Charles III will be formally proclaimed King of Great Britain on the morning of Saturday, September 10th. As follows from a statement released by the Buckingham Palace, the Accession Council will meet in session at St. James’s Palace in London on Saturday at 10:00 local time (12:00 Moscow time) to proclaim the son of Elizabeth II as the UK’s new ruler.
First, the Privy Council, an advisory body under the monarch, will meet in the main chambers of the palace. Its members will announce the accession of Charles III to the throne, although in fact he became king at the moment his mother passed away. Then the successor of Elizabeth II will join his council to conduct the meeting. According to a three-century-old tradition, His Majesty will take a single oath relating to the security of the Church of Scotland (such was the condition of the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707). The oath concerning the Church of England, of which the British monarch is the Supreme Head, will be pronounced later in the Parliament building.
At 11:00 (13:00 Moscow time), a public proclamation will be read out from the balcony of St. James’s Palace declaring the heir to the throne king. After that, the proclamation will also be read out in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. At that moment the flags, flying at half-mast after the death of the Queen, will be raised on the government buildings. When the ceremony ends, the flags will move from the top of the flagpoles to the middle again.
The Accession Council includes British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who took office on Tuesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, members of the Privy Council, including the members of the royal family, the Lord Mayor of London, as well as the high commissioners (ambassadors) representing Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, and a dozen other countries still formally headed by the British monarch, in the United Kingdom.
The Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8th. The Queen, who ruled for 70 years and 7 months – longer than any other British monarch – died at the age of 96. The successor is her eldest son, 73-year-old Charles, who has taken the name Charles III. Britain will observe a period of national mourning from September 9 and till the day of Her Majesty’s funeral.
