Prince Charles officially announced as the King of the United Kingdom at royal ceremony
King Charles III was officially announced as Britain’s monarch today, in a ceremony steeped in ancient tradition and political symbolism — and, for the first time, broadcasted live. Charles automatically became King when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died on Thursday, but the accession ceremony is a key constitutional and ceremonial step in introducing the new monarch to the country, stated sources.
According to reports, scores of senior politicians (both past and present), including prime minister Liz Truss and five of her predecessors, gathered in the ornate state apartments at St. James’s Palace for the meeting of the Accession Council. They first met without Charles, officially confirming his title, King Charles III. The King joined them to make a personal declaration, vowing to follow his mother’s ‘inspiring example’ as he took on the duties of a monarch. “I know how deeply you and the entire nation, and I think I may say the whole world, sympathize with me in this irreparable loss we have all suffered (sic),” he was quoted as saying.
This is the first time the ceremony has been held since 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II took the throne. Charles was accompanied to the ceremony by his wife Camilla (the Queen Consort) and his eldest son Prince William, added media sources. William is now heir to the throne and will be now known by the title Charles long-held, Prince of Wales. After the ceremony, an official will read the proclamation aloud from a balcony at St. James’s Palace. It will also be read out in the medieval City of London and at other locations across the UK.
Two days after the 96-year-old queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland following an unprecedented 70 years on the throne, people still came in their thousands to pay their respects outside Buckingham Palace in London. The scene was repeated at other royal residences across the U.K. and at British embassies around the world.
The new monarch set the tone for his reign on Friday, vowing in a televised address to carry on the Queen's “lifelong service,” with his modernizing stamp. Charles looked to both the past — noting his mother’s unwavering “dedication and devotion as sovereign” — and the future, seeking to strike a reassuring note of constancy while signalling that his will be a 21st-century monarchy.
Britain is holding a period of mourning for the queen, with days of carefully choreographed ceremonies marking the death of the only monarch most people have ever known. In the next few days, the Queen’s body will be brought from Balmoral, first to Edinburgh and then to London, where she will lie in state before a funeral at Westminster Abbey, expected around Sept. 19, according to sources.