Charles, who spent seven decades as heir apparent, automatically became king when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died on Thursday. But the accession ceremony was a key constitutional and ceremonial step in introducing the new monarch to the country, a relic of an era before mass communications. Dozens of senior politicians 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 Accession Council meeting. They met without Charles, formally confirming his title, King Charles III. The king then joined them, promising to follow his mother’s “inspiring example” as he took on the duties of monarch. “I am deeply aware of this great legacy and the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty that have now passed to me,” he said. Speaking of his personal grief, he said: “I know how deeply you and the whole nation, and I think I may say the whole world, sympathize with me in this irreparable loss which we have all suffered.” The new king officially passed a series of decrees — including one that declared the day of his mother’s funeral a holiday. The date of the state funeral has not been announced, but is expected to take place around September 19. This is the first time the accession ceremony has been held since 1952, when Queen Elizabeth II took the throne. Charles was accompanied at the ceremony by his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort and his eldest son Prince William. William is now heir to the throne and known by the title of Charles, Prince of Wales. The ceremony concluded with a royal official publicly proclaiming King Charles III monarch from a palace balcony. In centuries past, this would have been the first official confirmation the public had of their new ruler. David White, the Garter King of Arms, made the proclamation flanked by trumpeters in gold-trimmed robes before cheers – “hip, hip, tail!” — for the new king. Gun salutes rang out in Hyde Park, the Tower of London and military sites across the UK as he announced the news, and red-robed soldiers in the palace courtyard doffed their bearskin hats in a royal salute. The proclamation was read in the medieval City of London and other locations throughout the United Kingdom Two days after the 96-year-old queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after an unprecedented 70 years on the throne, people continued to turn out in their thousands to pay their respects outside Buckingham Palace in London. The scene was repeated at other royal residences across the UK and at British embassies around the world. Britain observes 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. For many Britons, her death, though long expected, is a destabilizing experience. It comes at a time when many Britons are dealing with an energy crisis, the rising cost of living, the uncertainties of the war in Ukraine and the fallout from Brexit. It also just saw a change of leader. Prime Minister Liz Truss was appointed by the Queen on Tuesday, just two days before the monarch died. Charles struck a note of continuity on Friday, pledging in a televised address to continue the Queen’s “lifelong service”, with his own stamp of modernisation. The new monarch looked both to the past — noting his mother’s unwavering “devotion and devotion as sovereign” — and to the future, seeking to strike a reassuring note of stability while signaling it will be a 21st-century monarchy. He reflected on how the country had changed dramatically during the Queen’s reign into a “multi-cultural and multi-faith” society and pledged to serve people in Britain and the 14 other countries where he is king “whatever their origins or beliefs your. “ He also tried to overcome his reputation as aloof in his first hours as monarch, spending time shaking hands with some of the thousands who came to leave flowers and pay their respects to the Queen at the gates of Buckingham Palace. He was greeted with shouts of “Well done, Charlie!” and “God save the king!” A woman gave him a kiss on the cheek. In the coming days the Queen’s body will be taken from Balmoral, first to Edinburgh and then to London, where she will lie in state before a funeral at Westminster Abbey. In his speech, Charles struck a personal note, speaking of his sadness at the loss of “my beloved mom.” “Thank you for your love and devotion to our family and the family of nations you have served so diligently over the years,” he said, ending with a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet – “May the flights of angels sing to rest.”
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