Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: British House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and Prime Minister Liz Truss, among others, took the oath of loyalty on Saturday to the new King Charles III of the United Kingdom, who, earlier in the day, was officially proclaimed monarch succeeding his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, after her demise at 96 on Wednesday.
In a historic ceremony in St James’s Palace, King Charles III, 73, pledged to emulate his late mother and serve for the rest of his life. “I am deeply aware of this great inheritance and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty, which have now passed to me,” he said in a speech before swearing an oath. “In taking up these responsibilities, I shall strive to follow the inspiring example I have been set.”
The new sovereign pledged to follow his mother’s example of “lifelong service” in his inaugural address to Britain and the Commonwealth on Friday after ascending to the throne. Speaking for the first time as monarch from Buckingham Palace, he thanked his “darling mama” for her “love and devotion to our family and to the family of nations,” the media reported.
“May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest,” Charles said in an emotional address — in a quote from Hamlet. “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.” As Charles spoke, dignitaries attended a somber remembrance service for the late Queen at St Paul’s Cathedral that saw the first official rendition of the updated national anthem “God Save the King.”
In his address, he said his elder son William, who moves up the line of succession to become heir, would become the new Prince of Wales.
William’s wife Kate will also assume the title of Princess of Wales, once held by his mother, Princess Diana, who died in 1997. Charles also expressed his “love” for his younger son Harry and Harry’s wife, Meghan, who has leveled damaging criticisms against the royal family as the couple broke away to start a new life in the US.
The new monarch and other royal family members will observe an extended mourning period from Friday until seven days after her funeral. The date of the funeral, which will be attended by heads of state and government, has yet to be officially announced but is expected to be on Monday, September 19. US President Joe Biden and other world leaders would attend it as condolences poured in from across the globe.
The mourners also left flowers at British embassies around the world, including in Moscow — currently at odds with London over the war in Ukraine. Thousands of mourners trooped to Buckingham Palace in London, with flowers piling up in a sign of the reverence felt for the Queen.
The new PM, Liz Truss, offered the nation’s support to King Charles III as she said he now bore an “awesome responsibility” at the start of two days of special tributes to his mother in parliament. “Even as he mourns, his sense of duty and service is clear,” she said. Truss lavished praise on the Queen, who had appointed her as the new PM less than 48 hours before her demise, as “one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known.”
“Her legacy will endure through the countless people she met, the global history she witnessed, and the lives that she touched,” she said.
The Premier League postponed all matches this weekend, the TUC umbrella body of trade unions postponed its congress due to begin on Sunday, while railway and postal workers halted upcoming strikes over pay as Britain is gripped by soaring inflation and spiraling energy prices.
Queen Elizabeth’s public appearances had become rarer in the months since she spent an unscheduled night in a hospital in October 2021 for undisclosed health tests. She was seen smiling in her last official photographs from Tuesday when she appointed Truss as the 15th PM of her reign, which started with Winston Churchill in Downing Street.
Her family members rushed to be at her bedside Thursday at Balmoral, a private residence set among thousands of acres of rolling grouse moors and forests in the Scottish Highlands.
However, some of her closest relatives — sons Andrew and Edward and grandsons William and Harry — arrived after she had died that afternoon. Her body is expected to remain there initially before being taken Sunday to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. From the Scottish capital, her coffin is due to travel to London on Tuesday for a lying in state accessible to the public.
Officials expect over one million people to file past the catafalque in Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, before the televised funeral service at Westminster Abbey opposite, the media reported.