Explained: King Charles III accession to the throne

An Accession Council convened at St James’s Palace, the official residence of the sovereign, to proclaim the successor.

Queen Elizabeth, the longest-reigning monarch in Britain’s historical past, died on Thursday aged 96, and her son Charles succeeded to the throne instantly.

Right here is an evidence of the protocol surrounding the official accession of a brand new monarch and Saturday’s ceremony formally proclaiming Charles as king.

An Accession Council convened at St James’s Palace, the official residence of the sovereign, to proclaim the successor.

The council is shaped of privy counsellors who’ve suggested the monarch because the Norman period. They now comprise about 670 senior politicians, together with Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Additionally current are the lords religious and temporal – bishops of the Church of England who sit within the Home of Lords, together with the archbishop of Canterbury, along with the secular friends of the realm.

The lord mayor of London, senior civil servants and excessive commissioners from the 14 different realms which have the monarch as their head of state additionally sit on the council, the lord president of which is at present lawmaker Penny Mordaunt.

All privy counsellors can be invited however not all will be capable of attend at brief discover.

In 1952, after the demise of George VI, 191 members attended Elizabeth’s Accession Council.

The Accession Council is split into two components:

Half I

The lord president proclaims the demise of the monarch and the clerk of the council, Richard Tilbrook, reads aloud the textual content of the Accession Proclamation.

A so-called platform celebration, together with royal relations current, the prime minister, the archbishop of Canterbury and the earl marshal – Duke of Norfolk Edward Fitzalan-Howard, the premier member of the peerage who’s answerable for organising state ceremonies – signal the proclamation.

As soon as it’s signed, the lord president requires silence and the council offers with remaining enterprise reminiscent of dissemination of the proclamation and instructions for the firing of artillery weapons at London’s Hyde Park and the Tower of London.

After Half I of the council, the proclamation is learn from the Proclamation Gallery, a balcony above Friary Courtroom of St James’s Palace, by the garter king of arms, at present David White, the senior herald in England whose ceremonial function brings an annual wage of 49 kilos, mounted within the 1830s.

He’s accompanied by the earl marshal and different officers sporting conventional heraldic clothes.

The proclamation is accompanied by gun salutes and heralds journey to Mansion Home within the Metropolis of London the place it’s then learn on the Royal Trade.

The proclamation is learn publicly within the different capital cities of the UK – Edinburgh, Belfast, and Cardiff – and at different areas.

Half II

Half II of the Accession Council is held by the brand new sovereign however doesn’t all the time instantly observe Half I.

It’s only attended by privy counsellors and begins with a private declaration by Charles regarding the demise of the queen.

He then takes an oath regarding the safety of the Church of Scotland as required beneath the act of 1707 by which Scotland joined with England and Wales to type Nice Britain. This has been achieved by each sovereign at their accession since 1714.

The oath reads: “I, Charles III, by the Grace of God of the UK of Nice Britain and Northern Eire and of My different Realms and Territories King, Defender of the Religion, do faithfully promise and swear that I shall inviolably keep and protect the Settlement of the true Protestant Faith as established by the Legal guidelines made in Scotland in prosecution of the Declare of Proper and significantly by an Act intituled ‘An Act for securing the Protestant Faith and Presbyterian Church Authorities’ and by the Acts handed within the Parliament of each Kingdoms for Union of the 2 Kingdoms, along with the Authorities, Worship, Self-discipline, Rights and Privileges of the Church of Scotland. So assist me God.” The brand new monarch then indicators two copies of the oath.