THE KING has insisted he is “resolved faithfully to follow” the example set by the Queen in his first full address to Parliament.

King Charles gave an address to Westminster Hall, telling MPs and peers that Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy” as he referenced the connections to “my darling late mother”.

He added: “We gather today in remembrance of the remarkable span of the Queen’s dedicated service to her nations and peoples.

“While very young, Her late Majesty pledged herself to serve her country and her people and to maintain the precious principles of constitutional government which lie at the heart of our nation.

“This vow she kept with unsurpassed devotion. She set an example of selfless duty which, with God’s help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.”

In reply to addresses from both Houses of Parliament, Charles said: “Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy.

“That your traditions are ancient we see in the construction of this great hall and the reminders of mediaeval predecessors of the office to which I have been called and the tangible connections to my darling late mother we see all around us”.

The King thanked MPs and peers for their messages of condolence, saying: “I am deeply grateful for the addresses of condolence.”

He said the addresses “touchingly encompass what our late sovereign, my beloved mother the Queen, meant to us all”.

The King quoted William Shakespeare as he described his mother’s legacy.

He told MPs and peers: “As Shakespeare says of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was ‘a pattern to all princes living’.”

The King referenced the connections within Westminster to his mother.

He said: “From the fountain in New Palace Yard, which commemorates the late Queen’s Silver Jubilee, to the sundial in Old Palace Yard for the Golden Jubilee.

“The magnificent stained glass window before me for the Diamond Jubilee.

“And so poignantly, and yet to be formally unveiled, your most generous gift to Her late Majesty to mark the unprecedented Platinum Jubilee, which we celebrated only three months ago with such joyful hearts.

“The Great Bell of Big Ben, one of the most powerful symbols of our nation, throughout the world and housed within the Elizabeth Tower, also named for my mother’s Diamond Jubilee, will mark the passage of the late Queen’s progress from Buckingham Palace to this Parliament on Wednesday”.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle earlier told Westminster Hall that in his first public address King Charles “pledged to uphold constitutional principles at the heart of our nation”.

Sir Lindsay said: “In your first address to the nation you recognised your life would change as a result of the new responsibilities.

“You pledged yourself to uphold constitutional principles at the heart of our nation.

“These are weighty responsibilities, as the early Queen Elizabeth said in her final speech to parliamentarians ‘to be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it’.”

He added: “We know you hold the greatest respect, the precious traditions, the freedoms, and responsibilities of our unique history and our system of parliamentary government.

“We know that you will bear those responsibilities which fall to you with the fortitude, dignity, demonstrated by Her late Majesty.”

It is perhaps “very British” to celebrate revolutions by presenting an address to Her Majesty, Sir Lindsay added.

Presenting an address to the King on behalf of the lower house, the Commons Speaker told Westminster Hall: “Let me repeat a welcome to you and to Her Majesty, the Queen Consort, on this solemn occasion.

“Members of both Houses of Parliament gather here to express our deep sympathy for the loss we have all sustained in the death of our sovereign lady, Queen Elizabeth.

“We have seen that this is a loss that is felt around the world.”

He went on: “Our late Queen was here to mark the historic moments, such as the 50th anniversary of the Second World War, a war in which she herself served in the armed forces.

“And in 1988, we celebrated the 300th anniversary of the revolutions of 1688 to 1689.

“It is perhaps very British to celebrate revolutions by presenting an address to Her Majesty; but those revolutions led to our constitutional freedoms, set out the foundation for a stable monarchy, which protects liberty.”