It was a great honour to be in Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament representing our Stroud constituency for the audience with King Charles III.
The audience is an ancient event for the new Monarch to hear from Parliament and respond. Approx 900 MPs and peers attended this stage of the constitutional ritual of State Mourning. We pledged loyalty to the new sovereign through the Speakers of the Lords and Commons.
The audience has historically often been in private, as with the Queen in 1952 at Buckingham Palace. I think it’s another mark of the King wanting to be transparent with the nation about his work and set the scene for his new relationship with all of us in Parliament.
The King said parliament was the “living and breathing instrument of our democracy” as he referenced the connections to “my darling late mother” in parliament — including the great bell of Big Ben, housed within the Elizabeth Tower and named for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
As the wonderful Queen was on the throne for my whole lifetime, all this still seems surreal and sad but to sing God save the King in His Majesty’s presence was very special.
God save the King.
