Foreign

King Charles’s image will not be on new $5 note – Australian Bank

By Web News 460

Australia’s new 5 Dollar banknote will not feature Britain’s King Charles III, but rather a new design that honours the culture and history of the first Australians, the country’s central bank announced Thursday.

The design will replace the portrait of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the reserve bank of Australia said in a statement adding that the decision was made after consulting with the Australian Government.

The bank will consult with first Australians in designing the 5 Dollar banknote, which could take several years to be issued, it added.

The first Australians refers to the country’s indigenous population or first nations people, made up of aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, descendants of the world’s oldest continuous culture who have occupied the continent for more than 65,000 years. Together they make up about 3.2 per cent of the country’s population of 25 million people.

Meanwhile, the current 5 Dollar bill will continue to be in circulation and remain legal tender even after the introduction of the new banknote, according to bank officials, the existing coins with the Queen’s image will remain legal tender “forever.”

King Charles III will continue to be featured on coins, which the royal Australian mint is expected to start producing “in the second half of this year,” Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and the Treasury, said in an interview.

CNN/Oluwayemisi Owonikoko

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Foreign

Prince Harry’s Memoir Goes on Sale

By Web News 467

After months of anticipation and a blanket publicity blitz, Prince Harry’s autobiography “Spare” went on sale Tuesday as royal insiders hit back at his scorching revelations.

The royal family led by King Charles III and his heir, Harry’s elder brother, William, have maintained a studied silence as painful details from the book and a round of pre-publication TV interviews have piled up.

But palace insiders quoted in the UK press said the Duke of Sussex had crossed a line in attacking Queen Consort Camilla, Charles’s second wife following the death of Princess Diana, William and Harry’s mother.

“He has been kidnapped by a cult of psychotherapy and (wife) Meghan,” one royal source told The Independent newspaper.

“It is impossible for him to return (to Britain) in these circumstances,” it said, as other sources accused Harry of betraying both his father and brother.

The book opens with an epigraph drawn from US author William Faulkner — which Harry writes he found on the website BrainyQuote.com.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” it says, setting the stage for 416 pages of ghost-written prose dominated by Harry’s trauma over Diana’s death, score-settling with his family and hatred of the British media.

Some UK bookshops staged Harry Potter-style midnight openings for the biggest royal publication since the late princess of Wales collaborated with Andrew Morton for “Diana: Her True Story” in 1992.

Channelstv/ Titilayo Kupoliyi

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Foreign

King Charles III is Proclaimed as UK Monarch

By Web News 538

Charles III has been proclaimed as UK King at a ceremony at St James’s Palace.

Charles became king immediately following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, but a historic meeting formally confirmed his role on Saturday.

During the Accession Council, the King approved the day of the Queen’s funeral becoming a bank holiday, although it is not known when it will take place.

It is the first time the historic ceremony has been televised.

The King himself was not present to begin with, but he attended the second part of the ceremony to hold his first meeting of the Privy Council, the group of senior politicians who advise the monarch.

Clerk of the Privy Council Richard Tilbrook proclaimed Charles “King, head of the Commonwealth, defender of the faith”, before declaring “God Save the King”.

The packed room, attended by senior politicians, judges and officials who gathered in the State Apartments of the Palace in London, repeated back the phrase.Making his own declaration, the King said it was his “most sorrowful duty” to announce to the death of his mother.He said: “I know how deeply you, the entire nation, and I think I may say the whole world, sympathise with me in the irreparable loss we’ve all suffered.”It is the greatest consolation to me to know the sympathy expressed by so many to my sister and brothers.”The ceremony was attended by 200 members of the Privy Council, including former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson, Theresa May, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major.Later, applause and cheers of “God Save the King” broke outside St James’s Palace, before a crowd of thousands sang the national anthem.It was the decision of King Charles III to allow television cameras into the Accession Council for the first time to allow the public to view proceedings.

BBC/Olaolu Fawole

Foreign

King Charles III to Address Britain

By Web News 307

King Charles III is expected to address the nation for the first time as sovereign later, following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

Britain’s longest-reigning monarch died peacefully, surrounded by her family, at Balmoral in Scotland on Thursday.

Gun salutes will be fired and church bells will be tolled on Friday as the UK pays tribute to her reign.

There have been spontaneous gatherings and outpourings of emotion at Balmoral, Buckingham Palace and Windsor.

Members of the public have travelled to leave flowers, messages of thanks and condolence for the Queen and Royal Family, with many visibly tearful or overcome with emotion.

Union jacks are being flown at half-mast and Parliament will gather later to pay tribute to her momentous reign.

The bells of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle are expected to toll at noon in tribute to her life and service.

A gun salute in London’s Hyde Park has been arranged for the following hour, with 96 rounds to mark each year of her life to fire around 13:00 BST.

There will be a remembrance service at St Paul’s at 18:00 BST, attended by Prime Minister, Liz Truss and other senior ministers.

It will be open to the public, with 2,000 tickets to be released on a first-come-first-served basis.

Those wishing to attend must visit in person the City of London tourism office on Carter Lane in London to collect a wristband from 11:00.

The King and his wife, Camilla, now Queen Consort, will later on Friday return to London, where the monarch is expected to address the nation after holding an audience with the new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

All of the Queen’s children and grandchildren, the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex, travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen, on Thursday after the Queen’s doctors became concerned about her health.

Bbc/Adebukola Aluko