Breaking: King Charles makes first public address since mother’s death

King Charles III has addressed the nation for the first time since becoming king and since her mother, Queen Elizabeth II died.

He automatically became King on Thursday after Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96 at the Balmoral Castle.

The new king said he was speaking to the nation with feelings of profound sorrow

“Throughout her life, Her Majesty The Queen – my beloved Mother – was an inspiration and example to me and to all my family, and we owe her the most heartfelt debt any family can owe to their mother; for her love, affection, guidance, understanding and example.

“Queen Elizabeth was a life well lived; a promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing. That promise of lifelong service I renew to you all today,” he said.

King Charles said alongside the personal grief that all his family members were feeling, they also shared with so many of people 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 his Mother, as Queen, served the people of so many nations.

He stated that in 1947, on her 21st birthday, she pledged in a broadcast from Cape Town to the Commonwealth to devote her life, whether it be short or long, to the service of her peoples.

According to him, that was more than a promise and that it was a profound personal commitment which defined her whole life.

The King added that she made sacrifices to duty, as her dedication and devotion as Sovereign never waivered, through times of change and progress, through times of joy and celebration, and through times of sadness and loss.

He said in her life of service “we saw that abiding love of tradition, together with that fearless embrace of progress, which make us great as Nations. The affection, admiration and respect she inspired became the hallmark of her reign.

“And, as every member of my family can testify, she combined these qualities with warmth, humour and an unerring ability always to see the best in people.”

He paid glowing tribute to his mother’s memory and  honoured her life of service, saying that he knew that her death brought great sadness to so many of people and that he shared that sense of loss beyond measure with them all.

King Charles further said that when the Queen came to the throne, Britain and the world were still coping with the privations and aftermath of the Second World War, and still living by the conventions of earlier times.

He said in the course of the last 70 years, the people had seen the society become one of many cultures and many faiths.

“The institutions of the State have changed in turn. But, through all changes and challenges, our nation and the wider family of Realms – of whose talents, traditions and achievements I am so inexpressibly proud – have prospered and flourished.

“Our values have remained, and must remain, constant. The role and the duties of Monarchy also remain, as does the Sovereign’s particular relationship and responsibility towards the Church of England – the Church in which my own faith is so deeply rooted.

“In that faith, and the values it inspires, I have been brought up to cherish a sense of duty to others, and to hold in the greatest respect the precious traditions, freedoms and responsibilities of our unique history and our system of parliamentary government,” he stated.