UK celebrates first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death

London:

King Carlos III thanked the public on Friday for their support in his first year as monarch, as he commemorated the first anniversary of the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

In a brief statement, the 74-year-old British head of state recalled his “great affection” for his mother, her life and her public service.

“I am also deeply grateful for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and I this year as we do everything we can to be of service to all of you,” he added.

Commemorations will be low-key on Friday, and the king, who is on his sprawling estate of Balmoral in the Scottish Highlands, is not expected to attend any official engagements.

His mother, who was on the throne for a record 70 years, died at Balmoral aged 96 after a period of declining health.

During his reign he did not publicly mark his accession, as it was also the anniversary of the death of his own father, King George VI, in 1952.

Last year, when he kicked off his Platinum Jubilee year on February 6, he spent the day in private at his Sandringham estate in Norfolk, eastern England.

– Gun salutes –

In London, the Royal Troop of the King’s Horse Artillery will mark Charles’ accession by firing a ceremonial 41-gun salute in Hyde Park starting at 12:00pm (11:00 GMT).

Members of the Honorable Artillery Company, the oldest regiment in the British Army, will fire a 62-gun salute from the Tower of London starting at 1pm.

Both regiments participated in firing the Death Gun salutes to mark the queen’s death, and the Proclamation salutes to mark Charles’s new reign.

The king’s eldest son and heir, Prince William, and his wife, Catherine, are expected to carry out their royal duties and deliver a message in honor of the late queen.

William’s younger brother, Prince Harry, was in the UK for a charity event on Thursday but was not expected to meet up with family members.

“As you know, I couldn’t attend the awards last year because my grandmother passed away,” Harry said at the charity event.

“She would have been the first person to insist that I still come be with you instead of going with her, and that’s precisely why I know exactly one year later that she’s putting us all down tonight, happy we’re together.” “. together.”

Relations between Harry, his father and his brother have been strained since he and his wife, Meghan, left royal life and moved to North America in 2020.

The ties have been further frayed by his criticism of the family in television interviews, a documentary series and Harry’s autobiography.

– Monument –

Elizabeth II’s death was a seismic event in British life. To most Britons alive, the Queen was the only monarch and head of state they had ever known.

During the official 10-day mourning period, tens of thousands of people queued for up to 25 hours to walk past his flag-draped coffin as he lay in Westminster Hall of the Houses of Parliament.

Still more packed the streets of London and the route west to Windsor Castle for the state funeral, which was broadcast around the world before a television audience of millions.

The queen was buried in King George VI Memorial Chapel, Windsor, alongside her late husband Prince Philip, who died in 2021, her father and mother and the ashes of her younger sister, Princess Margaret.

Earlier this week, the government announced that a national monument to the late monarch would be commissioned “in due course”.

Opinions were mixed in London on Thursday about Charles’ first year.

Some felt that he had done well not to introduce radical reform too soon. “She has a difficult task to follow, but I think she will change things,” Joanne Hughes, 61, told AFP outside Buckingham Palace.

But despite 161 official engagements and tours of the UK’s four nations, others were indifferent to the new king and the monarchy in general.

“The monarchy is dying,” said nursing student Mimi Jaffer-Clarke.

“If you want him not to die, then you need to try to please the younger generation, and we just don’t.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated channel.)