I cannot help but feel the weight of history

Monarch uses first Parliament address to vow: I’ll follow Queen’s selfless example

KING Charles addressed Parliament as monarch for the first time yesterday, saying he ‘felt the weight of history’.

Speaking in the ancient surroundings of Westminster Hall, the new King said he would ‘faithfully follow’ the example of ‘selfless duty’ set by his mother.

Hundreds of MPs and peers, including Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer, packed into the hall to hear the King pledge to maintain the ‘precious principles of parliamentary democracy which lie at the heart of our nation’.

His Majesty was visibly moved as the audience of around 1,200 senior figures sang God Save The King. In a short speech, he said: ‘As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us... Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy. That your traditions are ancient we see in the construction of this great hall and the reminders of medieval predecessors of the office to which I have been called.’

Westminster Hall, built in 1097, has a long association with royalty. The Queen made several addresses here – most recently in 2012 on her Diamond Jubilee – and from tomorrow it is where her coffin will lie in state.

King Charles reminded parliamentarians of his mother’s pledge at the age of 21 to devote her life to the service of the nation – a vow he said she had kept with ‘unsurpassed devotion’. He added: ‘She set an example of selfless duty which, with God’s help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.’

Lords Speaker Lord McFall paid tribute to the Queen and said Parliament was ‘proud and humbled to welcome you as King’.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle hailed the Queen as a ‘symbol of stability’, adding: ‘We know you will bear those responsibilities which fall to you with the fortitude and dignity demonstrated by her late Majesty.’