King Charles III Addresses Britain for the First Time: “I Shall Endeavour to Serve You With Loyalty, Respect, and Love”

Having spent Thursday evening at Balmoral following the death of Her Majesty the Queen, King Charles III arrived at Buckingham Palace with Queen Consort Camilla on Friday, greeting members of the public who had lined up outside the palace gates. Having decreed a period of national mourning lasting until seven days after the Queen’s funeral, the newly created monarch headed to the Blue Drawing Room to record a speech broadcast both across the Nation and the Commonwealth at 6 p.m.

The King opened and closed with tributes to his “darling mama.” “Queen Elizabeth was a life well lived, a promise with destiny kept, and she is mourned most deeply in her passing,” he said. “That promise of lifelong service I renew to you all today. Alongside the personal grief that all my family are feeling, we also share with so many of you in the United Kingdom, in all the countries where the Queen was Head of State, in the Commonwealth, and across the world, a deep sense of gratitude for the more than 70 years in which my mother, as Queen, served the people of so many nations.” He also pledged to renew his mother’s “promise of lifelong service”, made during her 21st birthday speech from Cape Town, adding: “I shall endeavor to serve you with loyalty, respect, and love, as I have throughout my life.”

Charles also shed light on further changes taking place within the royal family. As previously announced, Camilla, formerly the Duchess of Cornwall, will become Queen Consort, “in recognition of her own loyal public service.” “I know she will bring to the demands of her new role the steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much,” he said. Meanwhile, William and Catherine, formerly the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will henceforth be known as the Prince and Princess of Wales, with William assuming Charles’s Scottish titles as well. “With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the center ground where vital help can be given,” he enthused, before expressing his “love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas.”

While Charles automatically became the King following the Queen’s death, he will only be officially proclaimed as monarch on Saturday during an Accession Council. In all likelihood, his formal Coronation in Westminster Abbey will take place next year, making him the 40th monarch since William the Conqueror to ascend to the British throne. The service is expected to be more pared down than the Queen’s, in accordance with Charles’s wishes for a more streamlined monarchy.