Published: Sunday 11 September 2022
A local proclamation of the accession of King Charles III took place today, Sunday 11 September, at the V&A Museum, Exhibition Road.
The event was a public announcement of the new monarch, made by the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Cllr David Lindsay.
The event followed a national Proclamation at the Accession Council on Saturday 10 September at 10 am at St James’s Palace and at midday at the Royal Exchange in the City of London.
The Mayor said:
Yesterday the Accession Council met at St. James’s Palace to proclaim our new Sovereign. The flags which had flown at half-mast since The Queen’s death were raised briefly to their full height to mark the start of His Majesty’s reign.
The Accession Council also made an Order requiring High Sheriffs to arrange for the Proclamation to be read in the areas of their jurisdiction. The High Sheriff for Greater London discharged that duty earlier today and now, with my humble duty, I now bring the words of the Proclamation to the residents of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
The proclamation of the new Sovereign is a very old tradition which can be traced back over many centuries. The ceremony does not create a new King. It is simply an announcement of the accession which took place upon the death of the reigning monarch.
In an age where modern methods of communication convey news around the globe in an instant, the Proclamation is no longer the means by which people learn for the first time that they have a new Monarch. Today, however, is one of the first occasions when communities have an opportunity to come together and reflect on the moment in our nation’s history when the reign of our longest-serving Monarch came to an end and our new Sovereign succeeded.
I will now read the formal Accession Proclamation.
Whereas it has pleased Almighty God to call to His Mercy our late Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth the Second of Blessed and Glorious Memory, by whose Decease the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is solely and rightfully come to The Prince Charles Philip Arthur George: We, therefore, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of this Realm and Members of the House of Commons, together with other members of Her late Majesty’s Privy Council and representatives of the Realms and Territories, Aldermen and Citizens of London, and others, do now hereby with one voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart publish and proclaim that The Prince Charles Philip Arthur George is now, by the Death of our late Sovereign of Happy Memory, become our only lawful and rightful Liege Lord Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, to whom we do acknowledge all Faith and Obedience with humble Affection; beseeching God by whom Kings and Queens do reign to bless His Majesty with long and happy Years to reign over us. Given at St. James’s Palace this tenth day of September in the year of Our Lord twenty thousand and twenty-two.
God Save The King.