and her face adorns the coins of Australia and New Zealand. She is particularly popular on currency in the Caribbean: Her face appears on the currencies of eight nations and territories there.
More gradual still is the Royal Mail, whose distinct, fire engine-red mailboxes are sprinkled on sidewalks across Britain. While it is expected to eventually roll out new stamps bearing the king's face, its mailboxes -- which carry the queen's cipher, a kind of monogram with her first initial -- historically have remained for as long as they're useful, in some cases more than a century.
Despite her 70-year reign, only about 60% of the country's post boxes were installed under Queen Elizabeth, according to the Royal Mail, while 15% remain from the time of George V, and even some remain bearing the cipher of Queen Victoria.
In the realm of private industry, Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End will revert to the same name it used 70 years ago: His Majesty's Theatre.
"In keeping with the 200-year-old tradition, the theater will be renamed to His Majesty's Theatre," said Jocasta Marron, a spokeswoman for the venue's parent company, LW Theatres Group Ltd.
The Old Queens Head Pub in central London, said it has no plans to change its name.
The pub, which dates back to 1830, was named for Queen Elizabeth I. Its name later applied to Queen Elizabeth II, said Shelley Light, who is in charge of bookings.
"We're a fan of both. Why choose one when they're both so great," she said. The moniker can also apply to the next queen, whenever she might reign.
Across the channel, at Paris-based brand agency God Save the Queen, founder Vincent Volet said, "We will not rename."
He said he named the agency after Queen Elizabeth 20 years ago on account of her kindness and her ability to inspire artists across pop culture, like Andy Warhol and the Sex Pistols.
A more subtle reference to the queen is pervasive in the scores of consumer products that carry a so-called Royal Warrant, meaning they are permitted to be sold to the royal family.
Walker's shortbread, Gordon's gin and an array of boutique smoked salmon, aged cheeses and liquors all carry tiny royal crests on their packaging that say "By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen."
These warrants, too, are expected to change.
The Royal Warrant Holders Association hasn't laid out a timeline for the rebrand. It said on its website that it expressed its "deepest sadness on the death of Her Majesty the Queen."
It added, "God save the King."
