Appointment by the Ascension Council
When a monarch dies, the Ascension Council is convened as soon as possible, a body whose mission is to designate the heir as the new sovereign. It is chaired by the Lord President of the Council of State, who in this case is the newly appointed Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the Executive in the House of Commons. The ceremony consists of two parts and hundreds of people participate in it. Everything will happen this morning.
The Council will meet at the Saint James Palace, one of the official residences of the British royal family, at ten in the morning (11:00 in Spain). In the first part of the ceremony, more than a hundred people gather to certify the ascent of the heir to the throne. Taking part, among others, are the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Economy, Foreign Affairs and the Interior, the Mayor of London and ambassadors from the other 14 countries whose sovereign is the King of England.
This is followed by the second part of the Ascension Council which, in practice, is the new monarch’s first Council of State (formally called Her Majesty’s Privy Council). It is made up of 719 members, most of them politicians (retired or active, both from the Government and from the opposition), high officials of the Anglican Church and prestigious jurists. In this session, the King swears to uphold the Protestant profession of faith, in accordance with the Establishment Act of 1701, and “will sign an oath to maintain the safety of the Church in Scotland and to pass Orders in Council, which facilitate the continuity of the Government”, according to the statement issued yesterday by the Royal House.
Subsequently, the proclamation is read, first on the balcony of Saint James, then in the Tower of London, in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast (capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and in the capitals of the countries that have King to that of England.
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