King Charles. Picture: Instagram
After the death of Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, September 8, King Charles will be officially proclaimed Britain’s new monarch at a meeting of the Accession Council at St James’s Palace on Saturday, September 10.
The 73-year-old King Charles has boarded a plane to London and will be proclaimed at Accession Council tomorrow at 10am in the State Apartments of St James’s Palace, said Buckingham Palace.
King Charles, who was by his mother’s side at her beloved Scottish Highlands home as her health deteriorated, will return to the capital to hold his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss as king, before he addresses the nation on television at 6pm, reported Sky News.
Dressed in a black suit and tie, the grieving King left Balmoral this afternoon seated in the back of a car, with his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, in the front passenger seat, as they were driven in convoy to the airport.
He stepped out carrying a bundle of papers and stopped to shake hands and spend time chatting to staff in the rain, before leaving on a plane bound for London, reported Sky News.
The couple spent the night at Balmoral following the death of the 96-year-old monarch, whom he described as a “cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother”.
Following news that the Queen’s health was deteriorating, other senior royals also rushed to be by her side, including the next in line to the throne, Prince William.
His brother, Prince Harry, was the first to leave the Royal Family’s Scottish residence this morning and boarded a British Airways flight from Aberdeen to London after he had travelled to Scotland alone.
Prince William did not join his father, as it is a royal protocol that the monarch and heir to the throne do not travel together, reported Sky News.
He, Princess Royal, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and Prince Andrew remain in Scotland.
Senior royals will have duties to perform in Scotland in the coming days when the Queen’s coffin begins its journey back to the capital.
King Charles III acceded to the throne immediately following the death of Elizabeth II on Thursday, and described losing his mother as “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family”.
During this mourning period, he said he and his family would be “comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held”.
The new monarch – born Charles Philip Arthur George – became heir to the throne at the age of three, a title he would hold for 70 years.
He has been preparing to be king his entire life and has chosen to use his Christian name for his title as monarch, just like his late beloved mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The formal process of proclaiming him king will be carried out by the Accession Council – a group made up of Privy Counsellors, Great Officers of State, the Lord Mayor of London, Realm High Commissioners and senior civil servants.
It is split into two parts. The first approves various consequential orders including the arrangements, without the King present.
The second involves the King holding his first Privy Council, making his declaration and reading and signing an oath to uphold the security of the Church in Scotland (unlike in England, where Church and State are separate) and approve orders which facilitate continuity of government.