In mourning the Queen and the start of Charles's reign, are there signs of a more open monarchy?

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In the days since Queen Elizabeth died, King Charles and other senior working members of the Royal Family have had their private moments mourning their mother and grandmother.

But Charles, along with Princess Anne and Prince Edward, and the newly named Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, have also been out and about, greeting people in walkabouts or looking at the many flowers left at gates and other royal locales across the U.K.

On Thursday at Sandringham, the royal estate in Norfolk, north of London, Prince William spoke about how walking behind his grandmother's coffin the day before had reminded him of the walk behind the coffin of his own mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.

"I mean the walk yesterday was challenging, it brought back a few memories," the BBC reported that William told a woman outside Sandringham House.

Earlier, there was also an unprecedented chance for a more public gaze into one of the more formal and ceremonial moments of any royal succession. The Accession Council, where Charles was formally proclaimed as King, was televised.

While all this comes in the very earliest moments of Charles's reign, it raises the possibility that he will guide a monarchy that is, at least in some small measure, trying to be more open and accessible than it has been before.

Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert at Bangor University in Wales, said he thinks there is more openness on display.

"I was quite surprised when Charles first went outside Buckingham Palace on Friday [the day after the Queen's death] and just how long he spent with the crowd. I thought that was again an indication of openness," Prescott said in an interview.

"All leading members of the Royal Family have gone out on walkabouts and seen flowers and things, which was perhaps to some extent expected, but also shows that they want to be open."

The fact that the Accession Council on Saturday was televised also caught Prescott's interest.

"I'm not sure when that was decided," he said, noting he remembers attending some academic discussions three or four years ago and "we were wondering whether it would be televised."

"It wasn't immediately obvious that it would be."

WATCH | Charles vows to follow his mother's example as he is officially proclaimed King: