Charles proclaimed king

The second part of the Accession Council meeting to proclaim the new King Charles III was full of interest: historical, constitutional, religious, and social.

It shows, whether or not you agree with them, the essential relations between the Crown, the state and the people.

The constitution of good government traditionally recognises three branches: the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. The executive does the enforcing and administering of the law. The legislature, the Parliament, enacts legislation and puts forward the highest group of executive officers under the monarch, ie the Cabinet and Ministry. And the judiciary is the courts, which judge individual cases claiming legal remedy.

In this schema, the monarch is the chief executive officer ie duty-holder. Historically, legally, constitutionally, this is the font and origin of the authority of all subordinate executive officers who in law are mere delegates. Since the executive are the ones with the weapons, the central problem and core of constitutional government is to attempt to restrain this power within lawful bounds.

The BBC said the purpose of the accession council meeting was ceremonial but there was virtually no ceremony, no pomp, no pageantry. Rather, the purpose of the meeting was executive: ie to decide to carry out action. That's why they dressed plainly, did not greet the new king when he walked in, and simply moved to the dispatch of business without ceremony or preamble.

The first item on the agenda was 'the King to make his declaration'. There was hardly politeness or deference in this peremptory bare statement. This reflects the traditional conflict between the powers of the monarch, and the rights and freedoms of the people, which broke out into open war between Crown and Parliament under King Charles I in 1642. He was beheaded in 1649. After an unhappy experiment with kingless governments, Parliament restored the monarchy in 1660 under King Charles II. But the conflict remained until finally it grew so bad he left the country. Parliament invited instead a new King and Queen who undertook to reign on conditions dictated by Parliament, embodied in the Bill of Rights 1688.

England's bloodless revolution led to the implementation of constitutional monarchy and popular sovereignty. This overthrew the ancient doctrine of the divine right of kings. Following England's lead, the elements of the modern constitution have now become the standard model of government throughout the world.

In law, Prince Charles became King on the death of his mother. The purpose of the Accession Council meeting is to inform all subordinate executive officers of the fact of the identity of the new king, without which any ordinary executive officer - for example a manager in a regional health department - would have no official direction from his or her superiors confirming who is the new chief executive officer in the hierarchy.

From the executive arm, the legal significance of the decision spreads out to the rest of the state and society, because legislative and judicial action require execution, and because the appointment of any judicial or legislative officer itself also requires an executive act.

The Accession Council meeting, being so brief, shows us the very core and summary of the nature of lawful executive action under our constitutional government.

It shows how the institution of government arose out of the institution of family. Even before kings had power, they had family.

It shows the dual character of the Crown, as being the natural person of the monarch and the legal person of the State.