King Charles opens new, left-leaning U.K. Parliament in major public address after cancer diagnosis
King Charles III donned a ceremonial crown and robe Wednesday to give a speech formally opening the session of the new British parliament. After a national election earlier this month, the U.K. legislature is decisively left-leaning for the first time in 14 years.
Wednesday's was one of the most significant public addresses delivered by King Charles since he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Charles took a break from public appearances to undergo treatment for about three months before returning to public duties earlier this summer.
Alongside his wife, Queen Camilla, Charles delivered the speech — written by the elected government, not the monarch himself — outlining the plans of the country's new Labour Party leadership to a joint session of both houses of Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Key takeaway's from the speech included government plans to reform regulations to increase home building in Britain, bring trains services back under public ownership over time, and to create a publicly-owned "Great British Energy" body to invest in renewable sources.
Internationally, Charles said the government was committed to a "safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state." He also said the U.K.'s support for the transatlantic NATO military alliance would "remain unshakeable," and that Ukraine would continue to receive Britain's "full support" as it battles to fend off Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion.
None of the foreign policy assertions marked a significant change in course from the previous, Conservative-led British government.
The Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, defeated the long-ruling Conservatives in the U.K. general election held on July 4 in a landslide.
The British monarch's formal role in the State Opening of Parliament, formally called the King's Speech — or, for seven decades before Charles, the Queen's Speech — is a political tradition that has stuck around through the U.K.'s evolution from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary democracy.
