Royal traditions for proclamation of King and William remembers ‘Grannie’
Centuries-old royal traditions played out on Saturday morning as King Charles III was formally declared the nation’s new monarch.
A poignant and sombre meeting of the Accession Council was followed by the pageantry of the proclamation of the new King being read from a balcony at St James’s Palace and then the Royal Exchange in the City of London.
The King spoke movingly about his mother and the grief his family is experiencing, but said the “sympathy expressed by so many to my sister and brothers” had been the “greatest consolation”.
Watched by the Queen, the new Prince of Wales and more than 200 privy counsellors – including six former prime ministers – the King pledged himself to the task now before him and the “heavy responsibilities of sovereignty” and paid tribute to the reign of his mother, “unequalled in its duration, its dedication and its devotion”.
This was followed by the prince and the Duke of Sussex setting aside their well-documented troubled relationship to unite for a mammoth walkabout at Windsor Castle with their wives, Kate and Meghan – the first time the four have been seen in public together since Commonwealth Day in 2020, two months after the Sussexes announced their plans to step back as senior royals.
A royal source said the Prince of Wales asked Harry and Meghan to join in the walkabout, where they read tributes and met dozens of members of the public for more than 40 minutes.
The Queen’s funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey on Monday September 19 at 11am, the Earl Marshall, the Duke of Norfolk, confirmed after a four-day laying in state at Westminster Hall from Wednesday.
Saturday also included moments of pomp and pageantry with David White, Garter King of Arms, in his colourful regalia and flanked by other Officers of Arms and Sergeants at Arms, reading the proclamation of the new King from a balcony at St James’s Palace.
Thousands of onlookers had gathered at noon on Saturday in the City of London to witness the proclamation delivered by Timothy Duke, the Clarenceux King of Arms, in front of the Lord Mayor.
Andrew and his two daughters were joined by two of the Queen’s children, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex, Anne’s husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the Queen’s grandchildren Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall and Lady Louise Windsor at a prayer service held at the nearby Crathie Kirk church, a place the Queen visited regularly during her stays at Balmoral.
A two-minute silence was observed by staff, players and caddies at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, where the King’s televised Accession Council was beamed to the big screens.
The Queen’s coffin will be taken by road from Balmoral Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on Sunday on a six-hour journey by hearse.
There will also be proclamations confirming the accession of King Charles III will be read in the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland devolved parliaments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.