Photo shows screens displaying Britain’s King Charles III delivering a speech at the accession ceremony at St James’s Palace in London, Britain, Sept 10, 2022. King Charles III was formally proclaimed Britain’s new monarch at a meeting of the Accession Council at St James’s Palace on Saturday. [Xinhua via China Daily/Asia News Network]
BEIJING — President Xi Jinping congratulated King Charles III on Sunday on his accession to the British throne.
In a congratulatory message sent to the new king, Xi noted that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties at the ambassadorial level between China and the United Kingdom.
Xi said he stands ready to work along with King Charles III to make joint efforts to enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples and expand the countries’ friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation.
He also expressed his willingness to work with the new British king to strengthen communication on global issues in order to deliver benefits to the two countries and their peoples and contribute to world peace and development.
King Charles III was officially proclaimed monarch at a grand ceremony on Saturday, as the grieving royal family revealed detailed plans for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday.
The state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will be held at Westminster Abbey in London at 11 am on Sept 19, royal officials said on Saturday. Buckingham Palace also confirmed that the queen’s casket will then be taken to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London, for a committal service.
Charles assumed the throne following the death of his 96-year-old mother. The accession ceremony introduced the new monarch to the country.
In his declaration during the ceremony, the 73-year-old King Charles III told the Accession Council of hundreds of senior political and religious advisers that he would strive to follow his mother’s “inspiring example”.
“I am deeply aware of this great inheritance and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of Sovereignty which have now passed to me,” he said in the ceremony.
The Accession Proclamation was then read out from the balcony of St James’s Palace to a trumpet fanfare, followed by gun salutes. The proclamation was also to be read publicly in other capital cities of the United Kingdom－Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast－and other locations.
In his first address to the nation and the Commonwealth on Friday night as the new monarch, King Charles III bestowed the title of Prince of Wales to his eldest son, William, a title that Charles had held for over 50 years and is reserved exclusively for the heir apparent to the British throne.
The centuries-old tradition of the Accession Council was televised live for the first time as it officially announced Charles as monarch after seven decades as heir apparent.
He automatically became monarch upon the queen’s death, but the proclamation was the latest step in the 10-day program leading up to her state funeral.
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