AMN / WEB DESK
King Charles III has named his eldest son William and daughter-in-law Kate the Prince and Princess of Wales. In his first speech to the nation since the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, King Charles said he is proud to make his heir William the Prince of Wales, a title Charles had held since 1958.
William and Kate, both 40, have taken on central roles within the royal family in recent years, appearing regularly in public and increasingly taking their three young children to events such as the queen’s Platinum Jubilee earlier this year.
Britain’s King Charles III paid a heartfelt tribute to late Queen Elizabeth II, vowed to serve as monarch with “loyalty, respect and love”.He described her mother as the darling mama. In his first address to the nation as the King last night, Charles paid tribute to his mother for her devotion to her family and to those she reigned over.
Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a towering presence on the world stage for 70 years, died on Thursday at her home in Scotland aged 96.
Her death – which meant Charles became king and head of state of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms including Australia, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Delivering the speech from Buckingham Palace, Charles said Queen Elizabeth was a life well lived, a promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing.
The 73-year-old Charles reflected on his mother’s promise she made in 1947, aged 21, to devote her life to the service of her people, a vow he pledged to emulate throughout the remaining time God grants him. He spoke of the “roles and duties of monarchy” and the sovereign’s relationship with the Church of England, in which, he said, his own faith was rooted.
King Charles held his first in-person audience with Prime Minister, Liz Truss, at Buckingham Palace yesterday. Today, Charles will be officially proclaimed king at a meeting of the Accession Council held at St James’s Palace followed by proclamations across the nation in a show of traditional British pomp and ceremony.
For the first time, the accession council will be televised.