Queen Elizabeth II is gone: cannon fire, bells and new king's speech on Friday
Steph Deschamps / September 9, 2022
The United Kingdom enters a new era: the new king Charles III must address Friday to his subjects, in mourning after the death of Elizabeth II which caused a huge wave of emotion in the world.
The death of the 96-year-old sovereign, who died Thursday in her Scottish residence of Balmoral after 70 years of reign, opened a period of mourning for the country. Elizabeth II also leaves a great emptiness, so much she was loved by the British people who for many had known only her on the throne. Throughout her life, she knew how to preserve the monarchy despite the crises.
The challenges are considerable for Charles, who becomes king at 73, with a much lower popularity than his mother and his heir, Prince William.
He inherits a kingdom that is struggling with the serious economic and social crisis and the unity cracked by the Brexit, with the desire for independence and community tensions in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and with the political turmoil with the arrival of a fourth Prime Minister in six years at Downing Street.
At Balmoral with his mother when she died peacefully on Thursday afternoon, joined throughout the day by his three brothers and sister and his two sons, the new sovereign will return to London on Friday.
If the course of the next few days, prepared for years, has yet to be confirmed by the palace, the main lines are known. Once back in London with Camilla, now queen consort, the new king will address for the first time the British people on television, in a message recorded in advance and broadcast in the evening.
He will also meet with Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose inauguration on Tuesday by Elizabeth II was the last constitutional act in a life dedicated to her role.
Charles had become much more present in recent months, increasingly filling in with his eldest son William for his mother due to what the palace had described as mobility problems.
He spoke for the first time on Thursday evening in a statement to express his family's great sadness at the death of a beloved sovereign and a beloved mother: I know that her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the kingdoms and the Commonwealth, as well as by countless people around the world, he added.
During the day, 96 cannon shots will be fired from several places in the country and the bells of St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle will ring out. Charles III will then be officially proclaimed king on Saturday by the Council of Succession, meeting at St. James's Palace in London.
From Joe Biden to Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, Pope Francis, the footballer Pele or the rocker Mick Jagger, tributes have been unanimous for Elizabeth II.
I feel very sad, I feel like my grandmother is dead, reacted Tonnie Cunningham, 35, interviewed by AFP in the streets of London. It is the only monarch I have ever known, observed Margaret Caselton, 75, extremely sad.
The death of the sovereign, who had limited appearances since a night in hospital in October 2021, opens a period of national mourning, until her funeral in ten days.
Charles will have a lot of work to do to preserve the attachment of the British people to the monarchy, an institution that some consider outdated but whose prestige Elizabeth II had maintained.
The late sovereign is omnipresent in the lives of the British people, present on banknotes and stamps, which will have to change their face.
Tens of thousands of people gathered to see her for the last time on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for her platinum jubilee in early June, celebrating her 70 years of reign.