On the first full day of his reign, King Charles III prepared to address his bereaved people on Friday as Britain and the rest of the world remembered the remarkable life of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
After his “cherished” mother passed away on Thursday at her Scottish home of Balmoral, 73-year-old Charles became the oldest king to abdicate the British throne.
He was scheduled to go back to London from Balmoral, where the 96-year-old queen passed away “peacefully” at the end of a record-breaking 70-year reign following a year of declining health.
Charles stated in a statement, “My family and I will be comforted and strengthened through this season of loss and transition, by our understanding of the respect and profound love in which the queen was so universally cherished.
She was one of the most recognisable individuals on the globe and the only British queen that the majority of people living today had ever known.
There were tributes from all over the world, including China and Russia.
After sunset, the Empire State Building in New York was bathed in silver and royal purple illumination, while the Eiffel Tower in Paris dimmed its lights in remembrance.
According to President Joe Biden, Queen Elizabeth is “a stateswoman of unrivalled decorum,” and he cited her consoling remarks while the country was in grief after the 9/11 attacks.
The Daily Telegraph used the same phrase for their depressing front page: “Grief is the price we pay for love.”
To commemorate the event, several British newspapers also published special editions. Popular tabloid the Daily Mail used the headline, “Our hearts are crushed.”
The Mirror just penned the words “thank you.”
A pre-recorded version of Charles’ inaugural speech was scheduled to be aired on Friday night as part of 10-day preparations that Buckingham Palace and the UK government had worked on for years.
Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was just appointed on Tuesday in one of the queen’s last formal actions before her death, was also anticipated to attend the new king’s first meeting with him.
Five centuries after the renowned first Elizabethan period, Truss hailed the “second Elizabethan age.”
In a televised statement on Thursday, she added, “We give him (Charles) our allegiance and dedication just as his mother committed so much to so many for so long.”
God protects the king,
Charles also had a meeting with those in charge of planning the extravagant state funeral that will be attended by elected and crowned heads of state from all around the globe.
The UK government will observe at least 10 days of formal memory, during which only very little work will be undertaken, and he will determine how long the royal household’s time of mourning, which is anticipated to last a month, will be.
On Friday, salutes will be fired from the Tower of London on the River Thames and over downtown London’s Hyde Park, one round for each year the queen has lived.
At Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Windsor Castle, among other locations, muffled church bells will ring, and Union flags will fly at half-staff.
As the UK parliament begins two days of special remembrances, Truss and other top ministers were scheduled to attend a memorial ceremony in the public at St. Paul’s.
The government is working quickly to pass emergency legislation to address the same type of war-related economic hardship that began Elizabeth’s reign in 1952 while the queen’s death and its ceremonial aftermath occurred.
Tributes
Since she spent an unexpected night in the hospital in October 2021 for unknown medical testing, Elizabeth has made fewer public appearances.
In her last official photos from Tuesday, when she named Truss as the 15th prime minister of her administration, which began with Winston Churchill in Downing Street, she could be seen grinning.
The queen, though, seemed feeble and leaned on a cane. Concern was raised by the severe blue-purple bruises on her hand.
At Balmoral, a private house surrounded by thousands of acres (hectares) of rolling grouse moors and woods in the Scottish Highlands, her closest family members had hurried to be by her bedside.
Her remains will stay there first before being transported to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
After that, her coffin is anticipated to take a train to London for a public laying in state before the burial.
Crowds gathered late into Thursday night outside Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace in London, braving the continuous rain, with more well-wishers expected to show up in the coming days.
Joshua Ellis, a 24-year-old Londoner, fought back tears as he paid tribute to the “nation’s grandmother” at the palace.
She is in all of our thoughts and emotions, he added, adding that even though she is 96, there is still a feeling of shock.
Every time people needed assistance, the queen was there, so there was always a feeling of stability.
“Honored sovereign”
In the worn-out years after Global War II, Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne at the young age of 25, joining a political world stage dominated by leaders like Winston Churchill, Mao Zedong, and Joseph Stalin.
The last ruins of Britain’s great empire fell during the coming decades. At home, Brexit rattled her kingdom’s underpinnings as her family dealt with a slew of scandals.
But throughout, she maintained her popularity and served as the head of state for 14 former British colonies, including Australia and Canada, in addition to the United Kingdom.
Charles was proclaimed the next king of New Zealand. But even as it mourns the queen, Australia’s new government seems to be reviving the movement to abolish the monarchy, putting doubt on his legacy.
A last public goodbye will be held at Westminster Abbey in London to mark the end of Britain’s mourning period. The day of the funeral will be observed as a day of national mourning and will be a public holiday.
On a date to be determined, Charles’s coronation, a complex rite rooted in history and custom, will take place in the same iconic settings as it has done for generations.
The Accession Council, which consists of prominent politicians, clergy, City of London dignitaries, and Commonwealth ambassadors, will officially declare his rule on Saturday.