“To my dear mum, who is embarking on her final journey to join my dear dad, I just want to say thank you. » These words, pronounced at the end of the first speech of King Charles III – it was broadcast on Friday September 9 at 6 p.m., throughout the United Kingdom and beyond –, first of all express the emotion of a man who has just lost his mother, Queen Elizabeth II who died the day before at the age of 96, in her Scottish castle of Balmoral. With warmth and deference, as part of the continuity of an exceptional reign, Charles, in a black suit, a portrait of the late queen to his left, first wanted to reassure.
Because this speech, just like “D-Day”, the first day of his reign, was a test for this 73-year-old sovereign, who spent decades preparing in the shadow of the sovereign. The moment is delicate: the British fear the passage of the “second Elizabethan era”, which ended on Thursday – and which commentators are already raising to the level of that of Elizabeth Ire, who reigned from 1558 to 1603 – in the “Carolingian” era. The disappearance of the most enduring monarch of the country – seventy years of reign -, incarnation of the sense of duty and continuity, comes at a time of fragility for the country.
The United Kingdom is accumulating crises: failing public services, a looming recession and an energy crisis that risks plunging millions of Britons into poverty. Not to mention strong political instability since Brexit: the conservative Liz Truss, who entered Downing Street only a few days ago, on September 6, is the fourth prime minister in six years.
“The loss of the queen deprives this country of this anchorage and this comfort [qu’elle procurait], precisely when he needs it most. noticed on Friday, Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labor Party from the House of Commons, collecting the consent of a large part of the elected officials, all sides combined.
“I solemnly undertake, during the time that God will grant me, to defend the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation. »
For Charles III, there is therefore no question of rushing or of evoking too emphatically an uncertain future: serious, the voice much more modulated than that – famously monotonous – of his mother, he promised in his speech to serve his country “with loyalty, respect and love, as I have done throughout my life”. He also wanted, subtly, to ensure that he had taken the measure of his new role. “As the Queen herself has done with unwavering devotion, I solemnly pledge, for as long as God will grant me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation. »
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