SOURCE: BBC NEWS
There’s a hubbub here at Friary Court within St James’s Palace as everyone assembles for the coming ceremony.
Out on the Mall, a growing crowd of onlookers and international press is starting to mass against the barriers leading to the palace gate. They would see more on the TV, but say they wanted to be here for Charles‘ moment.
Inside the courtyard the police, some armed, stand guard and the press are lined up, primed to deliver their on the spot coverage.
We’re seeing a raft of familiar political faces and people from public life walk in – Yvette Cooper, retired bishop Richard Chartres, ex-Arch Bishop of Canterbury, former Tory leader William Hague.
They are there for the coming first part of this ceremony in a little under an hour’s time.
What is the Accession Council?
Charles is already king – he automatically became so on the death of his mother. So the Accession Council performs a ceremonial role – it officially announces the name of the new monarch.
It’s attended by members of the Privy Council (a group of senior politicians that formally advise the monarch), and is divided into two parts, and Charles will only be present for the second.
The first part sees the Queen declared dead, the name of the new king read out, and a document signed, and read out from a balcony – it will also be read in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
The second part will see King Charles give a personal declaration – he can also say if he objects to any of the oaths he is asked to make.
His coronation may not be for many months yet – some 16 months passed between the death of Queen Elizabeth’s father and her coronation in June 1953.
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