King Charles has promised British legislators that he will uphold the country’s constitutional principles, describing parliament as “the living and breathing instrument of our democracy”. The king was responding to addresses by the speakers of the Lords and Commons offering condolences on the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The event in Westminster Hall, which was built more than 1000 years ago by William the Conqueror’s son William Rufus, was attended by MPs and peers, and the king was accompanied by the queen consort.
“As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both houses dedicate yourselves, with such personal commitment for the betterment of us all. Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy,” he said.
“While very young, her late majesty pledged herself to serve her country and her people, and to maintain the precious principles of constitutional government which lie at the heart of our nation. This vow she kept with unsurpassed devotion. She set an example of selfless duty which, with God’s help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.”
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Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle reminded the king that in his address to the country last Friday he had acknowledged that he could no longer champion the causes he promoted until now, often by means of lobbying ministers.
“You recognised your life would change as a result of the new responsibilities. You pledged yourself to uphold constitutional principles at the heart of our nation,” Mr Hoyle said. “These are weighty responsibilities, as the early Queen Elizabeth said in her final speech to parliamentarians ‘to be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it’. We know you hold the greatest respect, the precious traditions, the freedoms, and responsibilities of our unique history and our system of parliamentary government.”
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The king travelled to Edinburgh after the event at Westminster Hall and along with his three siblings he walked behind the late queen’s coffin as it entered St Giles’s Cathedral. The public will be able to pay their respects while she lies at rest in the cathedral before her coffin is flown to London on Tuesday. The queen will lie in state at Westminster Hall from Friday morning until her funeral at Westminster Abbey next Monday, September 19th.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to queue to pay their respects to the queen, many of them travelling to London from outside the capital, and the British army has been called in to help with the logistics.
Parliament is due to rise for recess on September 22nd, but the prime minister’s official spokesman said the government was still planning to hold a “fiscal event” after the queen’s funeral to approve an energy bill bailout costing well over £100 billion.
