THE PROCLAMATION OF HM THE KING
BBC One & ITV, 9.30am
For the first time in history, the proclamation of a monarch at an Accession Council will be televised. This morning, the King will travel to St James’s Palace for the historic ceremony, a constitutional formality to recognise his sovereignty. He will make a declaration and swear and sign an oath in the presence of 200 privy counsellors, expected to include the Queen Consort, Camilla, and William, now the Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge, as well as the Prime Minister, cabinet members, shadow cabinet members, archbishops, representatives of the Commonwealth realms, and other senior public figures. This will be followed, at 11am, by the first public proclamation of the new sovereign. Traditionally read by the Garter King of Arms from the Friary Court balcony at St James’s, it will be accompanied by trumpet fanfare and gun salutes.
A second proclamation will take place at noon, at the Royal Exchange in the City of London. Three more will be read in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at noon on Sunday.
The coverage is followed on BBC One by two documentaries examining Queen Elizabeth II through the 1950s and 1960s (at 3pm and 4pm). Then a special edition of The One Show pays tribute at 6.45pm. Catherine Gee