King Charles III has paid tribute to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II and re-pledged his own service to the nation in a message marking the first anniversary of her death and of his accession.
In a signed message he wrote: “In marking the first anniversary of her late Majesty’s death and my accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us.
“I am deeply grateful, too, for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and myself during this year as we do our utmost to be of service to you all.”
To mark the anniversary, he released one of his favourite official portraits of the late Queen, captured at Buckingham Palace on 16 October 1968 as part of an official sitting granted to Cecil Beaton.
The image, which shows a 42-year-old queen wearing her Order of the Garter star, was first shown at the National Portrait Gallery between November 1968 and March 1969. Beaton first photographed the queen in 1942, and continued to photograph her and many other members of the royal family across the decades, but the 1968 sitting was their final sitting together.
The king and queen will mark the anniversary at Balmoral, their Scottish retreat, where they are spending their traditional summer break.
Rishi Sunak also paid tribute to the late monarch, praising her wisdom, grace and “sharp wit”. The prime minister said gratitude for her service and “extraordinary life of duty and dedication” continues to grow, a year on from her death aged 96.
The queen told Liz Truss they would be “meeting again soon” at her final official engagement two days before her death, the former prime minister has revealed. Truss also recalled the king was “very, very resolute” when she spoke to him on the phone the day his mother died and his reign began.
Truss told GB News: “In the meeting at Balmoral, she was absolutely on top of what was happening. She was very, very keen to reassure me that we’d be meeting again soon. It was very important to her.”
Truss added: “Although she was physically quite frail, she was absolutely mentally alert.” There was no indication that the queen was gravely ill, she added.
She recounted how she was told of a worsening situation on 7 September, with the postponement of a privy council meeting. “I arrived just before 6pm for the meeting,” she told the GB News royal correspondent, Cameron Walker. “Everybody was there waiting around and we waited for a few minutes and then the news arrived that the queen would no longer be able to do the meeting.
“And that was the first I heard of it. But clearly it was a very ominous sign.”
She said of 8 September: “Things were clearly getting even worse the next day, so it was a dawning realisation, I think, not just for me but for my colleagues, that we were facing [it].”
Describing the scene in No 10 when confirmation of the queen’s death reached them at about 4.30pm, she said: “We were in the Downing Street flat with officials, other people. So when the news came through, it was sort of confirming all the worst fears that we’d had.”
She said she felt very sad about the situation, but her mind also turned to the practicalities of the days to come. “Just knowing that I would have to deal with it, you know, part of your brain is thinking, my goodness me, this is a momentous occasion,” she said. “This is our queen who’s been on the throne for 70 years, the absolute backdrop to our lives is now gone.”
The Duke of Sussex arrived in the UK on Thursday to attend a charity’s awards ceremony, but it is believed he will not be visiting his father in Scotland.
Harry was celebrating the achievements and resilience of seriously ill youngsters and the families supported by the charity WellChild on Thursday, and at the weekend will be in Düsseldorf in Germany for the opening ceremony of his Invictus Games.
