‘I shall endeavour to serve you with loyalty and love’

• King Charles acknowledges his role must change • William and Kate become Prince and Princess of Wales

- Caroline Davies

King Charles III pledged yesterday to serve the country “with loyalty, respect and love ”, during an emotional address in which he paid tribute to his mother the Queen, saying: “May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Speaking with “feelings of profound sorrow”, he said: “Queen

Elizabeth’s was a life well lived; a promise with destiny kept, and she is mourned most deeply in her passing. That promise of lifelong service I renew to you all today.”

In a speech that reflected his transition from heir to the throne to monarch, he also acknowledged his life must change. He spoke of the “roles and duties of monarchy” and the sovereign’s relationship with the Church of England, in which his own faith is rooted.

“I have been brought up to cherish a sense of duty to others, and to hold in the greatest respect the precious traditions, freedoms and responsibilities of our unique history and our system of parliamentary government,” he said.

“As the Queen herself did with up my new responsibilities. It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply. But I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others." To his oldest son, William, Duke of Cambridge, who now inherits Charles's title of Duke of Cornwall, he added another. "Today, I am proud to create him Prince of Wales, Tywysog Cymru, the country whose title I have been so greatly privileged to bear during so much of my life and duty," Charles said.