King Charles has said his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, would have been troubled deeply by current affairs as he paid a heartfelt tribute to her on what would have been her 100th birthday.
In a video message to honour the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, he said she had “remained constant, steadfast and wholly devoted to the people she served”.
The late queen would have turned 100 on Tuesday and the king said the day should be celebrated for a “life well-lived” rather than marking an “absence”, ahead of a series of royal events.
“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,” he 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.”
Events on Tuesday include a Buckingham Palace reception for charities associated with the late queen, and a visit by members of the monarchy to the British Museum to see a scale model of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial, attended by the prime minister.
