Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, arrived in Westminster with his wife Camilla to read the Queen’s Speech, the government program presented to the Chambers assembled on the occasion of the inauguration of the new parliamentary session (Opening State of Parliament).
It is the first time that he has been delegated to replace 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth, never absent at this institutional appointment since 1963, but forced to declare yet another forfeit due to alleged “mobility” problems. Prince William also made his debut at the ceremony, present beside his father as the second in the line of succession.
The heir got out of a Rolls Royce, the last of a procession, and was received by the usual line-up of parliamentary and military officials of the honor guard in traditional dress. He then moved into the hall of the House of Lords, wearing his full Royal Navy admiral uniform, alongside Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, dressed in dark and with a large headdress on her head. William, who arrived shortly before, presented himself to him in civilian clothes, albeit with some decorations pinned to his chest. Previously, the Regalia had come from Buckingham Palace as usual: the imperial crown, the cap of maintenance (cap with an ermine edge) and the sword of state, symbols of royal power. In the hall, the space of the central throne – reserved for the queen – remains empty this year: Carlo occupies a seat to the right of it, with Camilla on one side and William on the other.
The ceremony – even in the absence of Elizabeth – takes place with all the solemnity of the protocol, preceded by the sound of the national anthem and the blare of the trumpet. Queen’s Speech is traditionally held in the non-elective upper house of Parliament, as royalty do not have access to the House of Commons as a sign of respect for British democracy and popular sovereignty. On the other hand, a herald knocks on the door of the Lower House to ask the speaker, deputies and members of the government and shadow government ‘courtesy’ to join the monarch (in today’s case the Prince of Wales) at the assembly of Lords to listen to the speech. The defection of the sovereign is in fact unprecedented in her 70 years of record reign (the absences of 1959 and 1963, when the reading was entrusted to the Lord Chancellor, took place only on the occasion of her last two pregnancies), note the Royal Correspondent.
Some of which underline how Elizabeth II is still “in charge”, and has confirmed that she wants to chair a virtual meeting of the Privy Council during the week, for example; but also how the reading of the Queen’s Speech delegated to the heir to the throne represents a very special honor for Carlo: unpublished for 200 years.