Carlos III is formally proclaimed king in a historic ceremony

Charles III was proclaimed king in a ceremony held this Saturday at St. James’s Palace in central London.

Carlos became king immediately after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, but his new role was officially confirmed this Saturday in a historic act.

The new king was proclaimed by the Ascension Council and sworn in during an elaborate and traditional ceremony, which had not been held in more than seven decades.

The Ascension Council is a ceremonial body that meets after the death of a monarch to make the formal proclamation of the successor’s ascension to the throne.

This was the first time in history that the Ascension Council ceremony was televised, by decision of Carlos III himself.

The event is divided into two parts, and the king is only present in the second part.

In the first part, the president of the Privy Council – in this case the parliamentarian Penny Mordaunt, recently appointed by the current Prime Minister Liz Truss – made the death of Elizabeth II official.

Then the secretary of the Council read aloud the text of the Ascension Proclamation, including the title chosen by Carlos as king, Carlos III.

The proclamation is signed by a group that includes the Queen Consort, the Prince of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of York and the firsta ministera.

The king entered for the second part of the Council, which is attended only by privy councillors. In it he gave a personal statement about the queen’s death.

“It is my most painful duty to announce the death of my dear mother the queen.”

“I know how deeply you, the entire nation – and I would say the entire world – sympathize with me in this irreparable loss that we have suffered.”

“The sympathy expressed by so many people to my sister and brothers is my greatest consolation. And that overwhelming love and support should be extended to our entire family in our loss.”

Furthermore, the king made a oath to preserve the Church of Scotland and signed two documents to register it, with the Queen Consort and the Prince of Wales among the witnesses to his signature.

In Scotland there is a division of powers between Church and State, each supreme in its own sphere.

The Church governs itself in all that concerns its own activities. Its supreme authority is the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, chaired by a moderator elected each year by the Assembly itself.

Therefore, the new sovereign, in this case Charles III, is required to take an oath to preserve the safety of the Church of Scotland in his accession.

This oath has been taken by all monarchs during their ascension from George I in 1714.

The ceremony was attended by 200 of the 700 members of the Privy Council, who signed the proclamation. They include former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson, Theresa May, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major.

This was followed by the first public proclamation from the balcony of the Friary Court of St. James’s Palace, by an official known as the Chief Garter King of Arms, accompanied by a centenary spectacle, with trumpeters blowing a fanfare and sounded the national anthem, with the words “God save the king” and not “God save the queen” for the first time since 1952.

There were also 41 salvos fired from Hyde Park and 62 at the Tower of London.

The proclamation announcing Charles as king will be read in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfastthe capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively.

After the completion of the St. James ceremony, it may be some time before the coronation of Carlos III takes place, which will be the great symbolic moment of his accession to the throne.

Some 16 months elapsed between the death of Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, in February 1952 and his coronation in June 1953.

The new king paid warm tribute to his mother, but this was the moment when Charles began to think about the future of his own reign.

Before the ranks of the Ascension Council, King Charles vowed to spend the rest of his life serving as monarch.

It was a mixture of ritual, ornate language and constitutional practicality.

Carlos is now the head of state and this was the symbolic and seamless transfer from one reign to the next, with oaths and signatures.

The inkwell used for it had been given to him by his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

The announcements also confirmed that the day of the queen’s state funeral will be a public holiday.

But here was the king publicly assuming his new responsibilities, promising to follow the queen’s example. It was a choreography of continuity.

In the last 900 years the coronation has been celebrated in the westminster abbey. William the Conqueror was the first monarch to be crowned there and Charles III will be number 40.

It is an Anglican religious service, officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the height of the ceremony, the archbishop will place the crown of St. Edward on Charles’s head, a solid gold piece dating from 1661.

The crown is the main piece of the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London and is only worn by the monarch at the time of coronation (especially given its weight of 2.23kg).

Unlike royal weddings, the coronation is a state eventand the government pays for it and ultimately decides the guest list.

There will be music, readings and the anointing ritual of the new monarch, using orange oil, roses, cinnamon, musk and ambergris.

The new king will take the coronation oath in front of a expectant world. During this ceremony she will receive the orb and scepter as symbols of his new role and the Archbishop of Canterbury will place the solid gold crown on his head.