Issued on: 10/09/2022 – 21:25
Crowds gathered around London’s St James’s Palace to honor Charles III’s proclamation as king on September 10, two days after the Queen’s death. The mood was one of lasting sorrow, but also of great affection for the new monarch.
The day after people flocked from all over the UK to mourn Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, they flocked to St James’s Palace to greet her son’s proclamation as king on 10 September.
There was still a raw sense of shock that the queen was gone. Just like the day before, many in the crowd commented on how surreal it feels to say or sing “God Save The King.” But when Charles III waved to the audience on his short journey from the proclamation to his new residence in London, the crowd shouted that chorus with joy.
While it was still “extremely sad” that the queen’s 70-year reign is finally over, there was “naturally” something “very positive” about the crowd’s enthusiasm for the new king, said Éric, a young Frenchman living in London. studying.
Crowds near Buckingham Palace after Charles III’s proclamation as king, September 10, 2022. © Tom Wheeldon, France 24
‘I think he’s going to be a great king’
Indeed, people expressed a great sense of honor when beholding his proclamation from the St. James Courtyard. “It was just brilliant,” primary school teacher Vicky said. ‘It’s my first time seeing him. I was very happy because I like him very much.”
“I was lucky enough to be invited into court to see this change of time with my own eyes,” said Londoner Stephen Burgess. “You incorporated all these customs and traditions and it happened in real time; not on television, not on the internet.”
When he witnessed the proclamation “felt like a pilgrimage,” Burgess continued, such was the air of reverence, and that was the significance of this moment in British history.
Charles’s popularity had its ups and downs during his decades as Prince of Wales, most notably during his bitter break with the beloved Princess Diana. However, there was a palpable sense today that the new monarch was feeling the pain of a shocked nation in his Friday night televised address – speaking not only as king, but as one whose precious mother had just passed away.
“I really think he’s going to be a great king,” said businessman Tracy. “He embodies continuity with his mother – and he is genuine.”
“It’s hard for him; his mother died just two days ago, and before she was queen, she was his mother,” said Raffaella, an Italian living in London who had come to Buckingham Palace with a bouquet of flowers with a drawing of Paddington Bear, referring to the Queen’s iconic moment from the Platinum Jubilee. “He must have all these overwhelming feelings and I think he’s handling it great. I enjoyed his speech yesterday. I found it really touching. I mean I’m not English, I’m Italian; I’ve only lived here a few years But I started to cry.
“I loved that part when he said my mom is back with my dad now,” Raffaella continued. “You could just see, even when he’s 73 years old, how important his parents are to him, as they are to all of us. You could see how, although he is king, he is very human. And that made me feel very close to him.”
Italian Raffaella holds up a bouquet of flowers outside Buckingham Palace, September 10, 2022. © Tom Wheeldon, France 24
Camilla is ‘very nice’
In addition to sharing the nation’s grief for his mother, the king paid tribute to the new queen consort in that very tender speech. “I am counting on the loving help of my dear wife,” he said.
Camilla has become Charles’s unpopular mistress in the 1990s, vilified by the tabloid press, into one of the most popular figures in Britain. In the years since she entered public life at their wedding in 2005, it has been striking to hear several people enthusiastically say “have you met Camilla?” before she waxed lyrical about her charm and warmth.
A Londoner, who gave his name as David, asked just that question as he pondered the masses of people who lingered in the Mall after Charles’s proclamation. He met Camilla when she turned on the Christmas lights in the Burlington Arcade in central London in 2005. “She was great,” he said. “Everyone feels like she is big pleasure.”
“I really like Camilla and I really like her and Charles as a team,” said Brigitte, who was having lunch with a friend after witnessing the pageantry at St James’s. “I remember seeing a picture of them together and they were laughing – really laughing, with their whole bodies. And you could just see that they really have something for each other.”
A common thread among these people expressing their admiration for the new king is that the more they’ve seen him—and indeed Camilla—the more they love them.
The king’s speech on Friday showed a much more emotional side of him than anything people saw when he was Prince of Wales. During those seven decades in his mother’s shadow, the British didn’t really know, Charles French journalist Tristan de Bourbon-Parme put it. But then people saw how he “speaks with great warmth”, with a “very human” quality.
“He couldn’t have started his reign better.”