King Charles III starts reign as mourning begins for late Queen

BALLATER, AFP: King Charles III on Friday readied to address his mourning subjects on the first full day of his new reign as Britain and the world commemorated the extraordinary life of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

At 73, Charles is the oldest monarch yet to ascend the throne, following the death of his “cherished” mother at her remote Scottish estate on Thursday.

He was due to return to London from Balmoral, where the 96-year-old Queen died “peacefully” after a year-long period of ill-health and decline at the culmination of a record-breaking reign of 70 years.

“During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held,” Charles said in a statement.

Buckingham Palace said the King and other members of the Royal family would observe an extended mourning period from now 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 announced but is expected to be on Monday, 19 September.

One of the planet’s most recognisable people, the Queen was the only British monarch most people alive today had ever known.

The tributes were universal, including from Russia and China.

New York’s Empire State Building was illuminated in silver and royal purple after sunset. 

Whilst the Eiffel Tower in Paris dimmed its lights in tribute.

US President Joe Biden described the Queen, whom he met for tea at Windsor Castle last year, as “a stateswoman of unmatched dignity”.

He relayed the comforting words she gave when the United States plunged into mourning after the 11 September 2001 attacks.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper chose the same words for its sombre front-page headline: “Grief is the price we pay for love,” it read.

Other British newspapers also printed special editions to mark the occasion. “Our hearts are broken,” headlined popular tabloid the Daily Mail.

The Mirror wrote simply: “Thank you.” 

Charles’ inaugural address, set to be pre-recorded, was expected to be broadcast on Friday evening, part of 10 days of plans honed over decades by Buckingham Palace and the UK Government.

The new King was also expected to hold his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss, only appointed on Tuesday in one of the Queen’s last official acts before her death.

Truss acclaimed the “second Elizabethan age”, five centuries after the celebrated first.

“We offer him (Charles) our loyalty and devotion just as his mother devoted so much to so many for so long,” she said in a televised address Thursday. “God save the King.” 

Charles was also due to meet officials in charge of the arrangements for his mother’s elaborate state funeral, which will take place before she is laid to rest in the King George VI memorial chapel at Windsor Castle.

Gun salutes – one round for every year of the Queen’s life – will be fired Friday across Hyde Park in central London and from the Tower of London on the River Thames.

Muffled church bells will toll at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and Windsor, among other places, and Union flags were flying at half-mast across the UK.

Truss and other senior ministers were set to attend a public remembrance service at St Paul’s, while the UK Parliament will start two days of special tributes.

The Queen’s death and its ceremonial aftermath come as the Government strives to rush through emergency legislation to tackle the kind of war-fuelled economic privation that marked the start of Elizabeth’s reign in 1952.

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 Prime Minister of her reign, which started with Winston Churchill in Downing Street.