By Hamed Chapman
London (The Muslim News): The eldest son of the late Queen was formally proclaimed King Charles III Saturday at an Accession Council ceremony televised for the first time in the state apartments at St James’s Palace, Westminster, the most senior royal palace in the UK.
The 72-year-old new monarch was confirmed in his absence by the Privy Council before joining the archaic ceremonial to a fanfare of trumpets when he was accompanied by the Queen Consort and the new Prince of Wales, his heir, to make a declaration and sign an oath.
Assembled were 200 members of the Privy Council, the formal board of advisors to the sovereign, that included former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson, Theresa May, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major.
In his declaration, King Charles swore with the help of God to dedicate “what remains to me of my life” to “carrying out the heavy task that has been laid upon me”. He said he was “deeply aware of this great inheritance and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty which have now passed to me.”
The former Prince of Wales immediately became monarch following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II on Thursday. There will also be a coronation, when Charles is crowned king in another ceremony full of pomp and pageant at a much later date.
In his first televised broadcast to the nation on Friday, the new sovereign, the oldest ever to ascend the British throne, spoke of telling of his hopes during his reign and how he would like the royal family will operate.
“As the Queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I too now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation,” the king said.
[Photo: King Charles III and The Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, Queen consort of the United Kingdom outside Buckingham Palace in London after Queen Elizabeth died in Balmoral, Scotland on September 09 , 2022. Photojournalist :stringer/AA]
