LONDON – Britain’s King Charles has paid a heartfelt tribute to his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, in a video message on what would have been her 100th birthday.
His moving homage on April 21 came as the final masterplan for the memorial for the nation’s longest-serving monarch was unveiled.
“Today, as we mark what would have been my beloved mother’s 100th birthday, my family and I pause to reflect on the life and loss of a sovereign who meant so much to us all, and to celebrate anew the many blessings of her memory,” he said.
“Millions will remember her for moments of national significance; many others for a fleeting personal encounter, a smile, a kind word that lifted spirits, or for that marvellous twinkle of the eye when sharing a marmalade sandwich with Paddington Bear in the final months of her life.”
Referring to Elizabeth as “darling mama”, Charles, 77, said she had “remained constant, steadfast and wholly devoted to the people she served” throughout her long life.
The monarch died aged 96 in September 2022 after a 70-year reign.
“Much about the times we now live in, I suspect, may have troubled her deeply, but I take heart from her belief that goodness will always prevail and that a brighter dawn is never far from the horizon,” the king said in his message.
“For as a young Princess Elizabeth put it in her first ever public broadcast, aged just 14, we can each play our part ‘to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place’.
“It is a belief which I share, with all my heart,” he added.
To mark the centenary of Elizabeth’s birth, the royal family are carrying out a number of engagements this week. On April 20, Charles and his wife Queen Camilla visited a new exhibition, dedicated to her fashion.
Charles and other members of the royal family will view a scale model of the wider memorial on a visit to London’s British Museum on April 21.
“The nation will commemorate her extraordinary reign with a memorial that offers a place of reflection for generations to come,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
The memorial to the queen will feature a statue by sculptor Martin Jennings of her as a young woman dressed in ceremonial robes.
The bronze likeness will take inspiration from a celebrated 1955 portrait of her by Italian artist Pietro Annigoni.
A 28-year-old Elizabeth sat for Annigoni in late 1954 just a couple of years into her reign.
Mr Robin Janvrin, Elizabeth’s former private secretary and chair of the memorial project’s committee, described the resulting portrait as a “lovely, iconic image of the young queen”.
The combined statue and plinth will stand 7.3 metres high at the entrance to the memorial in London’s St James’s Park, close to Buckingham Palace.
The memorial will feature a family of gardens through the park with meandering paths and a new translucent glass unity bridge, inspired by Elizabeth’s wedding tiara.
There will also be a smaller statue of her late husband Prince Philip dressed in his naval uniform looking up at his wife.
Elizabeth, who was born on April 21, 1926 was not expected to become queen.
An accident of history brought her to the throne after her uncle Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson in 1936.
After the abdication, her reluctant father, who suffered from a severe stammer, became King George VI.
But his death in 1952 saw the young princess accede to the throne aged just 25, setting the stage for her record-breaking reign.
Since her death, the royal family have endured a turbulent time as a result of illness, family estrangement and scandal.
Both Charles and his daughter-in-law Catherine, wife of his elder son and heir Prince William, have battled cancer, while his younger son Prince Harry wrote a wounding tell-all memoir after quitting royal duties with his American wife, Meghan.
Charles’ younger brother Andrew meanwhile is facing a police probe amid new revelations about his ties to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. AFP, REUTERS