Cannon salutes from Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London served to honor British King Charles III, who turns 75 this Tuesday, in celebrations in which Prince Harry will not be present.
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The sovereign, whom his youngest son will congratulate by telephone from California, according to the BBC, has been very present since he ascended the throne fourteen months ago, as demonstrated his official trips to Germany, France and Kenya and his activities in the fight against poverty or defense of nature.
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On his recent visit to Kenya he had to confront the British colonialist past, and days later he fulfilled his main constitutional role, opening the British parliamentary session.
And now he is preparing to travel in early December to the COP28 climate conference.
The festivities for his birthday began on Monday with an “afternoon tea”, an afternoon tea in the gardens of Highgrove, in the west of England, where he participated in activities with neighbors of the region born the same year as him, who were chosen by draw.
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Agenda loaded
This celebration was organized by the King’s Foundation, which was inspired by its health and wellbeing programme, which organizes monthly meetings for older people, in an 18th century country house near Cumnock in Scotland.
This Tuesday, 41 guns were fired at midday from Buckingham Palace, before a further salvo of 62, an hour later, from the Tower of London..
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For the rest of the official ceremonies, we will have to wait until June, as is tradition after each birthday of a British sovereign, with the “Banner Parade”, which is organized in a season more conducive to outdoor activities.
The monarch will visit a food aid distribution center this Tuesday with Queen Camilla to launch a charitable project in the fight against waste and hunger.
The king, who acceded to the throne in September 2022, organizes a reception in the afternoon at Buckingham Palace for 400 nurses and midwives, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the public health service, the NHS, an institution loved by the British but that is in the middle of a crisis.
The day will end with a private dinner, in which his little son Harry, who left the United Kingdom to settle in California, will not be there.
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According to the BBC, the Duke of Sussex, 39, who has made harsh comments about his father and older brother William in recent months, will congratulate the king by phone.
Carlos Felipe Arturo Jorge, born on November 14, 1948, when his mother was still a princess, is less popular than Isabel II, with 52% favorable opinions, according to the YouGov Institute.
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Commemorative coin
His heir William, appreciated by 69% of Britons, is the most popular in the royal family.
To celebrate your birthday, The Royal Mint, the British mint, has issued a five-pound piece, with a nod on the reverse to the king’s love of nature.
A week before his birthday, for the first time as monarch, Charles III gave his first “King’s Speech”, a ritual of British political life, marking the beginning of the parliamentary session.
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The speech, prepared by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, proposed legislation granting new licenses for oil and gas projects in the North Sea annually.
Charles, who has dedicated his life to environmental causes, delivered these measures without any expression on his face, in keeping with the convention that the monarch is above politics.
AFP
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